The High Sign



"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.

"The High Sign" provides examples of:
"...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."
 * 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

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


 * 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.