This movie is crazy!!!! I never imagined a movie, a silent movie at that, can be so exciting to watch! The action is fast and furious, and better than most action junk that comes out today. The humor is an absolute laugh riot. And that's pretty much it! Pure full throttle entertainment!!!
shareYes, dizzy83, THIS IS the original version of The General. Buster Keaton is genius, no doubt about it.
Charlie Chaplin RULES!
Actually my question was is this the original film in the "action/comedy" genre. Not if this is the original version of this particular film.
shareI would say that earlier Buster Keaton pictures could be called that perhaps. But there's other slapstick pictures going back to the Keystone cops and pictures like Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914). But Keaton really originated the use of daring and dangerous stunts in a comedy. If you like this I recommend other Keaton features and shorts. The General was special because of its authenticity, sets, cosutumes, extras, which gave it the look of a serious historical drama, and yet was actually a silly comedy.
shareIt's a comedy alright, but I wouldn't call The General "silly." Just think of the enlistment sequence: all Buster wants is to sign up, and he makes a point of getting in line first, but he's turned down and never told why. He feels rejected and his girlfriend's family thinks he's a coward. It takes years for him to prove himself to them.
. . . and the climax of the film, after the harrowing chase, is a realistically fought battle in which a lot of soldiers get killed.
"Silly"? The General is an epic comedy with a melancholy heart.
He isn't allowed to join up because his profession (train engineer) is vital to the South's fortunes. This was the equivalent of 'protected industries' during World War II.
shareRight, the audience knows that as a skilled worker in a profession vital to the infrastructure of the South, he's more valuable to them where he is. However, Johnny doesn't know that - the recruiting office just tells him he can't enlist, leaving him to wonder if he's too short or something.
You see? I'm a steelworker. I kill what I eat. See?
At one point in the movie, the Union soldiers drop timbers across the tracks to derail the locomotive. Keaton, standing on the cowcatcher, takes hold of one timber and pushes the other so as to send both tumbling off to the side, away from the track. When I watched this movie in a theater in 1986, the audience applauded with delight.
Anyone else notice any tricks he used to keep his locomotive safe?