Although
Buster Keaton’s independent shorts are, for my money, more creative, more
ambitious, and more tightly put-together than the stuff he did with Fatty
Arbuckle, I can’t deny that Buster’s stunt work in these shorts is just
off-the-charts incredible. The
Arbuckle-Keaton shorts have more instant-replay moments for me than any other
period of Buster’s work. Here’s to some
truly breathtaking slapstick. (Clips today,
because pictures just aren’t enough!)
The
Butcher Boy
It’s
true that, even though taking a sack of flour to the face is no mean feat (a
sack of flour thrown at his face – now
that’s dedication!) this moment lacks the style and athleticism of other stunts
listed here. But it was the first,
Buster’s maiden stunt on camera, and that makes it special. Right from the start, one thing was
clear: no one can fall like Buster.
The
Bell Boy
This
scene is… it’s not even slapstick! This
is straight-up action, Buster being awesome just
because he can. It’s my all-time
favorite stunt sequence of his. The
takedown of the burglar, the absolutely flawless
execution of stunning, proto-parkour acrobatics, the fact that it’s all done in
a continuous shot – amazing.
Back
Stage
I love
the no-handed cartwheels so much.
Especially in context; here’s Buster being silly onstage, he’s in drag
that’s middling at best, he’s playing a pipe or recorder of some kind, and he’s
just sort of prancing around. Then, out
of nowhere, a switch flips and he becomes this whirligig of no-handed
cartwheels, one after the other, over and over, and when it finally ends in a
fall, he switches right back to messing around.
In the midst of the stage hands’ awful little show, it’s a moment of
genuine spectacle, and he just moves along from it like it’s no big deal.
Back
Stage
Given
the way this one is shot, it’s clear that Buster’s quarry is a dummy during the
long shot, but it’s still wonderfully cool.
And anyway, whatever else is faked, it’s Buster throughout, doing
fantastic things as usual. I love the
way he just swings up to the balcony, clamps onto his target, and lets gravity
do the rest. Plus, in the ensuing scuffle,
he breaks out one of my favorite Buster fight moves, where he leaps up to kick
someone in the chest with both feet.
Sorry, Thor – Buster did it first!
The
Garage
Well,
sure, he could’ve just slid straight
down the fire pole. But why would he do
that when he can spiral all the way down, curling up so his legs are actually
above his head? After all, what’s the
point of being an assistant mechanic/fireman if you can’t have a little
fun? Like others on this list, I love that
it’s there just cuz, purely Buster being a boss because that’s how he rolls.
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