My Little Chickadee (1940) is a comedy that makes good use of the personas of its two stars. Both W.C. Fields and Mae West made use of their established images in writing and starring in this film. Each had fostered a slightly risqué image, and the ideal locale for each was a saloon or similarly disreputable establishment. Fields had the image of the aging and slightly inebriated roue, while West fostered an image as a magnet for men and as a free spirit. The two use their film images to good effect in this comedy Western which owes a lot of its tone to other films they had made earlier in their careers.
Other aspects of the personas of the stars are also evident in the way this film is structured. West had a heroic streak that contrasted with the cowardice of Fields on screen. West was seen as heroic first because she refused to bend to the will of the community and instead asserted her independence. She was shown in film after film as stronger than the men around her. She would be the one who sought the truth over the easy lies that a community would tell to protect itself. Her strength is apparent in this film as she stands up to the community that throws her out and then as she takes two six-guns in hand and fights back during the Indian attack. While others are cowering on the floor, she is striding the aisles of the train firing through the windows.
Fields had a persona more cowardly, always seeing a strategic withdrawal as preferable to a fight. He also had an ongoing war with children that is apparent in the Indian fighting sequence in this film. When Fields tries to fight back, he does so by putting children between himself and the fighting and then by using the tools of children, such as a slingshot that never works. In some ways, he has an incipient bravery that comes out in odd actions, such as catching an arrow as it flies past, almost as an afterthought. Throughout this film, though, Fields stands be...