The Railrodder (1965)

Today’s Buster Monday post is about an amusing little treat made toward the end of Buster Keaton’s career.  This was during the Keaton revival of the ‘50s and ‘60s, when people rediscovered Buster and loved him again, so this glorified promotional short is infused with a strong nostalgic streak that’s both loving and delightful.

The plot is incredibly basic:  an old man runs off with a little railway motorcar (like a maintenance vehicle) and rides from one end of Canada to the other.  The film is, in essence, a silent comedy married to a travelogue encouraging Canadian tourism, so it’s mainly 25 minutes of landscape porn augmented by all sorts of terrific Buster gags on a speeding motorcar.

Obviously, a 68-year-old Buster with lung cancer can’t do the same wild stuff he did in the ‘20s, but he’s still remarkably quick and spry.  Much of the humor comes from the assorted tasks he performs on the moving motorcar – cooking, laundry, hunting, etc. – and there are a few impressive close-call bits, most notably a scene of him barreling across a high bridge when the wind has blown his map against his face and he’s flailing around blindly.

While the film has minimal tumbling and only moderately death-defying feats (sheesh, Buster – you’re slacking,) it has plenty of imaginative gags that play out in front of the picturesque backdrops.  Obviously, Buster can come up with train gags in his sleep, so there’s no shortage there.  I also like the recurring jokes about the apparently-bottomless storage compartment on the motorcar that supplies Buster’s every need on his cross-country trip, including a full tea service, and there’s a duck hunting sequence that is a thing of absolute comic beauty.

I love Buster’s manner and movement here, because it’s just like it was in the old days.  The way he carries himself, his big, telegraphed silent-movie gestures, how he leans into the wind, his hilariously-somber expressions, his timing – oh my goodness, his timing!  It’s like no time has passed at all, and I know how dorky this makes me, but I get warm fuzzies watching it.

The DVD for The Railrodder also includes a fabulous making-of documentary called Buster Keaton Rides Again, noteworthy for being twice as long as the short film it’s documenting.  In addition to seeing fun footage of Buster enjoying downtime after shooting, we also get the only significant footage of Buster actually working on the set a film.  It’s so cool to watch him laying out a gag for the director, sometimes sketching it or acting it out, and then see it realized in a shot from the movie.  He also helps frame shots, directs extras, and argues with the director over stunts deemed too dangerous (in Buster’s mind, it seems, nothing is too dangerous, but I see the director’s point – who wants to be known as the guy who got Buster Keaton killed on set?)  It really shows how much skill and precision went into crafting his comedy, and it also shows how involved he was in the creative process even when he didn’t take credit for the writing or directing!  Plus, his super Midwestern accent always makes me smile.

Warnings

Nothing, really.  Just a big helping of “don’t try this at home!”