Two-Gun Gussie (1918)

Crappy film

Absolutely Brilliant!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

"Two-Gun Gussie" is a 10-minute short film from 1918, which means it will have its 100th anniversary soon. The director is Alfred J. Goulding and writer is H.M. Walker and this duo is known to have worked on many black-and-white silent films that are still somewhat known today, almost a century later. And this is one of them. It shows us Harold Lloyd in the Wild West. He is in a bar and it is kinda fun to see him next to all these rough cowboys with their mustaches. Talk about wrong place wrong time really for Lloyd. He looks so harmless with his glasses and innocent face expression. You probably know him and his looks, so you know what I am talking about. but badly for him, and luckily for us, he really starts believing he was one of these rough Wild West guys too and hilarity ensues. I think this film was above-average for its time. Nothing too great or funny, but it's really the setting and the contrast that make this one work somehow. Supporting actors include Snub Pollard with the biggest mustache of them all and Lloyd's regular leading lady Bebe Daniels. Oh yeah, Lloyd was only in his mid-20s here, but extremely experienced already through all the films he made in the previous 3 years.

Two-Gun Gussie (1918) is a Harold Loyd western short comedy directed by Alfred J. Goulding.In this one Harold plays a mild-mannered young man who has left home and earns his living playing the piano in a saloon.The dangerous villain Dagger-Tooth Dan scares the local folks.Nobody's afraid of Harold.Except when the sheriff arrives with some letters he has received.Dan sees them and switches the information in them to make the sheriff think that the piano player is the dangerous one.Now Harold, starting to believe he really is dangerous, starts acting like one.Harry Pollard plays Snub the bartender, who doesn't get too much behind from Harold.Bebe Daniels is The Girl, who should have been seen more on screen.William Blaisdell is Dagger-Tooth while Charles Stevenson plays Whooping-Cough Charlie, the Sheriff.This is not the funniest of Harold Lloyd's short comedies, but it sure has got speed.Harold was an energetic young fellow who could move very rapidly from one scene to another.The ending in nice, where Harold accidentally fires his gun when Bebe is behind him.And then there's the little kiss.For us Harold Loyd fans this is a must-see.

This amusing short comedy is not bad, and it is at least a decent version of a familiar idea that has been used in similar form by many comics. It also shows Harold Lloyd as the kind of character that he was soon to develop further in the years just ahead.The story has a western setting, and it starts with the local sheriff confusing Lloyd, who plays a mild-mannered piano player, with a tough criminal who has just arrived in town. The idea was probably a little less shopworn in 1918 than it would be now, and it furnishes more than enough material for a one-reeler.Lloyd gets decent mileage out of the material, and while some of it is predictable, there are a couple of good gags as well, and there is always a good energy level. Snub Pollard gets a couple of good moments, and he looks as if he is enjoying himself. Bebe Daniels is also in the cast, but unfortunately her role is rather limited. Overall, a decent short comedy, and certainly one of the more efficient versions of the idea.

An excellent early short comedy for Harold Lloyd's 'Glass' character. He plays a meek conservatory graduate who wows the matrons and winds up playing in a western saloon, where Snub is the bartender and Bebe the Salvation Army lass. Harold is, of course, confused for a dangerous character and the gags flow fast and free for a while. Even Snub gets one or two funny ones.