In which, inter alia, Buster invents the footlong (and the 6-inch) sub, fires the most risibly emasculating gun and contrives a situation whereby the horns of bull collect the "rail mail" from a moving train. Oh yeah, he also falls in love with a cow.
The only really favourite director I have is Buster Keaton. He was an absolute master. We can learn a great deal about the economies that he employed, the cutting and the positioning of the camera. He had that wonderful gift of using the space around the performer for comic effect. That’s very rare. It seemed effortless, that’s what was lovely. With Chaplin, you could always feel the fourth wall, you would get the feeling that he would be putting his camera in front of an imaginary series of footlights. Keaton didn’t; he was totally involved in finding a place that worked and using what was around him. In Go West, the single frame of the cow and the bucket is physically so beautiful. Right there, in one frame, is perfection.
— Richard Lester (Sight and Sound)
With little luck at keeping a job in the city a New Yorker tries work in the country and eventually finds his way leading a herd of cattle to the West Coast.