Wild and Woolly (1917)
A railroad tycoon's son, whose head is full of dime-novel notions of the Wild West, travels to Arizona expecting six-guns and stampedes, unaware that the townspeople have staged an elaborate cowboy performance for his benefit, until a corrupt Indian agent hijacks the charade into an actual train robbery.
Written by Anita Loos and directed by John Emerson, Wild and Woolly is considered one of the finest of Douglas Fairbanks’s boyish-adventurer comedies, poking gentle fun at Eastern romanticism about the frontier just as the real Old West was passing into myth. It entered the National Film Registry in 2002.
Background
Wild and Woolly is a 1917 comedy starring Douglas Fairbanks, directed by John Emerson from a script by Anita Loos. It is frequently cited as one of Fairbanks’s best boyish-adventurer comedies. The film was selected for the National Film Registry in 2002. Fairbanks plays a railroad tycoon’s son whose head is full of dime-novel notions about the Old West. Eileen Percy co-stars. The film’s satire of Eastern romanticism about the frontier appeared just as the real West was passing into myth, which gives it a wry, historical quality. It runs about twenty minutes.
What to watch for
Look for Fairbanks’s energetic physical comedy as the Eastern heir who arrives in Arizona expecting six-guns and stampedes. The humor comes from townspeople staging an elaborate cowboy performance for his benefit, and the film’s gentle satire of his expectations. The shift to an actual train robbery in the final section gives the comedy an action climax, with the performance hijacked into a real crime. Fairbanks’s acrobatic movement and quick comic timing are central to the film. Notice how the story’s joke depends on the gap between the romantic frontier of the dime novels and the staged version the townspeople create.
