By Richard Harland Smith
The Dude Goes West
Brief Synopsis
A tenderfoot tries to help a miner's daughter protect her claim.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Kurt Neumann
Director
Eddie Albert
Daniel Bone
Gale Storm
Liza Crockett
James Gleason
Sam Briggs
Gilbert Roland
Pecos Kid
Binnie Barnes
Kiki Kelly
Film Details
Also Known As
The Tenderfoot
Genre
Comedy
Western
Release Date
May
30,
1948
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Allied Artists Productions, Inc.
Distribution Company
Monogram Distributing Corp.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 26m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7,826ft
Synopsis
In 1876, Daniel Bone abandons his father's gunsmith business in Brooklyn and heads West to set up shop in Arsenic City, Nevada, site of a gold rush. On board the train west, Dan, an avid reader, learns western history and teaches himself Indian sign language. After changing trains in Kansas City, Dan meets Liza Crockett, who is also going to Arsenic City, and the Pecos Kid. During the onboard Sunday services, Dan sees Pecos steal Liza's purse and, after a brief scuffle with him on the railroad car platform, pushes him off the train, relieving him of his gun while simultaneously saving the purse. However, Liza thinks Dan has stolen her purse. Meanwhile, Pecos, who had planned to leave the train at that point anyway, is met by his cohort Beetle and swears to him that he will get even with Dan, the "dude." In Carson City, Dan learns that the stagecoach to Arsenic City is fully booked for weeks ahead, and buys an old bakery wagon, a horse, Stetson and boots. At the Red Dog Saloon, Dan observes gold miner Sam Briggs being cheated in a card game and intervenes on his behalf. Later, Dan shows Sam a gun made by his father, which looks like a pipe. Sam joins Dan on the trip to Arsenic City and along the way, Sam tells Dan that he knew Liza's father, a prospector who struck a motherlode but was killed in an ambush without revealing the location of the strike. Meanwhile in Arsenic City, Texas Jack Barton and his gang hold up the bank and, during their getaway, Jack is shot in the leg. Dan finds him in the desert, and Jack claims to have shot himself in the leg. When Dan shows Jack the gun he took from Pecos, he earns Jack's respect. Jack tells him that Pecos is the best shot in Nevada after him, but after Dan proves that he is a far better shot than Jack, Jack asks him to join his gang. When Dan declines, Jack slugs him and takes his horse and wagon, leaving him to walk to Arsenic City. Liza happens along in a buckboard and reluctantly agrees to take him into town. On the way, they are attacked and taken prisoner by Paiute Indians. From his reading, Dan remembers that the Paiutes are superstitious and, by way of some basic magic and his knowledge of sign language, is able to trick the chief, Running Wolf, and becomes his blood brother. After Dan tells the chief that Liza is his squaw, they stay with the tribe for several days. Eventually Dan and Liza reach Arsenic City, where Dan finds his wagon with a note of apology from Jack and learns that Jack has a $5,000 reward on his head. Liza, who did not appreciate the hard labor she had to perform as Dan's "squaw," is anxious to part company with him. She goes to see lawyer Horace Hotchkiss, who claims to have been her father's best friend and is particularly interested to learn that she may have a map to the gold strike. Hotchkiss is in cahoots with Kiki Kelly, a saloonkeeper, and with Pecos, who killed Liza's father. Pecos was supposed to have stolen the map from Liza while on the train. In the saloon, Pecos challenges Dan to a gunfight, which Dan wins by shooting the gun out of his hand. Outside, Dan discovers two of Pecos's henchmen trying to rob Liza. When he shoots them dead, Liza faints and Dan takes her to her hotel room, where he discovers the map, memorizes it, then burns it. Liza now has to trust Dan as he is the only person who knows the location of the mine. Pecos sets a trap for his rival, Jack, and is about to have him lynched when Dan and Sam stop the proceedings. They are able to free Jack, but Kiki shoots and kills Sam. Later, Dan enlists the Indians' help in beginning mining operations and arranges for two Indians to kidnap Liza and bring her to the mine, where he shows her a large quantity of gold. On their way back into Arsenic City, Dan and Liza, who realize they are in love, are stopped by Pecos and Kiki, who demand to know the location of the mine. Kiki and Pecos, in turn, are held up by Texas Jack, who shoots Kiki. After Pecos shoots Jack, Dan shoots Pecos with his pipe gun. Dan and Liza are then pursued by Pecos' men, but Dan's Indian friends ride to their rescue. Running Wolf escorts them back into town and Liza officially becomes Dan's "squaw."
Director
Kurt Neumann
Director
Cast
Eddie Albert
Daniel Bone
Gale Storm
Liza Crockett
James Gleason
Sam Briggs
Gilbert Roland
Pecos Kid
Binnie Barnes
Kiki Kelly
Barton Maclane
Texas Jack [Barton]
Harry Hayden
Horace Hotchkiss
Catherine Doucet
Grandma Crockett
Sarah Padden
Mrs. Hallahan
Douglas Fowley
Beetle
Olin Howlin
Finnegan
Francis Pierlot
Mr. Brittle
Chief Yowlachie
Running Wolf
Edward Gargan
Conductor
Tom Fadden
J. J. Jines
Si Jenks
Horse trader
George Meeker
Gambler
Frank Yaconelli
Train passenger
Charles Williams
Harris
Tom Tyler
Spiggoty
Lee "lasses" White
Baggage master
Ben Weldon
Porgy
Iron Eyes Cody
Dick Elliott
Crew
Daniel Decatur Emmett
Composer
Arthur Gardner
Assistant to prod
Jo Graham
Dialogue Director
Carla Hadley
Hairstylist
Frank S. Heath
Assistant Director
Richard Heermance
Film Editor
Ernest R. Hickson
Art Director
Edward Kay
Music Director
Frank King
Producer
Herman King
Technical Advisor
Maurice King
Producer
Madison Lacey
Stills
Tom Lambert
Sound Engineer
Emile Lavigne
Makeup
Jules Levy
Script Supervisor
Harry Lewis
Grip
Mary Loos
Original Screenplay
Lorraine Maclean
Costumes
Bob Martin
Camera Operator
Ray Mercer
Special Effects
Sidney Moore
Set Decoration
Richard Sale
Original Screenplay
Karl Struss
Director of Photography
Dimitri Tiomkin
Music Composition and Conducting
Herman E. Webber
Production Manager
Gordon Wiles
Art Director
William Ziegler
Film Editor
Film Details
Also Known As
The Tenderfoot
Genre
Comedy
Western
Release Date
May
30,
1948
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Allied Artists Productions, Inc.
Distribution Company
Monogram Distributing Corp.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 26m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7,826ft
Articles
Dude Goes West -
Fifty years before the Coen Brothers' The Big Lebowski (1998), Eddie Albert was "The Dude" in this fish-out-of-water comedy set in the old west. Scripted by the husband and wife writing team of Richard Sale and Mary Loos, The Dude Goes West (1948) went into production in November 1947 under the working title The Tenderfoot and stars Albert as Daniel Bone - that is not a typo -- a Brooklyn gunsmith who heads west to try his luck in the frontier town of Arsenic City, Nevada. Produced by the newly-incorporated Allied Pictures (formerly the Poverty Row outfit Monogram Pictures) and financed by the independent King Brothers, The Dude Goes West beat the better-remembered Bob Hope cowboy comedy The Paleface (1948) to American cinemas by six months but likewise fills its running time with gags, gunplay, and mistaken identities - enacted by a better-than-average cast of characters that includes Gale Storm, James Gleason, Barton McLane, Douglas Fowley, Olin Howlin, Iron Eyes Cody, and Gilbert Roland as The Pecos Kid. Cinematographer Karl Struss had been behind the camera since Hollywood's silent era, photographing Fred Niblo's Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) and F. W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927) - which won him his first and only Academy Award - before transitioning to sound films and shooting such classics as Reuben Mamoulian's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940). Struss and director Kurt Neumann would collaborate many more times, but never more memorably than for the science fiction milestone The Fly (1958).
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
Dude Goes West -
Fifty years before the Coen Brothers' The Big Lebowski (1998), Eddie Albert was "The Dude" in this fish-out-of-water comedy set in the old west. Scripted by the husband and wife writing team of Richard Sale and Mary Loos, The Dude Goes West (1948) went into production in November 1947 under the working title The Tenderfoot and stars Albert as Daniel Bone - that is not a typo -- a Brooklyn gunsmith who heads west to try his luck in the frontier town of Arsenic City, Nevada. Produced by the newly-incorporated Allied Pictures (formerly the Poverty Row outfit Monogram Pictures) and financed by the independent King Brothers, The Dude Goes West beat the better-remembered Bob Hope cowboy comedy The Paleface (1948) to American cinemas by six months but likewise fills its running time with gags, gunplay, and mistaken identities - enacted by a better-than-average cast of characters that includes Gale Storm, James Gleason, Barton McLane, Douglas Fowley, Olin Howlin, Iron Eyes Cody, and Gilbert Roland as The Pecos Kid. Cinematographer Karl Struss had been behind the camera since Hollywood's silent era, photographing Fred Niblo's Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) and F. W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927) - which won him his first and only Academy Award - before transitioning to sound films and shooting such classics as Reuben Mamoulian's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940). Struss and director Kurt Neumann would collaborate many more times, but never more memorably than for the science fiction milestone The Fly (1958).
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film's working title was The Tenderfoot. Although onscreen credits list Richard Heermance as editor, Hollywood Reporter production charts and copyright records list William Zeigler. According to August 1947 Hollywood Reporter news items, background shots for The Tenderfoot were made at the Bowie (Texas) Rodeo and a cattle stampede was staged near Winemucca, NV. None of this footage appears in the released film, however. A November 20, 1947 Los Angeles Times news item includes Milburn Stone in the cast, but he was not seen in the viewed print.
