I cannot believe a movie this old is this durable. Was anybody else amazed by the wind storm sequence? Apart from one VERY dodgy sequence with Buster hanging from a tree, it was as dangerous looking as anything Jackie Chan has done!
shareI agree with you 100%.
Buster was resilient, tough, and funny as hell.
"Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movie."--Welles
oh yea the windstorm sequence was amazing!
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The cyclone scene is still unbelievable.
shareThat storm sequence is absolutely astounding. It's too bad filmmakers today can't appreciate the value of actually trying to do something real instead of getting high at the sight of any new technology (*cough* George Lucas *cough*).
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Buster had no beefs with new technology. He was a gizmo-maniac, ready to tinker with any new gadget that came his way. Look at his work in "The Playhouse", which is chock full of special effects. But Buster wanted things to be as real as possible. He didn't like to cheat by cutting and faking. If he's supposed to hit the golf ball so it ricochets off the wall and conks him on the head, it's not hit ball (cut) ball richochets off wall (cut) ball hits Buster. It's do one take after the other until he gets it right.
shareI agree that the cyclone scene was amazing, but what I was most impressed with was when Keaton was trying to sneak off of the boat to meet his girlfiend and did a ten-foot faceplant.
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Buster Keaton's stunts werent without consequence. I think it was in this film that he unwittingly broke his neck (his doctor kindly pointed this out to him 5 or 6 years later!).
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It was actually in Sherlock Jr. that Buster broke his neck. It's the scene where he's running along the roof of the moving train carriages, and he grabs onto a water tank, which discharges water all over him.
If you haven't seen it, give it a go. I reckon it's Keaton's best.
Last Film Seen:
* Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920, John S. Robertson) – (8/10)
Buster broke his neck while filming "Sherlock Jr."
shareHe broke his neck doing "Sherlock Jr." -- the scene where he grabs hold of the water spout on the tower and gets knocked to the tracks by the resulting gush.
He often did a number on himself, ending up laid up in bed for days. He broke his ankle when a haywire escalator snagged one of his slapshoes. But to him all the risk was part of show biz. His dad cold-cocked him a couple of times back in vaudeville.
Oww!! Yeah the cameraman almost missed him, as if that was a real accident (though most of Keatons stunts are forced accidents, the guy must have been a masochist ;) )
I love the total selfabuse he takes in this movie, one of his most stuntfilled films.
The jail scene almost had me pissing my pants, when he was whistling and giving signals to his dad.
Keaton is a true legend!!!
Every decade needs its CCC: Cameron Canonworthy Classic.
The tree was being pulled/lifted by a crane. Still a dangerous feat. Remember Buster doing something awfully similar in "Seven Chances"?
shareWhen I saw this film, I thought, it was amazing that a top star like that would get hit and knocked down constantly. But, that was his schtick.
"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne
The really amazing part is that this is not the movie where he broke his neck and didn't know it, but is in fact the most dangerous one he did because the storefront that fell around him was a literal 2 tons and if he had missed his standing position by 2 inches any which way, he would've been killed by it, and he makes it look so easy, but you know you would think that he had to have been scared out of his mind doing that. I know I would be anyway.
shareThe wildest thing to fathom about that scene is that you know HE KNEW it was going to fall around him and our natural reaction to prepare for something like that is to tense up or protect our heads. Yet he remains in character, doesn't even flinch or tense his shoulders and keeps his same stoneface in the aftermath as he runs away. The man must have had nerves of steel or some big cajones (or both).
Desmond is my constant!
amen to all of the above.
i worship buster keaton
Part of that was that he'd been upping the ante on that particular stunt for years. He did the same thing in "Backstage" and "One Week". He knew his crew and trusted them.
But when the rubber hit the road, the day the stunt was filmed -- Well, Buster had just been told the day before that his studio was being shut down. He later recalled standing, waiting for the wall to drop, and not really caring if it crushed him or not.
I just saw the movie today, and the storm sequence was amazing. I liked when he tried to jump into the wind and fell back down. There were so many great parts of the movie, it's hard to choose a favorite. I also think that the scene when the house falls on him was amazing. Great movie: 8/10
I don't poly-cotton to coping tropes, even my own.