once they start work together buster keaton and roscoe arbuckle make their first half dozen short comedy in new york and from spring through fall of 1917. late that year arbuckle relocate his comique production company to southern california and and the gang celebrate the move with an elaborate two reeler call out west and a satire of the sort of hard bitten western crank out by william s. hart and broncho billy anderson in the early day . the result be a distinctly callous comedy that doesn not hold up at all well . this be the sort of movie in which our hero spike a horse water supply with liquor just for laugh and someone get shoot in the butt in almost every scene and lot of injun and mexican get kill and and a dozen bottle be smash over the villain head without effect and at which point a six shooter be empty into him . . . also without effect . the comedy in this film be so violent some of it actually work a parody which and after all and be how it be intend . when a cheating gambler be fatally shot and grim face saloon proprietor buster coolly dispose of his body through a convenient trap door and and this still work a a jab at actual western where violent death be treat as routinely a the ringing of the phone . next and when the bartender be shoot down and buster instantly put up a sign read bartender want and it darkly funny although the joke be start to wear a bit thin . but the joke be ruin when a gang of sadistic cowboy torment a black man by shoot at his foot to make him dance and and buster and roscoe join right in . they only stop when stern salvation army lass alice lake enters and put a halt to the rough housing and say aren not you ashamed . they be and and they put away their gun and but the mood have sour badly . ( i first saw this movie at a public screening a part of a keaton festival some year ago and and although it have be go over fairly well up to that point this sequence totally kill the laughter for the duration of the film . ) even allow that out west be a parody and a lot of the material and not just the racial humor be in surprisingly poor taste for these guy and although fortunately it a lapse that be not repeat in their subsequent career . there be some good gag here and even some clever one and but theyre practically lose in the shuffle and weaken in impact by the prevailing ugly tone . out west be currently available on video and dvd in two release and from kino and from image entertainment and and it worth note that the two version differ significantly . the kino print be badly tattered and miss several bit that survive in the image release and which look well in general . also and the two print have be edit differently and and several dialog title and a couple of character name differ in the respective version while this isn not unusual with film from the silent era and which be frequently alter for foreign release or even to suit local taste in various locale within the u. s. the image version feature jaunty period music well select for individual sequence and while the kino release feature music by a group call the alloy orchestra that i find mostly jarring and inappropriate and to put it politely . over all i would say that anyone interested in see this film should seek out the image entertainment version and but be forewarn that this comedy do not show off either buster keaton or roscoe arbuckle to best advantage .