https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022938/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_girl%2520crazyWell, I can say I think I've truly come around to Wheeler and Woolsey after watching this movie. Just like the early Marx Brothers were a bit too stagy and maybe theatrical in their presentation and style, Girl Crazy feels more like you're watching an actual film comedy team in the style of the silent comics or 1930s contemporaries like Laurel and Hardy or The Three Stooges. I've also felt this way about the early Abbott and Costello films; it wasn't until a few years into their career that they actually started feeling suited to films instead of doing routines that fit the stage more. I loved several moments in this film.
My favorite is the early sequence between Bert and Bob in the taxi on the way from Chicago to Arizona. Bob gets an offer to head to Arizona to run a gambling ring, and deciding that it's better to take a taxi than a train (because those tickets have to be pre-paid) asks Bert. Bert Wheeler's character, wanting to get away from his sister, agrees. On the highway, a dummy that looks like a cop somehow gets tied to the back of the car. This next bit reminds me a lot of Harry Langdon when he thinks a dummy is real. Eventually, they get rid of the dummy and are back on the road; this time a real cop chases after them. Of course, they believe it's the dummy again. After being pulled over, they try to talk themselves out of it by explaining that they thought he was a dummy, which the cop interprets as saying they thought he was stupid, and the duo gets sent to jail. Even after this segment, there's a very good line when they are back on a bumpy road: Bert Wheeler says "I've never been in a wreck and I've been driving a car for 10 years", which Robert Woolsey responds with, "you've never been in a car and have been driving a wreck for 10 years." Absolutely great sequence and would have made for a great two-reel comedy idea.
The bulk of the film is a Western comedy that revolves around Robert Woolsey helping with a business, and Bert Wheeler being appointed sheriff. In a cliche, the bad guys try to bump him off. Bert Wheeler does an excellent job portraying the naive and then scared sheriff. Another one of my favorite lines in the movie is when Bert Wheeler makes a remark criticizing the bandits, and is then told people get killed for a lot less for that in the West, and Bert amusingly says everything is cheaper there. The climax is oddly very Stooge-like with a lot of punching, running, trying to outsmart villains, and trying to drop vases on people's heads, but it's all very fun to watch.
There's a moment where Bert and Bob dress up and pretend to be Native Americans, but what I find notable and worth mentioning is that it is much different from most instances of racial humor back then in that it feels like the joke is on the duo. They interact with an assimilated Native American who looks at them with bewilderment and embarrassment, as if to show the audience how ridiculous their whole antics are. Other things to note from this film is a romantic subplot with Eddie Quillan, which thankfully is not too intrusive, and an actress who does a bunch of impersonations for whatever reason. Dorothy Lee is under-utilized here.
