A narrator tells the story of how the Western pioneers doing battle with Indians on the Wild Frontier. All the pioneers and Indians are Goofy lookalikes; Goofy himself doesn't really make an appearance. Much of the cartoon is just these chaotic and crazy war scenes, which are basically slapstick mayhem.Not much of a laughable cartoon here - no suspense and no plot.Grade D-

With having had a fun time watching the second of Disney's Goofy "Jungle" short films, (African Diary) I became very interested in seeing Goofy getting thrown into a Wild West setting.The plot:Heading out to a western state,Goofy and a group of fellow cowboy's journey in interrupted by a surprise attack from a gang of Indian's.Gathering up all of their weapons,Goofy and the cowboy soon discover that getting a grip on the Indian's may be much harder than it originally appeared.View on the film:Opening with a smart intro on the DVD to the movie by Leonard Maltin which focuses on the "controversial" appearance of the Indians in the film,the screenplay by Bill Peet takes a delightfully wild satirical swipe at the Western genre,with Peet filling the dialogue with dozens of double meanings,and also showing the Indian's to actually be far more skilled in battles,compared to Goofy and his gang of hopeless,fellow cowboy's.Scattering sharp quick-witted sight gags across the entire movie,director Jack Kinney splashes bold, vivid all over the film,which along with giving the movie a freewheeling atmosphere,also makes the film a quick- draw winner.

It is understandable why American Indians may not like Californy'er Bust. The reason being that their portrayal is not always positive. However seeing as this is 1945 we are talking about, it worked considering the time period, besides it wasn't even offensive. Putting that aside, Californy'er Bust is a vastly entertaining short. Goofy is in multiple personality mode and really excels, I am in agreement that in terms of working on his own easily that Goofy is the strongest between him, Donald and Mickey They are great characters too, just not as strong as their own but in fairness they don't have that many shorts to show whether they can). The animation is great, both for back then and nowadays, it has beautiful vibrant colours and the backgrounds and characters are drawn with clean detail and fluidity. The music has much character and the quality of the orchestration, articulation and such really suit everything else going on in the short perfectly. The narration is thoughtful and funny, managing to really entertain while also teaching us things too, just another strength of the How to...series or shorts in a similar vein/format. The grammar, spelling and geography is going to be quite an artistic-license eye-opener, but it is what's done with it that's funny, this is not something that inaccurate for no reason at all. And there is a real feel of what it's like in the Wild West. The gags and physical contortions are hilarious to see and are very inventive, the broken English is funny without offending too much while the conversion of vicious savages to a music-playing band is a great and hilarious contrast, likewise with the Indian slithering on the rock and climbing on the wagon train and onto the arrow-ladder. To conclude, great entertainment and beautifully animated, despite you might think while stereotypical perhaps there's nothing to be offended by here. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Walt Disney and his animation staff gave the world a great many fascinating, entertaining and memorable characters over the years, but one of the best has also, paradoxically, been largely given short shrift by far too many people-Goofy, who was and is, in many ways, far more interesting than Donald Duck ever was or could be and even gives Mickey a run for his money at times.Where Mickey and Donald needed foils to work exceptionally well, Goofy works quite well simply placed in a situation and having jokes bounce off him (sometimes quite literally) without needing a Pluto or a Chip n' Dale around to provide a source for tension and/or interaction. Besides, in a pinch, every character in a cartoon could resemble Goofy (like this one, for instance) if need be. This is a marvelous short from the mid-1940s that holds up very well indeed. Typically superb animation (a Disney hallmark throughout their history, as a general rule) and hilarious premise and narration. Well worth watching. Recommended.