The High Sign

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Subtle, guys.

Guarding a man from danger and killing him at the same time is SOME job. —intertitle

The High Sign (1921) follows a drifter (Buster Keaton) whose audition a shooting gallery leads to his recruitment as both a hit man and the bodyguard of the intended victim. Hilarity Ensues.

Watch it here, on this very wiki.

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Tropes used in The High Sign include:

• Accidental Aiming Skills: Arguably. Buster can shoot a bottle off a wall -- just never the one he's aiming at.
• Alliterative Name: The Blinking Buzzards

...a bold bad bunch of blood-thirsty bandits who would break into a bank, blow a battle-ship to bits or beat up a blue eyed baby blonde.

• Aside Glance
• Ballistic Discount: A shooting gallery customer holds Buster at gunpoint and makes off with the profits.
• Banana Peel: first averted, then immediately done straight.
• Blackmail: Extortion, actually, but there's no page for that.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Subverted.
• Bookcase Passage
• Brick Joke: The banana in the gun holster.
• The Butler Did It
• Contract on the Hitman
• The Door Slams You
• The Dulcinea Effect
• Explosive Cigar
• Failed a Spot Check: Buster and the Nickelnursers don't notice the Blinking Buzzards entering the house.
• Faking the Dead
• Five-Finger Discount: How Buster acquires a newspaper and a revolver.
• Gun Twirling
• The Gunslinger: Subverted.
• Hobos: Buster, presumably, since he makes his entrance being thrown off a train.
• Irony: The man whose newspaper Buster stole unknowingly buys it back from him.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Buster, at least initially.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Subverted and played straight -- Buster has to fake amazing marksmanship at the shooting gallery, but manages to toss his hat onto a rack in the next room without looking.
• Incredibly Lame Pun

From a ransom demand to August Nickelnurder: Now, August, unless you come across today, the first of September will be the last of August

• Large and In Charge: See picture. (Buster reportedly stood 5-1/2 feet tall).
• Literal Ass-Kicking
• Magic Bullets: Or in this case, magic pellets -- one shooting gallery customer uses his own double-barreled shotgun and wipes out the entire gallery with one shot.
• Neon Sign Hideout: See picture.
• Nose Tapping: The Blinking Buzzards' "secret" signal.
• Painted Tunnel, Real Train
  • Buster appears to paint a hook on the wall and then hang his hat upon it.
  • Buster dives through a seascape that conceals a secret passage.
• Paper-Thin Disguise
• Playing Both Sides
• Portrait Painting Peephole: The entrance to the Blinking Buzzards' headquarters.
• Punny Name
  • "Dr. Pullem, Dentist"
  • August Nickelnurser, an elderly miser.
• Shot in the Ass
• Slapstick
• Trap Door
• Under Crank
• Visual Pun: After sipping some spiked or poisoned tea, Buster looks into the cup and sees a kicking mule. So, a drink with some kick.