The Ending

The reason people might not "get" the ending is because it was so different from Buster Keaton's better, previous movies. He doesn't get the girl! He just stands there upset. The old Buster would have come up with some way to get her back. What was MGM thinking, having that ending? When they gave this script to him? This movie was just awful. It only serves as an example of how MGM ruined Keaton's career.

Every other Buster Keaton movie I ever watched made me happy, including some of the supposedly bad ones. This one just made me sad. I think it was the ending. I refuse to ever watch it again.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. Proceed to the execution."
--The African Queen

this film was pretty good. of course, when weighing it based on it being a buster keaton film, it was far far farrrrr inferior to even the worst of his usual works.
he was robbed entirely of his true comedic talents at the lame expense of 25 watt puns and dialogue sequences making his character seem slower than the "boost" in his career as a result from this film out....the whole bit about the queen has swooned broke my heart beyond means. yuck!

the payoffs were number one hearing his voice for the first time( how abruptly appropiate it was in the very beginning). singing was a different note as well. you may have been able to tell from his physical bravado and expertise that he is a very talented dancer as well.

his usual slapstick scenarios were far and few between in this film, the ones within were sort of worth it. i loved the clown makeup(not the costumes), you could really feel what he was thinking. and really, i liked it that he didn't get the girl in the end. it was something really different from what he would usually do....he is a very skilled dramatic actor(just look at the very last shot) i certainly had a couple of tears. especially since i was not expecting that turnout at all. i knew elvira would swoon to larry, but out of instinct expected elmer to somehow get her back. that didn't happen, so with that reality...the ending was truly heartbraking. even more heartbraking is knowing just how much buster hates doing drama.

basically, there were a lot of things i didn't like, a few i really did enjoy. for me, it was a bittersweet experience. but i honestly did like the ending.

p.s. let's face it, she wasn't good enough for him anyway

-i need a nap-

MGM must have thought that creepy, slimy, lying Robt Montgomery would naturally be preferable to the honest, earnest, protective character of Keaton's. So, "here's the ending, and get out of our theater so we can sell your seat again!" hehe

ps - Montgomery seemed slimy in every role I've ever seen

Yeah, the ending kind of stunk, especially after watching many of his earlier films prior where he's an indomitable character that receives rewards in the end. In this one he looked defeated.

"Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movie."--Welles

As an audience we just expect the humble Buster to prevail with the starlet. Before he moved to MGM, he would have. Free and Easy is of a piece with post-Zeppo Marx Brothers films at Metro, where the fellows clown and pimp for the young romantic leads. Of course the Marx films are superior, but I enjoyed Free and Easy in many places, and it was surely worthwhile to see from an historical vantage as his first sound feature. In the MGM universe of the time, Keaton gets top billing and Bob Montgomery gets the girl.

Are we talking about the same movie or are there two movies with the same title made in the same year with the same actors? F & E had one sexy musical number and the rest of the movie? Er...Let's just say that I don't understand what the people above are talking about.

I have this movie as an also-ran with the Buster Keaton Collection (it includes the genuinely great The Cameraman, the okay Spite Marriage, and a good documentary about Buster), and the ending was the only part I watched. It almost made me cry. Weird ending for a comedy. I can't help but think Buster's sadness in that scene is real though.

What's the Spanish for drunken bum?