Easy Street

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Easy Street is a 1917 short comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin.

In the film, the police are failing to maintain law and order and have resorted to hiring off the street anyone who wants to be a policeman. Chaplin, as the Little Tramp character, is homeless and hungry so he steps forward (rather reluctantly) to rid the street of bullies, help the poor, save women from madmen and generally keep the peace.

Tropes used in Easy Street include:
  • Big Ball of Violence: In the middle of the street, that even policemen can't break up.
  • The Brute: The Bully
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Chaplin, as it turns out, who towards the end administers a beatdown against a whole gang.
  • Damsel in Distress: Chaplin rescues one from The Bully, and then from a gang of thugs.
  • Made of Iron: The Bully doesn't even flinch when hit over the head with a club. It takes being hit by a metal stove from a second story window to bring him down.