Buster Keaton is often characterized as an unemotional filmmaker whose face lakes expression and whose films lack heart. I call bull on this. In recent years, Keaton's nickname "The Great Stone Face" has been challenged by critics and fans who appreciate his subtle and far from heartless performances. And the idea that his films have no emotional depth has been questioned as well. If any film could answer that question, then Go West (1925) would be it.
GW is the story of a lonely young man who gets a job as a farm hand and befriends a cow after she saves him from a rampaging bull. Their relationship is sweet but never cloying, and Keaton makes sure to mock plot elements meant to evoke cheap pathos (ex. Keaton goes to pet a dog and he is literally such an outcast that even the mutt walks away from him).
It's not a masterpiece, but it is a very sweet movie and one that is worth the hour plus running time.
GW is the story of a lonely young man who gets a job as a farm hand and befriends a cow after she saves him from a rampaging bull. Their relationship is sweet but never cloying, and Keaton makes sure to mock plot elements meant to evoke cheap pathos (ex. Keaton goes to pet a dog and he is literally such an outcast that even the mutt walks away from him).
It's not a masterpiece, but it is a very sweet movie and one that is worth the hour plus running time.