The Dude Goes West

1948 "HE WAS A GOOD MAN...AMONG THE BAD!"
6.8| 1h26m| NR| en
Details

Daniel Bone is aiming for success. A Brooklyn gunsmith by trade, he figures the place to be is where the guns are. So off he goes into the West and becomes the foe of the notorious Pecos Kid, the captive of Paiutes, the target in a saloon showdown, and the lone source of the whereabouts of a fabulous gold strike.

Director

Producted By

King Brothers Productions

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.
SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
SimonJack Most of us have seen Western movies in which an Eastern-raised guy heads West. To the cowpokes and people of the West, he's a dude (aka, greenhorn, tinhorn, tenderfoot). The tinhorn is obviously an underdog. At some point, he'll be the butt of a joke, an easy prey for gunplay, or face some other shameful put down. Well, this is one such movie in which the dude comes out on top, in almost all instances. It's almost the reverse of the standard fare Hollywood Western"The Dude Goes West" is a very fun and entertaining comedy Western. Eddie Albert is the dude, Daniel Bone, who travels from New England to Arsenic City, somewhere in the Wild West. He plans to set up shop where a gunsmith is still needed. And, he knows his guns and how to shoot them. He also has more knowledge about the West, Indians, survival, etc. than most cowboys. He learned it all from reading. Daniel is a good guy who winds up in a role that any number of original Western stars have played. John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Randolph Scott, Gene Autrey, and any number of other frequent cowboys in the movies have rescued a damsel in distress. Much of the time, it's been over a mine, too. But, the way Daniel does it in this movie is quite different, and very funny. His good nature and trust of his fellow man causes him some troubles, but these add to the humor. All of the cast are very good. Gale Storm plays Liza Crockett, James Gleason is Sam Briggs, Gilbert Roland is the Pecos Kid, Barton MacLane is Texas Jack Barton, and Binnie Barnes is Kiki Kelly. Binnie plays a tough hombre in this film. One other thing different about this film – Daniel doesn't become sheriff or marshal. This is a nice, entertaining yarn and fun way to spend an evening.
zardoz-13 Eddie Albert is cast as amiable Daniel Bone, a New York City native of Brooklyn, who owns a gunsmith business in Brooklyn. He decides to pull up stakes from the Big Apple and head off westward to Arsenic City, Arizona, where everybody totes a hog-leg. Unmistakably a tenderfoot, Bone appreciates a good read and his familiarity with literary tomes helps him out of one tight spot after another. He heads west as the Horace Greeley adage goes and meets a pretty young thing, Liz Crocket (Gale Storm), who is bound for Arsenic City herself to cash in on her dead father's mining claim. Naturally, "Ellery Queen, Master Detective" director Kurt Neumann and "A Ticket to Tomahawk" scenarist Mary Loos and "White Buffalo" scribe Richard Sale pit these two young people through the standard-issue romantic wringer. No sooner do they meet at a railway depot than Liz's mother tries to turn her against all men, particularly Bone. They start out hating each other and end up in each other's arms. This lightweight but entertaining comedy doesn't demonize Native Americans. The Paiute Indians call Daniel 'Big Wind' because he fools them into liking him with parlor tricks after they escort Liz and he to their village. This lively 86 minute sagebrusher from Allied Artists is worth watching. Albert had a knack for playing upstanding citizens and rarely made a fool out of himself. Latin sensation Gilbert Roland plays The Pecos Kid and he makes a charismatic villain. Career heavy Barton MacLane plays desperado Texas Jack Barton. Although the titular hero is a tenderfoot, he has spent so much time working on firearms that he can light a wooden match with a bullet. He is a crack shot and this comes in handy when he must retire two gunslingers trying to abduct the heroine. "The Dude Goes West" is a western spoof related in flashbacks with Albert narrating the saga for his grand children. Amusing from start to finish.
rsda One of my favorite films of the 40's. This mild mannered comedy western hits all the right notes. One might have imagined it made by Bob Hope and a Paramount lovely like Gail Russell or Diana Lynn. But instead it sneaks under the radar with a minor cast of Eddie Albert and Gale Storm who both deliver their best ever film performances. I can't prise this highly enough. It is a must see film for movie lovers. You will thank me. I recall seeing this in 1948 and thinking at the time how good it was and why didn't it make more of an impact. There are just certain films that time treats kindly and this is one of them. Small films that stay with you like THE GREAT DAN PATCH, THE LUCKY STIFF, OUT OF THE BLUE and IVY.
philosophymom The year is 1880-something, and gunsmith Daniel Bone (just one "o") decides to abandon tame New York for a part of the country where a person in his line of work can expect to be kept a little busier. The thoroughly decent Daniel might be a tenderfoot, but between his professional skill with firearms and his great reader's head full of knowledge, he turns out to be more than a match for the desperados he meets en route to-- and in-- lawless Arsenic City, Nevada. Our boy doesn't do badly with the local Native tribe, either. Now if he could just get past the defenses of Miss Liza, an over-cautious innocent who's come West to find her late father's lost gold mine...Eddie Albert is quite charming as the titular dude in this slight but enjoyable, gently comic Western. In fact, there's charm to spare here: James Gleason endears as the grizzled prospector-sidekick, Barton McLean (later Gereral Peterson in "I Dream of Jeannie") wins one over as the most sympathetic of a host of black-hatted bandits, and Gale Storm is refreshingly non-cloying as your standard-issue spunky, naive heroine. Things never descend to the cartoonish, allowing Albert to get through a couple of on-the-trail ballads (which he croons in a pleasant tenor while strumming a guitar), a dramatic display of "Indian sign language," and even an idealistic law-and-order speech to an angry mob with his dignity fully intact. Indeed, one's inspired to wonder why the future small-screen star never quite scored as a cinematic leading man-- he certainly seems to have had the potential.Available on DVD-- think I'll watch it again.