Product Details

• Actors: Mae West, Paul Cavanagh, Gilbert Emery, Marjorie Gateson, Tito Coral
• Directors: Alexander Hall
• Writers: Mae West, George B. Dowell, Marion Morgan
• Producers: William LeBaron
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 74 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302798523
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,633 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How The West Was Won - by America's Bustiest Philosopher, December 4, 2004

By 

Tee (LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goin to Town [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Man: "You're a Dangerous Woman!"
Mae: "Thanks!"

GOIN' TO TOWN was Mae West's fifth film and her fifth box-office smash. Mae West, the ultimate big city gal is transferred to the west as a saloon queen named Cleo Borden who becomes a cattle queen after the death of her wealthy fiance. Not one to cry over spilt milk, Mae is soon on the make with the overseer of her late beau's estate, blue-blooded Englishman Paul Cavanaugh, who somehow is immune to the lady's voluptuous charms and is not interested in a personal relationship. "I'm here to take care of the cattle and the men (ranch employees)," he sniffs. "You're worry about the cattle - I'll take care of the men!" is Cleo's response.

Cleo's new holdings make her a major player in the world of horse racing where she comes into contact with the society crowd. Determined to become a "society dame" (all the better to impress the elusive Cavanaugh) she enters a marriage of convenience with a socially promenient but financially destitute Monroe Owsley and bankrolls him out of debt in exchange for the place in society for being his wife, not counting on problems from her rival at the racetrack, Marjorie Gateson, who happens to be Monroe's aunt. Rather than sponsoring an opera like Ms. Gateson, Cleo decides to star in one - a production of SAMSON AND DELILAH with Mae tackling opera quite creditably.

GOIN' TO TOWN is loaded with classic Mae West quips and one-liners. She is superb and while a bit plump, she has a curvacious beauty that sparkles especially as "lady barber" Delilah. If there's a flaw in the film, it's in her "seven leading men, count 'em" (as publicized by Paramount) there's not one single man in the cast who can really hold their own against this phenomeonal female. The main supporting honors go to the superb character actress Marjorie Gateson in a quinessential portrayal of an upper-class hypocrite, a pampered middle-aged beauty. All ice-cold matronly glamour and ruthlessness, Gateson comes as close as any woman ever did to threatening to steal a picture from Mae West. But then no woman - or man - could ever quite do that. Mae West dominates a movie, ANY movie, in a way that only a few stars - Pickford, Garbo, Hepburn, Davis - ever could. As star, screenwriter, legend, Mae West goes to town in GOIN' TO TOWN.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I certainly did-- twice.", March 9, 2008

By 

Samantha Glasser "Maliejandra" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Goin to Town [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Goin' to Town is the story of an ambitious woman named Cleo Borden (Mae West) who grew up in a saloon. She loves the men and the men love her, but her aspirations lead her to enter into a contract to marry a wealthy man (Fred Kohler). Fortunately for her, he dies and leaves her all of his fortune. She soon learns that although she has money, she is not yet a lady, so she embarks on a journey to become one. She has no desire to change herself, but the man she sets her sights on (Paul Cavanagh) does, so she obliges.

West is her good ol' self here, complete with wiggling hips and growling voice. Either you love her or you hate her, and I find it quite difficult not to admire her. She had guts that many in the business did not have. She can put off a suggestive bit of dialogue with just enough inuendo to titilate those in on the joke, but with a subtlety that will pass over the heads of others. She is quick and expects you to keep up with her.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars MEDIOCRE WEST., November 15, 2001

By 

"scotsladdie" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goin to Town [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A saloon singer inherits a ranch, strikes oil and crashes high society in pursuit of a husband and respectability. Mae extended her vocal range to the big aria (or an approximation thereof!) from Saint Saen's SAMSON AND DELILAH, but she seemed more at home singing HE'S A BAD, BAD MAN, BUT HE'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!. GOIN' TO TOWN didn't startle West's fans by straying too far from her usual story of an ambitious woiking goil rising from rhinestones to diamonds, and took pains not to shock censorship groups - too much. Mae could no more be separated from sexual insinuation than Donald Duck from his quack, but her shafts of wit were now toned down noticeably from the outrageous to the merely naughty; the audience reaction to the film was similarily subdued. The movie made plenty of money, however and in 1935, West was the highest paid woman in America (her income reached - an astonishing - for 1935 - $480,000). Theatres prospered with this William LeBaron production in 1935, but unfortunately, Mae's pictures were becoming more and more whitewashed, predictible and generally mild in the entertainment department; it's a shame the censors killed her ribald style!