Buster Keaton’s Bag of Tricks (Performer)

New blog feature today!  Bag of Tricks looks at the signatures and preferences of a particular performer/director/writer/etc, and where better to start than with Buster Keaton?  Now, Buster was quite the cinematic Renaissance man, and as such, one post won’t cover all the hats he wore.  Today we’re looking at Buster the performer – actor, showman, and, of course, stuntman.

The Stone Face

As I’ve said, it’s so much funnier when Buster doesn’t smile, and I don’t even know why.  It’s true, though – that stoic face cracks me up hard.  Yet, even with the deadpan, he’s so expressive.  The tiniest twitch of his mouth or widening of his eyes conveys a huge amount.

Silent Movie Gestures

I love these.  While Buster’s facial acting is subtler than most of his contemporaries, he still uses plenty of the huge, pantomimic gestures of the period.  I get a kick out of him slumping into a faint, wooing a girl on bended knee with outreached arms, or, my favorite, interlacing his fingers in rapture.  These gestures crop up throughout his career, even in the ‘50s and ‘60s when they’re out of fashion.  So, seeing him in a guest role on a random TV show, he still seems so Buster.

The Flying Flip

This is a great tumble.  It can happen swinging a golf club, baseball bat, or hammer, or even just taking a punch.  Given the slightest bit of encouragement, he flings himself sideways into the air, twisting 360 degrees while simultaneously revolving as if on a spit.  The whole thing is topped off with a hard land on his bottom, sitting up straight with his legs splayed out at right angles. 

The Twisting Tumble

(I never realized how alliterative his stunts are.)  Another Buster classic.  Instead of just tripping or stumbling, he again puts so much more into it, diving headfirst into a fluid fall with his legs in the air as he spins on his shoulder (or sometimes his neck!) before landing in his usual seated position.  There are so many great examples of this stunt, but the best comes in Steamboat Bill Jr. when, catching his foot, he executes it twice in an instant.  Now that’s “falling with style!”

The Walk-to-Run

This one’s fun.  Someone’s after Buster and he knows it, but he tries not to let on.  He keeps walking, faster and faster until he’s running pell-mell and you can’t even tell when he started doing it.  Plus, it’s always so perfectly timed with the increasing pace of this pursuer – too funny.

The Slant

To quote My So-Called Life, “Don’t you just love how he leans?”  Really, he can just stand aslant and I’m marveling at how he does it.  They broke the mold when they made Buster.