MartinHafer During the 1940s, Columbia Pictures made a ton of westerns...most of them B-movies lasting about an hour and featuring a variety of mostly small-time actors. However, occasionally they made a western that was just a bit better...and "Go West, Young Lady" is one of these. While it's about the length of many Bs, it has a better cast than usual. While Glenn Ford was not yet a top-tier actor, having him and many familiar faces in the film (Penny Singleton, Ann Miller, Charlie Ruggles and Allen Jenkins) give it a more sophisticated look than a B....making this sort of like a B+ picture!The star of the picture is Penny Singleton. She was a veteran of Bs...and in the middle of her Blondie and Dagwood series when she made this western. But she's certainly no typical western woman (at least the movie versions), as when bad guys strike, she's quick to shoot back and isn't the least bit a cowering lady! Glenn Ford is the male lead...but with such a dynamic lady starring in this one he's easily overshadowed!As for the plot, apart from Singleton's wild (and sometimes ditsy) character, it's pretty standard stuff. Some masked gunman named Killer Pete is terrorizing a town...killing sheriff after sheriff. His ultimate goal isn't robbery but to force folks to want to leave town...so he can then buy them out and become the big boss man...a very familiar western cliche.Watchable and a bit better than usual for the genre.

jbacks3 This Columbia B puts a ballsier (at least gun totin') Blondie Dagwood out west being woo'ed by a really young Glenn Ford, already into his 11th picture here. This is part-melodrama, part musical (complete with an anachronistic swing number in the dance hall), part comedy. It's got Ann Miller as the bad guy's dancin' moll, Lola (this isn't a spoiler!)--- all wrapped up into a weird western with Charlie Ruggles doing a Foghorn Leghorn-meets-Colonel Sanders schtick. Very, very weird, but well produced. And you should see Allen Jenkins dance. He's no Fred Astaire, but he can cut a rug better than anyone might expect. Glenn Ford had to be disappointed in the direction of his career at this point, but to be fair there's worse ways to waste time than watching Go West, Young Lady (try watching a Bob Custer talkie and see what I mean).

jnselko This is not a comment- rather, I would like to point out a goof: When Penny Singleton and Ann Miller are having their cat fight towards the end of the movie (incidentally, one of the all-time great cat fights) it really looks like those girls are belting each other), Ann Miller's blouse buttons and unbuttons during the scrimmaging.But, as long as I am here... This was a truly enjoyable western. Glen Ford is actually funny in this movie, and the relationship between him and Penny Singleton is very well developed and quite touching, in an amusingly innocent sort of way (inotherwords, exactly the opposite of most movies today). The rise of the townswomen to thwart the evildoers plans is also very well done.This is a rare western comedy that actually delivers some jocular moments. I've seen it three times, and enjoyed it all three times. And, if it comes on the Westerns Channel again when my boy is home from school or doesn't have practice or a game, We'll watch it together.It's just a fun movie. period.

F Gwynplaine MacIntyre 'Go West, Young Lady' is a surprisingly delightful little film that easily straddles at least three different genres: it's a comedy western with a couple of full-fledged musical numbers, but which never quite becomes a full-scale musical. This film features the only good comedy performance I've ever seen by Glenn Ford, who is usually a dead loss in comedies. (He ruined 'Pocketful of Miracles'.) I actively dislike Penny Singleton, partly because she's so annoying onscreen and largely because (in real life), as the inept president of Agva, she nearly drove that union into bankruptcy. But Singleton gives an enjoyable performance in this film. Even Ann Miller (whom I usually dislike) gives a fine performance as Lola, the dance-hall girl in the local saloon.Allen Jenkins, one of my favourite character actors, is hilarious (as usual) as sheriff Ford's deputy. A high point of this film is the 'Yip-Ay-Yay' number performed by Ann Miller and Jenkins. For possibly the only time in his prolific career, Jenkins sings onscreen! His gravelly voice (with his prole New York accent) is completely unsuited to carrying a tune, but Jenkins sings gamely (in both senses of the term) while Miller does a couple of simple tap steps (less elaborate than usual for her) alongside him.SLIGHT SPOILER. There's a very funny running gag, well executed. Ford keeps getting into brawls with various tough guys who are bigger and stronger than him. Each time this happens, Penny Singleton tries to help him by coshing the other man ... but she always misses him and beans Ford instead. The payoff comes when she tries this one more time. As Ford looks up in horror to see Singleton bearing down on him with a bottle, he shouts: 'Don't hit him! It'll be me!' Very funny indeed, and several other scenes in this movie are funny too. I'll rate this charming low-budget gem 9 points out of 10.