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Buster Keaton: Difference between revisions
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Eventually, when the act's fortunes declined and Joe got too drunk and disorderly to work with safely<ref> Speaking of safety, Keaton repeatedly stated in interviews that he never suffered an injury as a result of being thrown; their act was designed to look improvised and violent, but in reality was quite planned and controlled.</ref>, Buster Keaton struck out on his own. He got into film with his good friend, [[Fatty Arbuckle|Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle]], then one of the top comedy movie stars. Following Fatty's tragic fall from grace, Keaton formed his own production company, starring in and directing some of the most innovative comedy films of his day. From this period, his full-length film ''[[The General]]'' is still considered one of the best silent films ever made. He was also never afraid of new technology: for instance, for a major silent movie star at the dawn of sound films, he ''wanted'' to get into them right away. After his company was dissolved, Keaton signed a contract with [[Metro Goldwyn Mayer|MGM]]. The best of his MGM films are the silents ''[[The Cameraman]]'' and ''[[Spite Marriage]]''. He then began making sound pictures in which he was often teamed with [[Jimmy Durante]].
Unfortunately, stress from repeated clashes with MGM management, the loss of his independence and artistic control, and a divorce from his first wife, Natalie Talmadge (in which she was awarded sole custody of their two sons), caused Keaton's drinking to develop into outright alcoholism. During the 1930s, Keaton slipped from the spotlight. He made two-reel comedies for low-budget outfits like Educational Pictures and Columbia Pictures (the latter has since become a major film production and distribution company), and worked for MGM as a gag man (where he mentored [[I Love Lucy|Lucille Ball]] before she got her break as a television comedienne and created the famous stateroom sequence in the [[Marx Brothers]]' ''[[A Night
Things turned around for Keaton in the 1940s. He met and married his third wife, Eleanor Norris, who helped him get his drinking under control and sometimes worked as his partner in comedy routines. This led to Buster's engagement at France's Cirque Medrano, where he drew enthusiastic audiences. A 1949 article by James Agee in ''LIFE'' magazine (see quote above) renewed interest in Keaton, and his career picked up: he starred in a short-lived TV series; guest-starred on other shows, including ''[[
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=== A partial filmography: ===
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| [[One Week]] ||''[[Three Ages]]''
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| [[Convict 13]] ||''[[
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| [[Neighbors]] ||''[[Sherlock, Jr.]]''<ref>At 45 minutes, this film is too long to be classified as a "short," yet falls well short of feature length.</ref>
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| [[The Scarecrow]] ||''[[The Navigator]]''
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| [[The High Sign]] ||''[[Battling Butler]]''
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| [[The Goat]] ||''[[The General (
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| [[The Playhouse]] ||''College''
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| [[The Boat]] ||''[[Steamboat Bill Jr.]]''
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| [[The Paleface]]
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| [[Cops (
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| [[My
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| [[The Blacksmith (
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| [[The Frozen North]]
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* [[Love Triangle]]
* [[Memetic Outfit]]: The Hat. The title-page and chapter-heading illustrations of his "as-told-to" autobiography, ''[http://www.amazon.com/Wonderful-World-Slapstick-Capo-Paperback/dp/0306801787/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282462115&sr=1-1 My Wonderful World of Slapstick,]'' are a drawing of his eyes and The Hat. '''Just''' his eyes and The Hat.
** Played with in ''[[Steamboat Bill Jr.]]'': Steamboat Bill (Sr.) is looking for his son, Willie (played by Buster), whom he hasn't seen in years, at the train station, with only the information that Willie will be wearing a white carnation. He goes up to a man bent down to fiddle with his luggage, such that only the hat and a white carnation is visible, whom he assumes to be his son, only to find that the man is black. The second time is when he's having Willie try on new hats at the haberdasher's. '''Every other hat''' that Willie tries on is a variation of the similar-looking boater (larger, and typically straw), which his father continues to veto. One hat that gets vetoed harder than the rest by his father is a miniature derby, placed rakishly on Willie's head a la [[Charlie Chaplin]]. When the trademark porkpie hat ''does'' appear, Buster sees it in the mirror and quickly ditches it, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_DiaL8ETDw as seen here].
** In ''[[
* [[Mistaken Identity]]
* [[The Pratfall]]: Keaton worked hard to perfect his technique, and it showed.
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* ''[[A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum]]'': Buster Keaton played the role of the blind old man Erronius in the screen version. It was one of his last movie roles. He was dying of cancer. He did his own stunts. He was Awesome.
* Several [[Jackie Chan]] movies imitate Keaton's stunts almost shot for shot.
* Most instances of [[By Wall That Is Holey]] are based on Keaton's famous stunt in ''[[Steamboat Bill Jr.]]''
** There's a good one in the episode "The One Where They Build a House" of ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'', in which the character involved [[Named After Somebody Famous|is actually named Buster]] (and looks a little bit like Keaton, as well).
** ''[[
* In the [[Romantic Comedy]] ''[[Benny and Joon]],'' the character played by [[Johnny Depp]], Sam, is introduced reading the book ''The Look of [[Buster Keaton]],'' wears an outfit reminiscent of Buster's, and performs Keatonesque bits of silent comedy.
* The eponymous character played by Peter Boyle in ''[[The X-Files]]'' episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" is named after a writer/director who worked with [[Buster Keaton]] (and committed suicide with a gun he'd borrowed from Keaton), while Detectives Cline and Havez are references to other Keaton collaborators, writer/director/actor Edward F. Cline and writer Jean C. Havez.
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* Hatabō ("Flag Boy"), a recurring character in [[Himitsu no Akko-chan|Fujio Akatsuka]]'s manga series ''[[wikipedia:Osomatsu-kun|Osomatsu-kun,]]'' is based on [[Buster Keaton]].
* Bleu Finnegan, the main character of ''[[Blue Monday]],'' is a [[Buster Keaton]] fan.
* ''[[Batman:
* In ''[[1632]]'', the first movie the uptimers share with the downtimers once they get the TV station up and running is ''[[The General (
* In [[Stephen King]]'s novel ''[[Needful Things]]'', Castle Rock's First Selectman, Danforth Keeton, is nicknamed "Buster". It's also his [[Berserk Button]].
* In [[Ian Fleming]]'s novel ''[[Diamonds Are Forever]]'', there's a scene where [[James Bond]] and [[Bond Girl|Tiffany Case]] escape from a gangster's lair via a railroad handcar. At one point she tells him, "That was quite an exit. Like something out of an old Buster Keaton film."
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