Palooka from Paducah (1935)

Fair-to-middling Eduational short this week, I’d say.  It has its moments, and the Keaton family reunion makes me smile, but it’s nothing too special

A family of hillbillies has been getting along well enough for themselves, but they’ve hit a crisis:  it turns out, Prohibition was repealed over a year ago, which puts a damper on their moonshine business.  The family’s patriarch decides that wrestling matches are where the money’s at now and starts training the larger of his two sons to enter the ring.  Given Buster’s stature, he is not the larger of the two sons, but he does still get on the action, helping with the training and serving as the referee when the day of the big fight comes.

This short manages four out of five Keatons, with Buster’s parents (Joe and Myra) and sister (Louise) taking on the same familial roles in the film.  It’s fun to see them all onscreen together, and each Keaton gets a few nice comedic moments of their own.  When the family is settling into their bunks for the night, Joe carefully drops his boots on Buster’s head, Myra has an amusing bit featuring the fancy new teeth Joe has bought for her, and Louise has a couple of really great tumbles.

And Buster, of course, gets some good routines.  Like Allez-Oop, the heaviest physical comedy is in the second half, once the wrestling starts.  The whole setup feels reminiscent of Battling Butler, although there aren’t any bits directly lifted from there.  We have a fun training scene, a predictably disastrous match (in which Buster put himself in the line of fire way more than any ref needs to,) and a great shot of Buster brought to the dinner table by his brother.  In the latter, he has his legs wrapped around his brother’s waist but somehow keeps his rest of him all but perpendicular to the floor (that’s killer core strength – he clearly got his form back after the troubles at MGM.)

Most of the entertainment just comes from the family’s interactions with another; there’s a funny scene of them all around the table together that’s inspired by the dinner scene in My Wife’s Relations.  The short tends to succeed in the little moments, but what story there is isn’t much to write home about.  Besides the gags, tumbles, and hick jokes, not a whole lot there.

I don’t mind the enormous fake beards on Buster and the other hillbilly guys.  It looks as goofy as it does fake, but it only covers the chin and sides, so it doesn’t get in the way of Buster’s always surprisingly-expressive stone face, which is the main thing. 

Warnings

Slapstick violence and alcohol references.