Documentary lauds silent-film legend
Documentary lauds silent-film legend
The Great Buster gets much right despite weaknesses
This article was published 19/1/2019 (603 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich’s primary goal in making The Great Buster is to set in stone the genius of Buster Keaton, a silent-film star who largely invented modern cinema as we know it.
In that, the film is an unqualified success.
American comedian Buster Keaton (1895-1966), armed with only a magnifying glass and a copy of 'How To Be A Detective,' hopes to become a great detective in the film 'Sherlock Junior.'
Easily more than half its running time is devoted to footage from Keaton’s work, including the feature-length gems The General, Our Hospitality and The Three Ages, as well as his numerous short films. Bogdanovich, a serious film historian, chooses exactly the right footage to illustrate Keaton’s genius as a comic inventor but also as an innovative and accomplished director. He even makes a case that Keaton was a brilliant actor when he wanted to be.
Taking Bogdanovich’s word for it would probably suffice. But the director hedges his bets by throwing in lots of expert witnesses. And here, Bogdanovich relies on comedy star power such as Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, who attest to Keaton’s influence in a way that seems more self-serving than illuminating.
Contemporary comic stars Bill Hader and Nick Kroll don’t do much more than assure us that some 21st-century comedians appreciated Keaton’s genius. Better to pay attention to the contributions of gifted physical comedians Bill Irwin and French Stewart.
It’s a little more edifying when Bogdanovich points his camera at people who knew Keaton, such as the great character actor James Karen, who touchingly recalls learning of Keaton’s death, or Norman Lloyd, who appeared with both Keaton and Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin’s 1952 feature Limelight and was there to witness how Chaplin treated his one-time box office/creative rival "like a king," arguably one of the film’s most moving moments.
It’s also a pleasure to see Dick Van Dyke — a Keaton friend — talk about the Buster he knew. (Within the space of a year, Van Dyke delivered eulogies to both Stan Laurel and Keaton, which may be something of a testament to Van Dyke’s own comedy legacy.)
It seems a bit of a pity Bogdanovich apparently sought interview subjects within Los Angeles city limits. That’s the only reason imaginable for including lots of interview footage of Jackass star Johnny Knoxville — a guy who admittedly knows a thing or two about placing your life in mortal peril for the sake of getting a laugh — but not nailing down Jackie Chan, whose martial arts/comedy oeuvre was hugely influenced by Keaton.
Quentin Tarantino, the world’s biggest Chan enthusiast, might have been able to fill that gap. Instead, Tarantino asserts a) Keaton was the most masculine of all the silent comics, and b) he was the first great action movie director.
At some point, Bogdanovich must have realized his interview subjects constituted a bit of a sausage party, so he enlisted his one-time leading lady Cybill Shepherd to offer up a gratuitous feminine perspective.
Dear Mr. Bogdanovich. If you have to get a glamorous L.A. blond in the mix, please seek out the works of Kim Morgan, glamorous blond and gifted film critic both.
randall.king@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @FreepKing
Buster Keaton in Cabin Fever
Randall King
Reporter
In a way, Randall King was born into the entertainment beat.
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/arts/documentary-lauds-silent-film-legend-504540932.html
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