Top Five Buster Keaton Stunts: Independent Features

I was surprised that I had trouble picking my top five stunts for Buster Keaton’s independent features.  There were a couple obvious choices, but beyond that, there wasn’t a handful of scenes rising to the top.  Is it that by this point in Buster’s career, there’s so much awesome that it’s hard to tell what’s the most awesome?  Is it that the features have more of a balance between stunts, gags, storylines, and cinematic innovations, so the stunts tend to blend in with everything going on instead of really standing out?  Beats me.  I’ve got my five though, and even though my couple obvious choices are plainly on an entirely different playing field, I love them all.

Three Ages

This one makes the list because it wasn’t actually supposed to happen.  Buster planned to clear the gap between the buildings; the fall was an accident, captured on film thanks to Buster’s “keep rolling until I die or say ‘cut,’” brand of direction.  It was while he was recovering that he decided the footage of him falling was funnier than a shot of him making the jump would’ve been, so once he was back on his feet, he extended the sequence with more falling shots.

Our Hospitality

Like the parkour-esque moves in The Bell Boy, this scene is just straight action.  Buster rescues his girl by swinging out on a rope over a waterfall.  Even aside from the amazing fact that it was 1923 and Buster built himself a waterfall, it’s stupendous.  The build-up, the timing, the stunning execution of the scene – impeccable.  It might be my favorite Buster scene of all time.

Sherlock, Jr.

Today on How Buster Does It…  So, Buster wants his character to ride on the handlebars of a driverless motorbike.  How does he do it?  He learns to steer a driverless motorbike while riding on the handlebars, that’s how!  Yeah, the head-on shots are faked (probably easier to film that way,) but the long shots are 100% Buster – no tricks, just the Great Stone Face being a BAMF.  The gags on the bridge are my favorite.

The General

Maybe it’s not the most dangerous (even though, given the fact that Buster’s scrambling around on a moving train, it is pretty dangerous) or jaw-dropping, you’ve got to love the cowcatcher scene for sheer style.  Fantastically framed and perfectly choreographed.  So much awesome.

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

You knew this was coming.  The quintessential Buster moment.  That is the side of a house, and Buster had something like two inches of wiggle room on either side.  The story goes that the cameraman filmed it with his eyes closed because he couldn’t bear to look.  This is what Buster does – the audacious, the reckless, the visually arresting, the never-been-done-before-but-imitated-forever-after, the comedic, the ballsy, the technically precise, the Buster.  Astounding.