Top Five Ending Gags: Buster Keaton’s Independent Shorts

I’ve said before that one of the (many) things I love about Buster Keaton is his penchant for going out on a final laugh.  Thinking about comedies today, I feel like the “comic climax” isn’t really a thing anymore.  There’s not as much of a sense of jokes building to a head, or of a culminating punch line that hits you just before the credits.  With Buster, though, the ending gag in a film or short is usually fantastic, sometimes one of the best laughs in the piece.  Today’s focus is on independent shorts, but I may do the silent features later.  (Comedic spoilers ahead.)

One Week

Classic.  Every beat of the climax is perfect – towing the ramshackle house with the car, getting it stuck on the train tracks, and realizing that the train was on the other track, only to have the house demolished by a train coming the other way.  The last image, Buster putting the “For Sale” sign next to the wreck of the house before he and his wife walk off into the sunset, is too funny!

The Playhouse

This whole short mines good comedy out of the twin sister angle, with Buster forever getting into trouble when he mixes up his girlfriend and her sister.  The final joke is terrific.  Having finally determined which is which, Buster paints an ‘X’ on the back of his girlfriend’s neck before going in to the justice of the peace.  And the kicker?  Even though he doesn’t let her out of his sight the whole time, he still double-checks her neck as they’re walking up the steps!

The Boat

Nothing like a good silent pun.  The Damfino/damn-if-I-know joke appears earlier in the short when Buster radios for help.  Bringing it back at the end is inspired, and executed so slyly – having already had the pun once, we don’t need another intertitle saying it.  When his wife asks where they’ve landed, it can be read clear as day on Buster’s lips:  “Damfino.”  Fade to black.

The Paleface

This one’s just cute.  Having saved the day, Buster marries the Indian princess, and they kiss with a dramatic embrace.  At the “two years later” intertitle, you expect to see Buster and his wife coming out of the teepee with a gaggle of kids; whenever the marriage comes just before the end, children are the typical go-to resolution.  Instead, the film cuts back to show them still kissing in the same pose.  They part, both taking a breath before Buster dives in for more.  Ha!

The Balloonatic

Not one of my favorite shorts, but the ending is a delight.  Buster and his girl head down the river on a canoe, him serenading her with his ukulele.  There’s a big fake-out as it looks like they’re about to go over a waterfall, but the canoe simply glides into the air, and the camera pulls out to show that Buster has rigged the canoe to the titular hot air balloon.  I love the image of them in a canoe attached to a balloon, Buster happily playing as they fly away.