Go West (1925)

Buster Keaton’s “Go West”


Buster Keaton’s “Go West” is a film about a man who travels west for work. He is completely inept at being a ranch hand but befriends a cow and does his best to save the cow from the slaughterhouse. 


Camerawork:

Superimposition & Recall: When the film opens, we see a statue of Horace Greeley with a quote under the statue saying “Go west, young man. Go West.” Later in the film, when Keaton’s character doesn’t know what to do with himself for work any longer, Keaton superimposes the statue of Greeley from the beginning over his character. This superimposition lets the viewer recall not only the statue itself from the beginning, but also the quote, “Go west.” So, this superimposition is used to efficiently let the viewer understand the character’s state of mind internally, that he has decided to go west.

 Transitional Shot: To convey the passing of time in one scene, Keaton uses a transitional shot. We see his characters holding a foot long sandwich. The sandwich then becomes even shorter with a quick edit. This transition from the sandwich being long to short lets the viewer know that time has passed, and the sandwich has been eaten. 


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