Keaton had hundreds of films, but I would like to know what your 5 favorite Keaton films of all time are.
MINE GO AS FOLLOWS:
1. Sherlock Jr.
2. The Navigator
3. The General
4. The Playhouse
5. College
I love them all, but I'll pick my top five.
1. The General. I still think it's his tour de force. I am fascinated by the Civil War. I love trains. I love the female lead. It's my favorite movie. Ever.
2. Sherlock Jr. A close second. A brilliant comedy of objects! I still don't know how he 'dove' though the woman. The part where he walks into the action on the movie screen is a high point in the history of cinema!
3. I can't remember the name of it, but it's a short where Buster builds a house from a kit. The results are absolutely side-splitting as everything in the house is screwed up! It's my favorite Keaton short, with The Boat being second.
4. Steamboat Bill Jr. The scene where the front of the house falls all around him while he passes through the window frame still gives me chills. Love the hat scene as well.
5. Seven Chances. The mad chase at the end and the boulders are wicked funny. The part where he practices proposing to Snitz Edwards is a scream!
" 3. I can't remember the name of it, but it's a short where Buster builds a house from a kit. The results are absolutely side-splitting as everything in the house is screwed up! It's my favorite Keaton short, with The Boat being second. "
<----- I believe the film is "One Week"
Considering I only have access to approx 15 of his films, my top 5 would be:
1 Sherlock Jr.
2 Neighbours (short)
3 The General
4 Collage
5 The Three Ages
Buster's the best!
I want to swap Neighbours for THE HIGH SIGN - thats way better! what the heck was i thinking when i wrote that list?!
1. Sherlock Jr. -- Best short. WHen he gets trapped in the movie is amazing.
2. The General -- Best feature. Who else would do slapstick with giant locomotives, cannons, and hundreds of extras?
3. Seven Chances -- A silly premise, but once it's set up it leads to a classic climax.
4. Steamboat Bill Jr. -- After using such huge things as a ship, a two-story house and locomotives as comic props, it makes sense that the next step is a force of nature. Keaton was the master of 'epic' comedy.
5. Our Hospitality -- I was particularly impressed by the elegant rythms of the train sequence.
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Sherlock, Jr., Seven Chances, The General and Our Hospitality are my favourite features... after that I'm not sure.You want to do mankind a real service? Tell funnier jokes.
Our Hospitality and Sherlock Jr. I've watched others but it's been so long that I can't remember any of them. I do remember one where he's on a boat and he walks up the mast or something, which I thought was pretty funny. I was about 4 years old.
Can I have ten thousand marbles please?
Nice Five. Mine are similar.
1. The General
2. Sherlock Jr.
3. The Navigator
4. Our Hopitality
5. The Playhouse
I'm also a fan of the underappreciated Battling Butler. A little uneven for Buster but the opening scenes of him trying to be a woodsman are priceless.
Irrelevance ahead: Let's not forget his cameo in "Sunset Boulevard" at the bridge table! :~P "Pass...pass."
Apparently, BK's career fizzled with the inception of sound because his deep baritone voice didn't fit his "stone-face image" but I find the juxtaposition quite comical!
Having your book made into a movie is like seeing your oxen made into bouillon cubes. -John LeCarre
I love his cameo i Sunset Blvd too, but, to correct you on one thing, his career didn't fizzle because of his voice. it fizzled because he lost creative control over his films by signing with a major studio, a decision he later called the worst in his life.
For the record he has a wonderful voice and appeared in many talkies, and briefly had his own TV show (all of this material was far beneath his talent) Furthermore he had a very successful stage career before and after his film career, and if you buy the Buster Keaton box set from Kino (Which I enthusiastically recommend)you can see Buster take on a straight dramatic speaking role in an old Twilight Zone style TV show which he carries off with great success.
"I love his cameo i Sunset Blvd too, but, to correct you on one thing, his career didn't fizzle because of his voice. it fizzled because he lost creative control over his films by signing with a major studio, a decision he later called the worst in his life."
Getting sold out by Joe Schenk didn't help a lot either. And I believe the reading of the line is "Um... pass..."
"For the record he has a wonderful voice and appeared in many talkies, and briefly had his own TV show (all of this material was far beneath his talent)"
His voice was splendidly in keeping with his screen persona! His television show was not only very popular, but he said it was very creatively rewarding, given what he had to work with, until the Suits started monkeying with it - then everyone, including Buster, lost interest.
"...if you buy the Buster Keaton box set from Kino (Which I enthusiastically recommend)you can see Buster take on a straight dramatic speaking role in an old Twilight Zone style TV show which he carries off with great success."
This was a straight role? I thought this was one of the funniest shows of the period, particularly for "The Twilight Zone". It's essentially a Keaton 2-reeler, with a science fictional premise - and Buster turning up in the (then) modern day, with no pants, a weird sparkly helmet on his head and holding a chicken... Well, between that and his evading the cop & putting on those trousers in mid-stride with the assistance of his larger friend, it's just a return to Buster's heyday.
For a more serious turn, try to catch his guest spot on "Burke's Law"! Come to that, I'd like to see someone amass a collection of his TV guest work...
As for my top five - I only get FIVE?!? Hmm. In no particular order:
The General
Sherlock, Jr.
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Our Hospitality (a terrific companion piece to The General)
and, since I can't decide between the remaining features, Hard Luck - that gag at the end breaks me up, even if it isn't terribly "PC".
Well, I suppose mine would be (in no particular order):
1. The General
2. One Week
3. The Playhouse
4. Sherlock Jr.
5. The Scarecrow
Whilst it is an Arbuckle film, I loved his performance in The Cook, particularly the Princess Rajah routine.
"Death is not the greatest of evils; it is worse to want to die and not be able to." Sophocles
1. Sherlock Jr.
2. The General
3. Cameraman
4. Electric House
5. Navigator
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what a board!!!! this is the type of question i love to answer
hmmmm...there are so many...so i guess my favorite ones will be the ones that come to mind first
1 - cops - i just cant get over the ladder gag. outstanding
2 - our hospitality - not just hilarious, but good story too
3 - the general - kept my blood pumping the entire movie
4 - sherlock jr - i laughed so hard at the beginning when they showed him reading that book, dreaming of being a detective. just seeing that look he has on his face...oh lordy
5 - playhouse - it was just plain fun
woah, that was a fun question. does anyone here own that box set it shows in the picture for this movie?? what movies are in it??