Way Out West is a 1937 Western comedy film directed by James W. Horne and starring Laurel and Hardy.
In this one Stan and Ollie have traveled to the frontier town of Brushwood Gulch. They are delivering a deed to a gold mine to one Mary Roberts (Rosina Lawrence), whose father was a prospector. Mary is living a rather sad life as a servant to a couple of mean-spirited innkeepers, Mickey Finn (James Finlayson) and his wife Lola Marcel (Sharon Lynn). After Stan foolishly blurts out that they are delivering the deed to Mary, Mickey plots to have his wife impersonate poor Mary. Stan and Ollie turn the deed over but, after meeting the real Mary, they work to get the deed back.
Tropes:
- All Cloth Unravels: Stan is helping Ollie get a locket off his neck — Stan starts pulling at a loose thread and soon unravels most of Ollie's underwear.
- Bar Slide: The bartender at Mickey's bar has a habit of sliding beers down the counter.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Aside from Ollie's usual aside looks to the camera, there's a subtle one; when Stan and Ollie question the real Mary Roberts in the kitchen, Stan asks Ollie to speak with him a minute and tells Mary "we'll be right back." Stan then takes Ollie aside but then glances up at the top of the screen first (theaters in those days had a clock above the top of the screen, so Stan checks the time before speaking to Ollie).
- Clothes-Eating Wager: As they go to retrieve the deed, Stanley vows if they fail he'll eat Ollie's hat. They fail. Ollie makes him keep his promise - at first Stanley faces his task with whimpering distaste, but seems blankly contented by his third bite.
- Delayed Reaction: When Stan randomly switches to a deep bass voice during "Trail of the Lonesome Pine," Ollie conks him on the head with a mallet. Stan pauses for a second, then proceeds to finish the song in a lovely soprano voice (to Ollie's further exasperation); this done, he finally sways and collapses to the floor, snoring peacefully.
- Fan Disservice: Ollie (probably naked) covered in a blanket that barely shows his oversized chest.
- Finger-Snap Lighter: Stan ignites his thumb as if it were a cigarette lighter several times; each time, Ollie stares in disbelief and tries to copy him. And eventually it works for Ollie, who reacts with horrified alarm.
- Genre Refugee: Everybody else is a character from a period Western; Laurel and Hardy are their usual 1930s selves.
- Hanging Our Clothes to Dry: Ollie is huddled miserably in a blanket while his clothes dry on a line after he walks into a deep hole in a shallow stream twice. He does it again a third time at the very end of the movie.
- Hitchhiker's Leg: Just a few years after Trope Codifier It Happened One Night, this is parodied when Stan shows some leg to attract attention from a stagecoach. Naturally, it works.
- Hope Spot: Held at gunpoint by Finn after a long but ultimately failed attempt to reclaim the deed, Ollie is certain that justice is close at hand when there is a knock on the door from the local sheriff. He opens the door...to find that the sheriff is the husband of a woman they had bothered during their ride to town, who had earlier threatened them should they not leave town on the next coach. And who helpfully informs them that said coach departed ten minutes ago...
- Idiotic Partner Confession: Ollie would rather keep the deed a secret as to not attract unsavory types; so what does Stanley do? Reveals the whole thing to a shady bartender first thing on their arrival. Ollie naturally slaps his idiotic partner, but way too late.
- Innocently Insensitive: Stan, when telling "Mary" about her father's death:Lola: (as Mary) Tell me about my dear, dear daddy. Is it true that he's dead?
Stan: Well we hope he is, they buried him. - Jerkass Has a Point: While threatening the boys' lives was certainly a tad disproportionate, the sheriff is quite justified in confronting Stan and Ollie over them bothering his wife during their coach ride.
- Magical Realism: There's Stan's ability to light his thumb like a match, there's Stan turning Ollie's head 360 degrees, there's Stan stretching Ollie's neck several feet.
- Neck Lift: Ollie lifts Mickey by his tie during the struggle for the deed.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: During the singing of "Trail of the Lonesome Pine":
Stan shows off by singing in a (dubbed) deep falsetto baritone / basso profundo voice to Ollie's consternation. Ollie gets a mallet from behind the bar and konks Stan— who switches to a falsetto woman's soprano, finishes off the song, then keels over. - Obsessive-Compulsive Barkeeping: The bartender at Mickey's bar is continually wiping off the counter.
- Punny Name: The owner of the inn is named "Mickey Finn".
- Rule of Three: There's a low spot in the road which has been washed out by rains. The puddle conceals a deep hollow. Ollie plunges into the deep water three times.
- Stealing from the Till: When the $1 button is punched on the cash register it registers a dime. Finn observes that the cash register isn't working, but the bartender responds that it's working fine for him.
- Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: In the closing song:Stan, Ollie and Mary (singing): We're going to go, we're going to go, we're going to go way down in Dixie, / Where the hens are doggone glad to lay / Scrambled eggs in the new-mown hay / We're going to see, we're going to see, we're going to see my home in Dixie, / You can tell the world we're going to — noteOllie: D - i - x —Stan (song pauses): I know how to spell it.
- Tickle Torture: Lola gets the deed to a gold mine from Stanley with a ruthless full-body search that leaves him helpless with shrieking laughter for several minutes afterward.
- Unexpected Inheritance: Mary gets a deed to a rich gold mine.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: Parodied. This is where Stan puts the deed after they get it back from Mickey and Lola.
- Your Mime Makes It Real: Stan has the ability to flick his thumb like a lighter and produce a flame, much to the consternation of Ollie.
