Making the case for Keaton’s genius
One of the best observations I’ve encountered about Buster Keaton comes from David Thomson’s “New Biographical Dictionary of Film.” From today’s perspective, Thomson writes, what’s most to be admired in Keaton is “the serene capacity for absorbing frustration and turning a blind eye to fear and failure.”
Silent comedies are stereotypically seen as vehicles for slapstick and pratfalls, but Keaton’s movies are complex enough to evoke such thoughts from his admirers. A new documentary, “The Great Buster: A Celebration,” shows us why he inspires rhapsodies from critics and film historians, and it would be a fine introduction for those who don’t know his work.
This film, directed by Peter Bogdanovich (“The Last Picture Show”), makes no pretense at objectivity — it’s an out-and-out homage that, in addition to treating us to many digitally restored clips of Keaton’s work, offers testimony from numerous filmmakers and funny persons to Keaton’s comic genius and importance as a director.
Bogdanovich can hardly go wrong in offering us crisp highlights from such superb films as “The General,” “Sherlock Jr.” and “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” Commentators include Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Bill Irwin, Richard Lewis, Quentin Tarantino, Johnny Knoxville and even Werner Herzog (“Buster Keaton is the essence of movies.”).
There’s archival footage and still photos from his first days as a performer (he appeared at age 3 in his parents’ vaudeville act) to his earliest films as a sidekick to Fatty Arbuckle. Keaton perfected his “great stone face” persona and began making his own films, with the peak of his work probably coming in the late 1920s.
The rest of the story is very sad. Keaton wound up at MGM, which was not congenial to his working habits, and the quality (and box office returns) of his work began to tail off. Unable to make the transition to the sound era, he became an alcoholic, suffered psychological troubles, and his marriage broke up. In the following decades, he anonymously contributed gags to various movies and took on bit parts in which his reduced condition was painfully clear.
But the film makes a compelling case that, at his peak, he truly was the “Great Buster.” Any doubters are advised to see this movie, then treat themselves to a viewing of “The General.” Case closed.