Going Bye-Bye! (1934) Plot Summary Explained

Butch Long is a notorious criminal who was convicted and sentenced to life in jail thanks to Stan and Ollie's testimony in court. While restrained in a straitjacket, Butch directly threatens them, vowing vengeance for the role they played in his conviction. This sets up the central conflict of the film.

• butch long
• revenge
• testimony
• conviction
• jail

When Stan and Ollie arrive at Mary's apartment to meet their prospective travel companion, Butch mistakes them for law enforcement officers coming to arrest him. In a panic, he crawls into a large trunk and somehow manages to lock himself inside, trapping himself just as the danger he feared arrives, but not in the form he expected.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Butch had escaped from police custody and was hiding at Mary's apartment, so his paranoia about being caught is understandable.

• butch long
• trunk
• mistaken identity
• hidden

Mary is Butch Long's girlfriend. When Stan and Ollie post a newspaper advertisement seeking a travel companion to help them relocate and avoid Butch's threatened revenge, Mary responds to the ad, likely to keep tabs on the people who put her boyfriend in jail, or perhaps to help facilitate his escape plans.

• mary
• butch girlfriend
• travel ad
• disguise

After the judge thanks Stan and Ollie for their testimony that secured Butch's life sentence, Stan innocently asks if they were planning to hang him instead. This reflects both Stan's naive ignorance about the lack of capital punishment in their jurisdiction and serves as a darkly comic moment that enrages Butch further.

• stan
• hang
• capital punishment
• life sentence

The film implies Butch manages to slip away from custody at some point after his courtroom threats, though the exact method of his escape is not shown in detail. He reaches Mary's apartment as a hiding place, where he remains concealed until Stan and Ollie's arrival creates further chaos.

• butch long
• escape
• custody
• police

Believing someone is trapped inside the trunk, Stan and Ollie attempt a misguided rescue operation. They drill small holes hoping to provide air to whoever is inside, not realizing the trapped person is actually the dangerous criminal Butch Long. Their slapstick approach nearly works until Butch communicates through one of the holes.

• trunk
• drilling holes
• rescue attempt
• stan ollie

After Butch tells them through a drilled hole to use a blowtorch, Stan and Ollie apply it to the trunk lock. The intense heat ignites something in the cramped room, causing a blaze to erupt. The pair then grab a firehose to extinguish the flames, which floods the entire room and inadvertently frees Butch from the trunk.

Foreshadowing: The buildup of flammable materials in the small apartment from their earlier drilling creates the perfect conditions for a fire.

• blowtorch
• fire
• hose
• flood
• trunk

Butch is freed accidentally when the fire caused by the blowtorch prompts Stan and Ollie to use a high-pressure firehose to douse the flames. The powerful spray floods the trunk with water, washing Butch out of his confinement and back into the chaotic situation he was trying to escape.

• butch long
• trunk
• flood
• firehose
• escape

Once freed from the trunk, Butch takes his promised revenge on Stan and Ollie, attacking them violently before police arrive to recapture him. This brutal confrontation fulfills the threat he made in court, though his triumph is short-lived as law enforcement promptly apprehends him again.

Foreshadowing: Butch's earlier vow of vengeance from the courtroom sets up this direct confrontation.

• butch long
• attack
• revenge
• police arrest

After police drag Butch back to jail, Stan and Ollie are left battered but alive. They collapse together on a couch in a comedic tangle of intertwined legs, their signature visual gag. Oliver delivers the classic line Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into, and Stan whines in response, providing the film's final laugh.

• ending
• couch
• nice mess
• laurel hardy