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Guest: There's a great story
about Buster Keaton,

who religiously previewed
all his comedies, you know?

And took a picture out, I think
it was called, "Seven Chances,"

and it was a wonderful
reaction to the picture,

and it didn't
have a good ending.

It just sort of laid
there at the end.

It was a great chase,
with women chasing him,

because they were all brides,
a wonderful scene.

And it sort of petered
out and that was it.

And the audience, and he
felt something was wrong.

But, right toward
the end of the scene,

he's running away
from these women,

and he's running down a hill,
and rocks got dislodged,

and rolled after him.

There was a big laugh from
the audience and that was it.

And he said we're going
to shoot a new ending.

And he went back, and he
shot for about a week,

and he built an avalanche.

He started with three rocks,
and he built it to bigger

rocks, and finally these
huge boulders, you know,

the size of those cameras
rolling down after him.

Well, it's one of the
great sequences ever done.

Dick: Why did Keaton
hit the skids?

That's one, seems to be
one of the sad mysteries

of Hollywood.

Frank: Well, he was
essentially a panto...

pantomime artist and when
sound came along, they,

the pantomime artist went
out of business really.

And also they were killed
by, by something

brand new, cartoons.

Guest: Chuck Jones, who
directed most of the

great Bugs Bunny,
Roadrunner cartoons,

and he said he was totally
influenced by Buster Keaton.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Narrator: Joseph Frank Keaton
was born October 4th, 1895,

in Piqua, Kansas.

He was the son of
vaudevillians Myra and

Joe Keaton who were a
married comedy team

touring the country.

That's how they happened
to be in Piqua, Kansas,

a small farming community
they were passing through

when Myra went into labor.

James: He was born
literally in a trunk.

His parents were part of
the Family Medicine Show,

and he was considered
part of the company

at the age of 11 months.

James K: He wandered on stage
one day when they were doing

their act and bothered them.

[Audience laughing]

And the audience
thought it was funny.

Narrator: By the time he
was four years old,

little Joe Frank Keaton had
actually become a star

in Vaudeville, the
youngest ever.

James: Buster was dressed
exactly the same as

his father, Galway
whiskers and the bit.

Joe Keaton would be on the
top of the table doing his

various acrobatic maneuvers,
and Buster would come up

behind him with a broom, and
he would sweep the broom

across, and knock him down.

And so that's how
that act began.

Narrator: Famous as a human
projectile his father used to

throw at his mother during
their act now known as

the Three Keatons.

The Three Keatons was
considered one of the

roughest acts in
Vaudeville at the time.

Were it not so funny, people
would be appalled or aghast

at how Buster was
treated on stage,

but it was all pretty
much an illusion.

Dick: They had a handle
on him, like a suitcase.

They would throw him
around the stage.

Johnny: Had a little
handle on his back,

so they could
throw him better.

Narrator: In several states, his
father was accused of child

abuse since the act mainly
consisted of little Joe

being thrown everywhere
imaginable on the stage,

and once famously he even
had an annoying heckler

in the audience.

James K: I said, he would
throw you into the audience?

He said the old man
wasn't a bad guy.

He would always say
tighten up your ass

before he threw me.

Narrator: They were
arrested numerous times,

but managed to get around the
law because as Buster put it,

the law read that no child
under the age of 16 shall do

acrobatics, walk wire, play
musical instruments, trapeze,

and it named everything.

But none of them said
you couldn't kick him

in the face.

James: Really it defies logic
that Joe Keaton would want to

seriously or intentionally
injure his son because Buster

was the star of the act.

The Three Keatons, they
were getting $750 a week,

$250 of which were Buster's.

This was at a time when a
child get an allowance of a

nickel a week, and here he's
tooling around in his own car

at the age of 12.

Narrator: His father had taught
him how to take a fall,

however, as well as
other acrobatics.

And in fact out of over
10,000 performances,

little Joe only got
hurt slightly twice.

But, boy, did this kid
love making people laugh.

[Audience laughing]

Every time he took a
fall, they laughed,

which is how he got
his famous moniker.

According to
Buster's father Joe,

it was the famous
magician Harry Houdini,

a personal friend
of the Keatons,

after watching the kid fall
down a flight of stairs

unhurt at the age of
six months who said,

that's some buster
your kid took.

Now it may not have been
Houdini who said it,

but what the hell?

Buster in those days was
known to mean a fall.

Nothing could have
been more appropriate.

Eventually, Buster Keaton
took the funniest falls

in pictures, a virtual
symphony of them

throughout his career.

♪♪♪

[Cow lowing]

Any way, back to that later.

The Three Keatons,
Myra, Joe, and Buster,

became one of the most
famous acts in Vaudeville,

repeatedly touring
the country.

And along the
way, the act grew.

The Three Keatons
became the Four Keatons.

Then, the Five Keatons.

But, in 1917, when
Buster was 21 years old,

the Keatons' act broke up.

Louise: Our parents had to
give up the Vaudeville act

and he set off to
support us all.

Harry: Yeah, he was
determined that Louise and

I would get the schooling
that he never had.

Narrator: Buster goes to
New York and gets a contract

to appear in the Shubert
Brothers annual variety show,

in this case the
Passing Show of 1917,

booked to open at the Winter
Garden Theater on Broadway.

But, the Fates had
a different idea.

Walking down the
Manhattan street,

Buster runs into an old
Vaudevillian pal of his who

was accompanied by a tall,
large man known all over the

world as Fatty Arbuckle.

As luck would have it, Roscoe
Arbuckle a star since 1914

was just beginning to make
two-reel comedies for a guy

named Joe Schenck at
the Colony Studio

on East 48th Street.

Two reelers run about
20 minutes each.

Arbuckle says to Keaton, why
don't you come over and watch

us make a couple of scenes?

Paul: And once he saw
Fatty Arbuckle shooting,

he was changed.

He knew what the
future held for him.

Narrator: Buster falls in
love with what he sees,

breaks his contract
with the Shuberts,

and starts working under
Roscoe Arbuckle's direction

for the Comique, they
called it co-me-key,

film corporation, which was
turning out a series of

two-reel comedies.

The very first screen
appearance of Buster Keaton

takes place in an Arbuckle
short called "The Butcher Boy,"

released in 1917.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

In October of the same
year, that's 1917,

Keaton and the entire Comique
Company move across the

country to make their films
from then on in a town called

Long Beach in California.

The following year with World
War I raging in Europe,

Keaton is drafted
into the army.

He serves in France, mainly
entertaining the troops.

Patricia: In World War I,
he lost some hearing

in one of his ears.

Bob: He was not a soldier
on the front line,

but maybe in training or
something he was near

a cannon or a gun
that went off.

And that affected him
for the rest of his life.

Narrator: Buster comes back in
April of 1919 to continue his

work with Arbuckle, from whom
he learns a great deal about

directing films since
Arbuckle directs all his

own work and enjoys
mentoring his new pal.

French: Fatty Arbuckle had
largely taught Buster Keaton

how to do film.

Buster Keaton had taken
Fatty Arbuckle's camera

and taken it apart, and put
it back together again,

just to see how it worked.

And Fatty Arbuckle
nearly killed him.

[Gunshot]

Narrator: The Fates entered the
picture again in December of

1919, when Arbuckle is signed
to a contract at Paramount to

star in feature length films.

In those days, remember, while
features were considered the

main attraction, shorts like
Arbuckle's or Chaplin's

were a very popular and
commercial addition to them.

People would go out of their
way to see these shorts,

sometimes they could
be the whole program.

So, Joe Schenck turns
Comique over to Keaton,

to direct and star in
two-reel comedies to be

released through Metro.

♪♪♪

Keaton sets up production
at the old Charlie Chaplin

Studios in Hollywood, now
named the Keaton Studios.

And so between 1920 and
1923, Buster Keaton directs,

writes, and stars in 19 quite
popular two-reel comedies.

[Crowd applause]

He first makes one
called the "High Sign,"

a title referring to a
ridiculous gesture which

identified members of a gang.

But, Buster isn't entirely
satisfied with this short,

and doesn't release it
until the following year.

Before he could make another
two-reeler, however,

Douglas Fairbanks, at that
time the king of Hollywood,

convinces Metro to star
Buster in a feature,

his first starring
role for "The Saphead,"

based on a Broadway hit.

Buster is good in the film,
it helps to cement

his identity as
"The Great Stone Face,"

but the picture is pretty
badly dated today.

He has nothing to do with the
behind-the-camera making

of the film, yet it adds
luster to his reputation.

Right afterward, he creates
his second two-reeler

titled "One Week," and that
instead becomes the first

release of a Buster
Keaton Production.

♪♪♪

In the plot, Buster and
his new wife receive

a prefabricated house
as a wedding present.

But, a jealous rival of
Buster's changes the numbers

on the boxes, resulting
in a disastrous house.

Patricia: "One Week," boy,
you can't beat "One Week."

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

There's a great quote
from Walter Kerr.

He said, seeing "One Week"
is like that thing

you never see:

A garden at the
moment of blooming.

♪♪♪

Richard: I was taken by
his cinematic artistry.

I said this is like the first
time that anyone tried this.

♪♪♪

And then what a great
gag with the train.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Patricia: Keaton has said
I always want an audience

to out-guess me and then
I double cross them.

Narrator: The short comedy
receives excellent reviews

and enthusiastic audiences.

The Buster Keaton
Company is on its way.

Three more shorts follow in
1920 including "Convict 13."

♪♪♪

Now if there was one thing
Buster Keaton loved,

it was mechanical
inventions, as is apparent

in this amazing scene
from "The Scarecrow."

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Carl: Keaton was really an
inventor, an inventive guy.

James: He had an engineering
mind that he turned

toward the business of
making people laugh.

Richard: Outside
in his backyard,

he had little
railroad trains,

Lionel trains
going everywhere.

Dick: In the corner, he had
a picnic table and he would

fix the hot dogs in the
kitchen, put them in the,

on the train, toot-toot,
and send them out.

That was, that was him.

Narrator: And the third
short of 1920 "Neighbors."

Bill: I do like
watching that,

I've seen some of the
footage of him and his dad.

Buster's head is
in the ground.

And his dad is trying
to pull him up.

♪♪♪

It is fun watching those
because you're like oh

that's a guy messing
around with his dad.

There's something
very sweet about it,

them kicking the shit
out of each other.

[Laughing]

Narrator: The following
year, that's 1921,

Buster marries for
the first time.

He and actress Natalie
Talmadge tie the knot

at Joe Schencks'
estate on Long Island.

Schenck is married
to Natalie's sister,

popular actress
Norma Talmadge,

so Buster is now
his brother-in-law.

In that same year,
Keaton releases a total

of six two-reelers.

"The Haunted House."

♪♪♪

"Hard Luck."

♪♪♪

The aforementioned
"The High Sign."

"The Goat."

"The Playhouse," a comic
experiment of Buster's in

which he plays every single
role in the dream sequence.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

And finally, one of his
absolute classic two-reelers,

"The Boat," for which the
toughest joke to achieve was

the instant sinking of
the boat on its launch,

it just wouldn't
go straight down.

Which is the only way Buster
thought it would be funny.

Finally, Buster and his crew
came up with an elaborate

pulley system to drag the
boat under the water.

By now, the Great Stone Face
has become a nickname as

familiar to audiences as the
pork pie hat he always wears,

the last thing
to go underwater.

Richard: If I can
show you this,

this is a gift from
Eleanor Keaton.

And she made me a hat,
exactly the one

that Buster would wear.

My head blew up
before we shot this,

I had a bad sandwich.

Narrator: The boat itself
is named Damfino,

a name the members of the
International Buster Keaton

Society have adopted for
themselves, the Damfinos.

[Thunder strikes]

In the picture, the joke
is paid off when Buster

S.O.S.'s and is asked
the name of his boat.

♪♪♪

The boat itself is
another of Keaton's wild

mechanical inventions.

One that is not
exactly perfect.

Carl: He was born to be
a silent movie comedian,

because his face, his
non-expressive face

expressed so much.

Johnny: Buster had those
big eyes though any way.

Great legs too.

French: He had that blank
face that you could sort of

paint your feelings onto.

Mel: The Great Stone Face.

Narrator: They called him
that, the Great Stone Face,

but it was far from accurate.

Buster's face had a great
variety of expressions.

His eyes alone
told many emotions,

he just didn't ever smile.

Mel: He's got a mime's face,
it's like Jean-Louis Barrault

in Les Enfants du Paradis.

That beautiful white face,
Buster had that face.

French: It just struck me in
this way that this man could

do all these things without
saying a word and without

moving his face and you knew
exactly what the story was.

Cybill: Acting is in the
eyes, not the face.

It just shows you how little
you have to do sometimes

to sell something.

Don't try to sell
it, just be natural.

Werner: Buster Keaton always
had that quiet tragedy

which is very, very funny.

Jon: It's such a strange
thing to watch the Fatty

Arbuckle ones while, where
he's still making big facial

expressions, and, and
doing all those sort of

tropes of the era.

When you see that
start to fade away,

it was just effortless.

It's the stone
face performance

It's not forcing
you to laugh.

And for me that
just made me laugh.

I just did "Spider-Man"
and there was a very

clear influence.

You know, "Spider-Man,"
other than having his eyes

move just a little bit,
he's stone face.

Here I have this character
who has almost no expression

in his face, but there's so
much personality you want to

create, and so much humor
that you want to bring out

in the physicalities.

So, I just went back
and watched a bunch

of Buster Keaton films.

I use that as a baseline for
so many "Spider-Man" moments.

Narrator: A total of seven
popular Keaton two-reelers

are released in
1922, "The Paleface."

♪♪♪

"My Wife's Relations."

♪♪♪

"The Blacksmith."

♪♪♪

"Day Dreams."

♪♪♪

"The Electric House."

♪♪♪

And perhaps one of his most
well-remembered shorts,

"Cops" debuts.

Nick: There are a lot of
amazing things about his

film making, but more than
anything for me the idea that

he would be in these really
heightened comic scenarios,

played incredibly seriously.

[Bomb exploding]

♪♪♪

Such a fun aspect of comedy
that heightens not only

the humor, but also the
stakes of every scene

that he was playing.

Bill: That thing in "Cops"
where he grabs that car

and flies up, I mean
that's, that's unreal.

Dick: Even he
couldn't explain it.

I said was it the
film speeded up?

He said no.

How he did that
was superhuman.

There were no tricks,
he just did it.

That would have jerked
anyone else's arm off.

♪♪♪

Quentin: One of the things
that always bugged me

about comedians when
I was a little boy,

because I really
liked comedy,

I really liked comedians,
was the fact that they

had to be weaker than the
other males in the movie.

They had to be infantile,
they had to act like

a blithering idiot, or
they had to be cowards,

or they had to be scared.

The joke is that Bob Hope
is standing up

against Jesse James.

That always bugged me.

Why do they have
to be lesser than?

Why can't they be males?

Why can't they be masculine?

And Buster Keaton was that.

And he would put himself
against guys who were taller

than him, so he always had a
slight like height deficit.

He was a real exciting hero.

Narrator: That same
year in 1922,

he also does a parody of
Western star William S. Hart

called "The Frozen North"
and the satire is merciless.

Hart always cried
in his films,

so of course Buster
laid it on thick.

Buster said Bill Hart did not
speak to me for two years

after he saw that picture.

Meanwhile, Buster's pal Fatty
Arbuckle is tried tragically

on charges of manslaughter.

After three trials,
Roscoe is exonerated,

but the scandal nevertheless
utterly destroys his career.

To avoid any connection
with this Arbuckle tragedy,

Schenck changes the Comique
Film Corporation to

Buster Keaton Productions.

♪♪♪

His final two shorts
are released in 1923,

"The Balloonatic."

And his last,
"The Love Nest."

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Werner: In a way,
Buster Keaton is

the essence of movies.

He is one of the
inventors of cinema.

Mel: "Buster Keaton
Remembered" is the book,

I have it on my desk all the
time because they were the

fathers of my, my industry,
my art, my business.

French: The way
they made movies,

it's still the same way that
you make movies basically.

They made the art form.

Cybill: He was such
a great director.

He puts himself in these
impossible situations.

It's definitely underplayed
and therefore I think

it's more powerful.

Quentin: For Keaton,
cinema was important.

It wasn't the camera
nailed to the floor,

or nailed to the
moving truck,

it was jokes that worked
because of the movie camera.

It was cinema itself
that became the joke.

Mel: I think a lot of
my daring in terms of

breaking the fourth
wall came from Keaton,

who when Sherlock Jr. pointed
out that it's a movie,

and I'm always pointing out
somewhere in my films that

we're making a movie.

Like when I did "Spaceballs."

[Screaming]

Lord Dark Helmet: He did it.

Johnny: Buster has always
been with me and always

will be with me.

Our stunts always play in the
wide, there's no fudging.

The guy doing the stunt is
doing it for real and he felt

very strongly about that
and I feel very strongly

about that.

Dick: I've stole as many
moves as I could from him.

Buster said you hit the
ground with your hand as

you're going down and it
absorbs some of the impact,

and it works.

Bill: The influence that he
had on me was that he could

do all these insane stunts
and do these crazy things

with his body, but at the
same time he was never like

pushing it in a performance.

Dick: Such control of
his body, such agility.

He was like a ballet dancer.

Incredible control
of his body.

Mel: Amazing stunts, really.

I think like nobody
ever would dare.

He has no fear or he's crazy.

Leonard: He's really doing
what you see which is true

in almost all of his films.

What you see is what you
get and to me the best

special effect in
those films is Buster.

Narrator: In that
same year 1923,

Buster finally gets his
long-time wish for film

and he starts to make
his own feature films.

Already finishing two of them
in that same busy 12-month

period, over the next five
years, Keaton conceives,

directs, and stars in an
additional eight feature

comedies, "The Ten" being the
greatest work of his career.

Leonard: There's no question
that the films he made in the

20's are his masterworks.

Narrator: We will be coming
back to these in detail

after a while.

Following this
extraordinary high point,

Buster makes what he
would call the biggest

mistake of my life.

Joe Schenck convinces Keaton
to sign with Joe's brother

Nick Schenck at MGM, the
biggest studio in Hollywood,

and perhaps the
most regimented.

Both Charlie Chaplin and
Harold Lloyd advised him

very strongly not to give
up his independence,

but unfortunately Buster
trusts Joe Schenck.

James K: They were
great friends,

they were married to
sisters, but Schenck really

made a deal with MGM.

Narrator: A perfect
storm follows.

Buster is drinking too much,
his marriage is falling apart,

and sound comes
in and takes over

the picture business.

The silent era is finished.

As Chaplin would say:

Just when we got it right,
it was over.

Johnny: Right
before he did the,

that stunt on the facade for
"Steamboat Bill Jr." they come

up to him and said look,
MGM just bought your rights

and he's going through
all that with his wife.

He just got two terrible
cases of bad news right

before you do a stunt
that could take his life.

And he still did it.

Richard: If it was an inch
or a half an inch one way

or the other, he could
have been killed.

He was feeling so down
and so depressed

that he didn't care.

That bit might have been
used more than any bit in

the history of the world.

♪♪♪

Johnny: We did that in
"Jackass Number Two,"

we did an homage.

Guy who rigged it said look,
when you get on that spot,

don't move, this is a
20-foot high steel wall

and then he said, "Action."

So I walk a couple
steps and then someone

says cut, cut, cut.

I just walk off my mark.

[Screaming]

- Oh shit.

Johnny: There was silence
on the stage except for my

nine-year-old daughter and
she's like, daddy, you idiot,

what are you doing?

And that kind of
loosened the vibe up.

It was still funny,
probably funnier.

Narrator: For all his own
shorts and features except

for "The General," Buster
never had a script.

He and his people would come
up with a good beginning,

and then figure out
a satisfying finish.

As he used to say:

The middle would take
care of itself.

[Laughing]

Johnny: I heard him say that.

Dick: So many things happened
on the spur of the moment.

You see he would get
an idea and just do it.

Johnny: It allows for
so much spontaneity,

and if you get gold, that
could affect our story,

and instead of going
this direction,

we could go that direction.

Ben: In "Three Ages" when he
takes that leap from one

building to another that he
was supposed to jump across

but he didn't make it, and
so he leaves it in, right?

He creates a whole
wonderful sequence.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Narrator: At MGM, this was
strictly unacceptable.

Scripts were essential,
everything spelled out,

hashed over, budgeted,
scheduled to the hour.

James K: Buster lost
all of his power.

French: He lost his freedom.

James: They threw him into
the meat grinder that was

their production system.

Comedians like Buster were used
to having the time to go out,

shoot things, try them
in front of an audience,

re-shoot them, rethink the
structure of the film,

preview it again, et cetera,
and that's not the way

they were set up at MGM.

Keaton was used to making
films that cost two,

three times what mainstream
features were costing then.

"Steamboat Bill" for instance,
that's a film that cost

nearly $500,000 to make.

The same year a Lon Chaney
feature and Chaney

was very popular with
audiences at $175,000.

Narrator: Right with Buster's
first movie at MGM

"The Cameraman," the difference
is quite noticeable.

Even his pork pie hat has
been replaced with a far

more upscale version.

There are some good
moments in the movie,

but the overall timing
and construction are off.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

His last silent film which
he neither conceived nor

directed "Spite Marriage" has
only one memorable sequence

and the studio
wanted to cut it.

Luckily they didn't succeed
and Keaton scores one final

slapstick classic as
he tries to put his

drunken wife to bed.

It is a routine he would
repeat on stages throughout

the rest of his career.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

In 1930, Buster stars in
his first talking picture,

"Free and Easy."

Buster: All aboard with
high blood pressure,

all the girls with
too much flesh

your day has
come at last.

Narrator: Followed that
same year by "Doughboys."

Sergeant: En guarde.

Pick it up, pick
it up, pick it up.

Narrator: Neither of them is any
good, but they are popular.

[Laughing]

When I first saw "Free
and Easy" in 1969,

I wrote that it was
"depressingly bad and almost

perfectly calculated
to destroy its star.

A dismal mess in which
one can literally

see Keaton drowning."

Buster: Dog gone it, the man
said I was a big comedian,

and I was going to
get a big contract,

and everything is great.

Narrator: Of course Buster
had nothing to do with

the direction or scripts
of these films,

nor with any of the ones
released through MGM such

as "Parlor Bedroom and Bath,"
which by the way was

filmed partially at his
Italian villa estate

in Beverly Hills.

And includes a bit MGM
recycled from that first

two-reeler of his "One Week."

[Whistle blowing]

[Engine roaring]

[Shattering sounds]

Or the three movies he made
co-starring Jimmy Durante,

they all date badly.

French: They're dreadful
and you can tell

that he's unhappy.

I mean he seems miserable.

They don't realize like
this guys is a genius,

you can't just slap him
together with Jimmy Durante

in a, in some dopey movie.

Jimmy: What's that?

Buster: That's a kangaroo.

Jimmy: A what?

Buster: A kangaroo, a
native of Australia.

Jimmy: Oh.

Buster: What's the matter?

Jimmy: My sister
married one of them.

James K: Buster was
a very mild person,

he didn't say much to defend
himself ever, he just stewed.

He blamed himself for
anything that was wrong.

I would say those sons of
bitches treated you badly.

Oh, they weren't so bad.

They treated you bad... nah.

He just lost his heart there.

Narrator: In 1932, Buster's wife
Natalie divorces him and

legally changes the last
names of their two sons

from Keaton to Talmadge,
which devastates him.

James K: First marriage
which ended so badly.

He said I wasn't the best
husband in the world either.

Said, what are you going to
do when you walk into your

dressing room and there's a
naked girl standing there

waiting for you?

I said did that happen?

He said it happened
all the time.

Narrator: The following
year in 1933,

Keaton is having more
problems with alcohol,

and after sending him to
rehab a number of times,

where he met a young
nurse named Mae Scriven,

and whom he eventually
married, MGM mogul Louis B.

Mayer, fed up with his
drinking, fires him.

Johnny: It was one of the
worst mishandlings of a

creative talent in history.

They, they wrecked
him for years, MGM.

Leonard: Abbott and Costello
made their worst movies at

MGM, Laurel and Hardy made
their worst movies at MGM,

Marx Brothers after Irving
Thalberg's death made their

worst movies at MGM.

The studio was just not a
conducive place to make

that kind of visual
slapstick comedy.

Narrator: The drinking
increases,

and after three years,
Mae divorces Buster.

This, plus many
financial issues,

is finally too
much for Keaton.

He suffers a nervous
breakdown and is taken

to an Army hospital in
a straight jacket.

Bill: Newspaper reports of
the day write that Buster

may never act again.

Bill: At that time, he had
made all of his great movies,

he was in a low point in his
life, and it's in the 30's,

he had just made a movie
in France which never

made it to the states.

He was coming
back on the ship,

some publicity people hooked
him up it seems with Jack Pearl,

a great Vaudevillian,
you know, fast talking,

Baron Munchausen, you
know, he worked in accent,

and Keaton knew that
stuff in and out.

And they were sort of set
up to do a patter duo.

Jack: My aunt Sophie.

Buster: In the
middle of the ocean,

you got off to see
your aunt Sophie.

Yeah, so how did you get off?

Jack: I got off the
boat, walked down,

and went over to see her.

Bill: Because Keaton would
kind of go along with the

routine, but Keaton's
heart wasn't really in it.

He looked tired, he wasn't
really keeping the rhythm

going and Munchausen's
whole thing was yeah.

Jack: And I tell
you something,

there was a mermaid, she
was playing the piano.

Playing, she was teaching
the fishes their scales.

Why don't you say something?

Bill: And there was
an anger between them.

Jack: You know, I saw one
fish tuning the piano.

You know what kind
of fish that was?

Buster: I haven't the
slightest idea, what?

Bill: And Munchausen, Jack
Pearl just grabs him.

[Laughing]

[Groaning]

It's a chilling thing, Keaton
looks to me like he's saying

what am I doing here?

Why am I acting like a feed
to this Vaudeville comic?

Narrator: After one entire
year of total sobriety,

he took what he called
his final drink.

He downed it and only
rarely thereafter

fell off the wagon.

In his later years, he would
drink a single glass of beer

every evening, just one,
with no ill effects.

- Help, help!

Narrator: From 1934
through 1937,

Keaton stars in 16 short
comedies for a company called

Educational Pictures.

He has very little to do
with their construction or

direction, but certain Keaton
moments shine through.

- Shh, be quiet.

[Clattering]

Narrator: By now, he has
conquered his problems with

alcoholism, yet one of his
co-stars reports that between

shots Buster would go into a
corner of the set and cry.

In 1939, Columbia Pictures
hires him to star

in 10 two-reel comedies.

Again, he has no control
over the pictures.

♪ In a little Spanish town
'twas on a night like this ♪

♪ Stars were peek-a-booing down
'twas on a night like this ♪

Narrator: They all have
flashes of Keaton magic,

though little else.

Diehard Keaton fans are happy
that they exist at all.

But they are a far-cry
from his 20's work.

- Would you care
to dance with me?

Buster: Would I?

♪♪♪

He would refer to all these
pictures as "cheaters."

From 1937 to 1950, Buster
works intermittently for

MGM as a gag writer and
occasional director

of certain sequences.

He helps Red Skeleton
in remaking a couple of

his own silent classics.

- Major, after this, they'll
probably make you a colonel.

Red: Oh, well I would rather
that they made me a civilian.

[Laughing]

Narrator: Suggests gags for the
Marx Brothers and others.

Red: Buster was so modest,
he would always take me

over to one side any time
he had an idea.

He would say I think this
would be a funny thing to do.

And then I would
go out and do it,

but he always tried to make
other people believe

it was my idea, it was
really Buster's.

Narrator: His salary at
MGM has gone from $3,000

a week to a weekly $100.

Bill: You're only getting
paid this much to work

for them and you used to
be one of the biggest

stars of the studio.

And he says, well, if I'm worth
more, they'll pay me more.

Just kind of very
down to Earth.

Narrator: In 1940 Keaton
marries for the last time

to the lovely and
loving Eleanor Norris.

James K: They had met when
she was a dancer at MGM.

She was just the warmest,
most wonderful woman.

Richard: She was so
important to his midlife

and later years.

She saved his life, as
far as I'm concerned.

Patricia: She had that
sort of forthrightness,

no b.s., tell it like it
is kind of personality.

And at the same time she
would do absolutely anything

to keep Buster's
name out there.

Narrator: Eleanor often plays
the passed out wife in

Keaton's routine from
"Spite Marriage" of putting

a drunken woman to bed.

They do this together
all over the place,

including Ed Sullivan's
popular TV show.

It is a very happy
marriage and continues

for the rest of his life.

Eleanor: Lie down, that's the
best advice I can give you.

[Laughing]

Want, want a spotlight so
you'll photograph prettier?

There, that will bring out
the sweat on his brow.

Buster: I've got to sell her.

Narrator: In 1947, Buster
performs for a season at the

Cirque Midrano in Paris.

He is a big hit there and
returns numerous times

over the next few years.

Two years later, in
1949, at the age of 54,

he returns to MGM in a
supporting role to Julie Garland

for the musical
"In the Good Old Summertime."

He even writes and directs
one sequence in the film.

[Gasping]

With Judy and
co-star Van Johnson.

Van: Oh, I beg
your pardon, madam.

Judy: Well, I never.

Why don't you watch
where you're going?

Van: Here, I'll fix
your hat for you.

No, that's not
quite the right...

Judy: Leave my hat alone.

Van: Here's your umbrella.

I don't really
know what happened.

Oh, here's your bag, madam.

Judy: Oh.

Van: Oh, I beg your pardon.

Judy: Heaven sakes.

Leave me alone.

Van: Oh, I'm terribly sorry.

Here's your hat.

Judy: Thank you.

Van: Something is missing.

Judy: Where's my...
Van: Bird.

Judy: My bird.
Van: Here's your bird.

Here we are, madam,
I'm so sorry.

Judy: What?
Van: Wrong bird.

Look, here's my card,
that's where I work, see?

Now you go buy yourself
whatever I've ruined

and I'll be glad to pay
for it, all right?

Judy: Thank you very much.

Van: Goodbye.
Judy: Goodbye.

Wait a minute.

Hey!

Narrator: That same year,
novelist poet film critic

James Agee publishes in Life
magazine his famous article

about the silent period
titled Comedy's Greatest Era,

in which Buster is heavily
featured as being along with

Chaplin and Lloyd, one of the
three greatest comedy stars

of that time, Harry
Langdon is the fourth.

This leads to a weekly
half-hour television show

in Los Angeles called
"The Buster Keaton Show."

Josephine: Nappy.

Buster: Who are you?

Josephine: I'm Josephine.

Buster: Haven't we
met someplace before?

Josephine: But of course,
I am your wife.

Narrator: This in turn
leads to other numerous

TV commercials,
industrial films,

and television appearances.

Dorothy: We've got
a wild applause,

are you a living
American blonde?

[Audience laughing]

John K: Did I
hear the question,

are you a living
American blonde?

Dorothy: That's right.

Buster: No!

John: One down and
nine to go, Mr. Kovac.

Paul: Buster Keaton
was a God to me.

I heard about a commercial
to be done in the style

of a silent movie, and I
knew I had to be in it.

♪♪♪

I was a keystone cop and
there were about six of us

chasing Buster.

Most of the actors are about
35 or 40 and he's like maybe

late 60's and he outran us.

♪♪♪

Leonard: He gave 100
percent to everything

he did on camera.

Whether it was a cameo
in a feature film.

Buster: Pardon me, young
woman, I'm sorry, but...

Oh, what a lovely baby.

Leonard: Or a TV commercial,
I've seen a lot of those.

And they're all
worth watching,

because he always
gives you something.

Announcer: Simon Pure Beer
presents Buster Keaton.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Leonard: He did a whole
series for Northwest Orient.

- Give wings to your heart,
fly Northwest to Florida,

enjoy champagne,
filet mignon,

or lobster tail
in flight.

Jingle: ♪ Northwest Orient
Airlines. ♪

Announcer: All part of Northwest
Imperial Service.

[Gonging]

Only Northwest Orient
Airlines flies to sunny

Florida, adventurous
Alaska, romantic Hawaii,

Coast to coast, and to
the mysterious Orient.

Jingle: ♪ Northwest Orient
Airlines. ♪

James: He did a series
for Alka-Seltzer.

Announcer: Pardon me, Sir, have you
made a New Year's resolution?

Buster: Yes, always keep
Alka-Seltzer handy.

James: He loved apparently
the fact that he could do

a day's work and walk away
with $5,000 or $10,000.

Announcer: Everybody has
fun at the circus.

Buster: Except me,
I'm tired.

Loudspeaker: Attention please,
Bravo the lion tamer has

had a slight accident.

Balloon man 13 has
just volunteered

to take his place.

Buster: I did?

Announcer: Oh, the poor guy.

He's got an aching
head, an upset stomach.

Buster: And a lion.

Speedy: What you need is
some Alka-Seltzer.

Leonard: He was very
active in television.

I saw him on the
"Ed Sullivan Show,"

I saw him on "Candid Camera."

Dick: "Candid Camera."

French: "Candid Camera."

Richard: "Candid Camera," which
I was on myself I might add.

And they paid me $10.

Allen Funt, Allen,
God bless you,

I hope you're having fun up
there ripping the angels off,

son of a bitch.

Allen: Now watch the pepper,
the top will come off.

His wrist watch
went in his soup.

[Audience laughing]

She's trying to hold it in.

[Audience laughing]

Bill: It was fantastic
and it was effortless.

[Audience laughing]

[Audience laughing]

Dick: His timing just
had that razor edge.

Arthur: He's such a master at
this, watch him very carefully.

[Audience laughing]

Bill: You know, it's magic.

Oh, it's unreal.

Allen: Watch carefully,
carefully.

[Audience laughing]

Arthur: This is Your Life,
you see a man who's used to

being quite stone faced,
who's seemingly overcome by

emotion, in a way that's
pretty touching to see.

Ralph: Then later on
when things got rough,

you move in with your mom,
into the first little house

that you had bought for her.

Into your home comes a girl
who has made friends with

your family, a girl who is to
remove any possible remainder

of disappointment in your life.

Here she is, Eleanor Norris,
who became your devoted wife

16 years ago, Mrs. Keaton.

[Audience applauding]

Here is the pretty gal.

[Audience applauding]

Come on, sit here, by Buster.

Buster: I didn't
even get my tie on.

Eleanor: I know.

[Audience laughing]

Ralph: Fix it
up there, mommy.

What have these years married
to Buster meant, Eleanor?

Eleanor: We've
been very happy,

of course we've had
some lean times too.

But, Buster has been so happy
he's wanted to go back to work,

and I've been very proud
of the way he's come

back into prominence.

Ralph: You bet and America
is happy to have him back.

You developed an act so that
Eleanor could appear with you,

didn't you, Buster?

Buster: Did you
rehearse this?

[Laughing]

Ralph: Completing this reunion
of those nearest to you,

here are your two sons.

From Reno, Nevada, your
son Bob; from Los Angeles,

Jim, here's Bob.

[Audience applauding]

And here's Jim.

[Audience applauding]

Bob, you're a
builder in Reno,

what do you say about
this dad of yours?

Bob: Oh, he's always been
a great guy to us, Ralph.

Ralph: Wonderful.

Paul: I thought of him in
addition to his great skills

as a comedian, as
a terrific actor.

James: If he had turned
his attentions as he did

sometimes later on to
straight dramatic work,

he would have done
very well at it.

Buster: You can keep
dismissing them,

striping them of all
power, disgracing them,

and replacing them until the
end of time and it still

won't get my overcoat back.

And when I protest, they'll
still throw me into prison,

because it's not they.

They're just part
of a machine,

a machine that was to
give us so much happiness.

This machine that reduces
a broken heart to a number

in a catalogue that says a
hungry child is nothing

more than 26583-Y.

- Stop him.

Buster: A machine that has
forgot what kindness, warmth,

and pity means.

When you say you
care, you lie.

You can't possibly care.

None of us can care,
we've forgotten how.

Narrator: In 1950, Buster
is seen briefly in Billy

Wilder's savage Hollywood
drama "Sunset Boulevard"

playing one of the
uncharitably named waxworks.

William: The others around
the table would be actor

friends, dim figures
you may still remember

from the silent days.

I used to think of
them as her waxworks.

Gloria: One diamond.

- One heart.

- Spade.

Buster: Pairs.

Gloria: Three no trump.

- Pass.

Buster: Pass.

Narrator: In 1953, he appears
with Charlie Chaplin

in a few scenes from
Chaplin's "Limelight."

For silent movie buffs
it is a golden moment.

Buster: I never thought
we would come to this.

[Audience Applauding]

Narrator: The one and only time
these two giants of early

Hollywood appeared together.

[Brown note played]

[Piano keys slammed]

Norman: That's a most
extraordinary scene.

I was in awe of them.

I thought this is a
man who's descended

from another sphere.

[String snapping]

♪♪♪

Richard: I had tons of
memorabilia of Keaton.

And Eleanor,
beautiful Eleanor,

she's walking around and
saying yeah I was with him

when he shot that, and
yeah I was with him

during "Limelight."

And so I was able to ask,
I said how did Charlie

treat Buster?

She said he treated Buster
just like a, like a king.

[Snapping]

Norman: The last
scene of the picture,

Buster had taken it on
himself to see that

Charlie got the best shot
he could possibly get

of his death scene.

Charlie designed the shot,
he's in the center of the

camera seemingly unconscious.

He couldn't see the shot
and there was no one there

to direct Charlie.

Buster he happened
to be beside me.

I wasn't aware of him
until I heard whispering.

And as we're pulling back,
I hear Buster saying

don't move, Charlie, you're
in the center of the shot,

that's good.

They were two geniuses
collaborating

with each other.

Narrator: Out of
the blue in 1957,

Paramount buys the rights
to Buster's life and they

produce a bio pic starring
Donald O'Connor titled

"The Buster Keaton Story," which
has almost nothing at all

to do with his real life story.

But the $50,000 he had paid
for these rights enables him

to buy his ranch in
Woodland Hills, California,

where he lived for
the rest of his life.

Buster: I'm Buster
Keaton, vaudeville star,

where do you get a pass?

- In there, studio
manager's office.

Buster: Thanks.

- Wait a minute,
where's your pass?

Buster: I'm going
inside to get it.

- You can't go in unless
you got one already.

Buster: How can I...

- Easy, if the studio wants
you, they'll send for you.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

- It's Oscar night
in Hollywood.

Narrator: In 1960, Buster is
awarded a special Oscar from

the Academy celebrating his
over 40 years in pictures.

Presenter: It is only proper
that the people who made these

pictures should also be
rewarded in some fashion.

♪♪♪

Narrator: In 1964, he appears in
a short film written by the

Avant guarde Irish writer
Samuel Beckett titled

simply "Film," all shot
in lower Manhattan.

Buster claims not to have a
clue as to what the little

picture is all about,
and some of his fans

detest the short film.

To this day it remains
a controversial choice

for him to have made.

And the following year 1965,
he stars in a short film

made for the Canadian
National Railways

titled "The Railrodder."

Bob B: It's like his 20th
in silent short film.

[Splashing]

He had a chance with
that after all the years

of the studio system.

It was just him and
a young director

who was enthusiastic.

And they had the
time and space,

they had six or eight
weeks, and they were

creating gags on the fly.

And he's that same guy
that he was in 1924.

[Whistle blowing]

It's great that he had a
chance to make one last film

as that character.

- Standby.

Okay, roll.

Narrator: There's also a
documentary of its making

that was shot simultaneously
containing some very

interesting and revealing
moments of Keaton

working out a gag.

Gerald: This is the shot
of the bridge that we get.

We get the valley
like that and this

damn great big bridge.

Buster: Combined the two
gags, the same thing.

I don't know, I put my brogue
down, everything else,

now I wonder where I am?

Out with the map, and once I
get it spread, I'm helpless.

When out here, shot going
across that trestle,

it's all the funnier.

I'm chasing them but fighting
a paper at the same time.

- The director has decided
against Buster's idea.

Instead of being
wrapped up in a map,

Keaton crosses the bridge
doing his laundry.

- What happened, didn't
he tell you what

he was going to do?

Buster: No, I didn't know,
he shifted gags on me.

Gerald: There's still two
other shots to complete

the sequence, Buster.

There's the long shot of the
bridge with them going over.

That's the, that's the whole
center of the gag is that

long shot of the bridge.

Buster: The bridge...

The bridge is not your gag,
the bridge is only suspense.

A thrill, there's no gag
to the bridge at all.

Doesn't mean a goddamn thing.

It's only a dangerous place
to be when there might be a

collision, that's the only
thing that's, that's funny.

Eleanor: Well, I know the
main reason they didn't want

you going over the trestle
with all wrapped up in

newspapers and things.

Said it was too dangerous.

Buster: I said who
suggested the gags?

I did, said I generally
know what I'm doing.

That is not dangerous,
that's child's play,

for the love of Mike.

♪ So I'm going to
take my money ♪

♪ And I'll pick
it up tonight ♪

Narrator: But his most
noticeable acting work here

at the end of his career
was in a couple

of movies in the
inordinately popular

teenage beach party
series of the 60's.

Including "Beach
Blanket Bingo" and

"How To Stuff A Wild Bikini."

- Bwana?

[Explosion]

Buster: Sorry, I
was on a house call.

Narrator: The young kids
seemed to like old Buster,

but had not a clue
of his storied past.

Buster: Tell daughter
to come here.

Daughter is real pro.

They call her the
witch's witch.

Frankie here wants to get back
to beach where Dee Dee is,

like right now.

Daughter, you good kid.

James: He was working
right up until the last,

I mean he was dying
when he made "The Scribe."

The director of that film
told me that they had a

double on set and Keaton
was appalled that

he would be expected to
use a double anywhere.

There were a couple of long
shots where the double is

actually seen because he was
terminally ill at that point.

♪♪♪

James K: He died in
'66, February 1st.

I was working on a television
show in New York and my son

called and said,
are you done?

I said, no, we're
not done yet.

He said, oh, call me
when you're done.

And I called him when I was
done, I said, yeah, I'm done,

what's up?

He said, we lost our Buster.

♪♪♪

He died standing
up, you know?

He was a great bridge player,
one of the greatest bridge

players in the world.

For a long time, he supported
himself by playing bridge

with a lot of the
big guys at MGM.

Louis B. Mayer and those
guys who had dropped him,

but they played
bridge with him.

In his house, he had a
little room which was

set up for a card game.

This last day,
he was restless,

and he was playing badly.

And he was standing
up playing.

And he sat down,
and he was dead.

Dick: I did the
eulogy for Stan Laurel,

one day in February.

Exactly a year
later in February,

in that same chapel, I did
the eulogy for Buster.

And everybody was there
except for Buster.

♪♪♪

Narrator: In the Fall of 1965,
just a few months before his

death, Buster is honored at
the Venice Film Festival for

his entire career with
special mention of course

for those 10 priceless
features he made in the 20's.

♪♪♪

And the first of these
was titled "Three Ages,"

in which Buster parodied
D.W. Griffith's multi-epoch

drama "Intolerance," sketching
out the relationship

between Keaton, his
beloved, and the villain,

always Wallace Beery, over
three wildly different

time periods.

The stone age.

♪♪♪

Ancient Rome.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

And the then-current 1923.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

However, the first feature of
his to tell one continuous

story was the brilliantly
sardonic and uproariously

funny "Our Hospitality," a
mordant comic masterpiece

inspired by the infamous
Hatfield and McCoy feud,

with Buster the main
target throughout.

As soon as the family of the
girl he's fallen for learns

of his identity being the
inheritor of the feud,

Buster becomes a
walking target.

[Gunshot]

Of course this was in
the days dominated by

single-shot handguns.

[Gunshot]

Eventually, he
figures it out,

but also learns that the
father told his sons that

they couldn't kill him
while he was actually

a guest in their home.

Again, Keaton relishes
making fun of a dark,

murderous situation.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

[Gunshot]

♪♪♪

In fact, the beginning of the
movie is played completely

straight, and is very
dramatically shot,

worthy of D.W. Griffith.

No doubt Keaton decided to
make this opening as dark as

he could in order to set up
the very real danger for

Keaton's character, which
therefore helps to elevate

the humor once Buster
arrives on the scene.

♪♪♪

Keaton also insisted on
historical accuracy,

starting with the ridiculous
but true replica of an early

train which actually combined
elements from two of the

very first trains, one
British, one American.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

The finale features perhaps
Keaton's most spectacular

stunt, as he saves his
girl from the waterfall.

The girl is his then
wife Natalie Talmadge.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Two classic Keatons
are released in 1924,

"Sherlock, Jr." in which as
a movie projectionist,

he imagines himself in a
picture he's projecting.

♪♪♪

With some amazing and
innovative trick photography.

James: The dream sequence,
it's an amazing feat today,

and to think that he worked
it out as beautifully

as he did back in 1923
is just astonishing.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Narrator: And one sequence that
proves what an accomplished

pool player Buster was.

The 13 ball has been
established to have a bomb

in it, so Keaton manages
superbly to avoid

hitting that ball.

♪♪♪

Dick: Yeah, it was
so sweet of him,

he left me his pool cue.

He was a shark.

And it ties together.

Got his name on it.

Probably worth a
lot of money by now.

I would never let go of it.

Narrator: It was also during
this film that Buster

suffered a serious injury.

While nobody would argue that
he had a fair share of damage

throughout his career...

♪♪♪

On "Sherlock, Jr.," however,
Buster broke his neck and

didn't know it for years.

Water burst out and slammed
Buster onto the tracks

causing the break, but you
certainly couldn't tell

from the way he was
moving, jaunty as ever,

all done in one shot.

He had headaches for
a while, but didn't

feel anything wrong.

Years later a
doctor said to him,

when did you break
your neck?

Buster said, never.

The doctor said,
oh yes you did.

Keaton hired Roscoe Arbuckle
to co-direct under another

name because of the scandal.

Buster suggested Will B. Good,

but Roscoe chose
William Goodrich which was

his father's middle name.

However, Buster found to his
sorrow that Roscoe just was

no longer the same guy.

That same year, 1924, saw
the release of another

Keaton classic, among his
most popular features,

"The Navigator," which came
about simply because one

of his associates heard
there was a certain

large ship for sale.

What could Buster
do with a ship?

He only created a comic
masterpiece in which both

Buster and the girl he loves,
who rejected his marriage

proposal, end up alone
through numerous coincidences

on a deserted ocean liner.

♪♪♪

One of the most memorable
is the sequence that follows

they're both figuring
out there is someone

else on the ship.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Keaton brilliantly
establishes his character's

hopelessly spoiled
background in a superbly

economical opening.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

But there are a lot of
gags you can do on a ship.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

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♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

The following year 1925,
Buster made a picture with

subject matter he wasn't
particularly interested in,

but Joe Schenck had bought
the stage play for Keaton to

film, and Buster felt obliged
to give it his best shot.

The picture "Seven Chances"
isn't one of his finest,

but it does contain one of
Buster's most extraordinary

creations, the one with
thousands of women chasing him,

and then an avalanche
as we showed at the start.

Here's a little more of
that amazing sequence.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Also released in 1925
was Buster's eccentric

love story between Keaton
and a full-grown cow

named Brown Eyes.

"Go West" is by no means
his funniest film,

but it's strangely touching,
and the love between

the two is palpable.

Eventually, the real Brown
Eyes just followed Buster

wherever he went.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

In 1926 among Keaton's most
hilarious and currently least

known pictures was released.

"Battling Butler" is not so
much a mistaken identity

farce as a comedy about a
guy saying he's a famous

prize fighter, they
have the same name,

to impress the girl
he's smitten with.

Of course Buster's character
thinks he'll never have

to really fight to win
the girl, but he does,

and the first time he gets in
the ring to be trained is one

of the funniest sequences.

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Near the beginning
of "Battling Butler,"

spoiled rich kid Keaton
tries to go fishing.

Or maybe shoot a duck.

And the single-shot
sequence is a wonderfully

timed series of gags
perfectly constructed.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

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♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

And there was the first cut.

♪♪♪

Orson: Good evening, this is
Orson Welles, and it's my,

my great pleasure to
introduce this evening

in this series of
great silent films,

one of the great films of all
time, one of my favorites,

"The General" by and
with Buster Keaton.

Narrator: Released
later in 1926 came

what many people
today believe is

Keaton's greatest work.

"The General" is a daring,
beautifully photographed

Civil War comedy.

[Gunshot]

Was recently voted in a
poll of film critics and

historians at number 18
among all movies ever made.

It was also the highest
polling silent picture.

Orson: Very few films in all
history ever equaled it.

Now the subject is
certainly nothing,

it's 100 times more
stunning visually than

"Gone with the Wind."

Narrator: At the time of
its release, however,

"The General" was not
considered all that terrific,

and indeed was harshly
criticized by some

who said it wasn't funny
seeing men get killed.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

[Shot fired]

The Great Stone Face had
made a dark comedy before

that phrase really existed.

The film was not a
huge success either.

Nevertheless, Buster himself
always referred to "The General"

as his best film.

Quentin: Not only is it just
a constantly hysterical film,

I am a big proponent of
action cinema and it's one

of the great action movies.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

[Shot fired]

Narrator: He chose to play a
Southern soldier because he

felt that audiences would
not have as much sympathy

with a Northern soldier,
since they won the war.

He does a more lethal
version of the cannon joke

from "The Navigator."

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

[Shot fired]

♪♪♪

He also filmed what turned
out to be the single

most expensive shot in
silent picture history.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Buster's last two independent
features are strictly

speaking of laughs perhaps
his funniest of all.

In 1927, "College"
was released.

It was not a huge success,
but it's hard to understand why,

because it is filled
with hilarious sequences.

Harold Lloyd had had a huge
success with "The Freshman"

in 1925, a college story that
featured some very funny

material about football.

Keaton took on every
other possible sport.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Early in the movie, Buster
tries to get a job as

a soda jerk and watches
the pro at his position.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

He claims he can do as well.

The resulting sequence is one
of Keaton's tour de force

comedy routines.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

In a later sequence, his
classmates are giving him a

hard time in a brilliantly
constructed number.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

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♪♪♪

Buster's last independent
feature was released in 1928,

the extraordinary final
year of the silent era,

and "Steamboat Bill, Jr."
remains among his most

uproarious works.

Climaxed by an amazing
hurricane sequence.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Basically, it's the story of
a boy trying to impress his

long-lost father who takes
an instant dislike to

almost everything about
his unimpressive son,

especially his hat.

First get a new hat.

♪♪♪

Buster even sneaks an inside
joke into the midst of this,

by quickly hiding the
pork pie hat already long

associated with him.

Of course, Buster is in
love with the daughter of

the rich new steamboat owner
who's actively trying to

put Buster's old steamboat
father out of business.

The daughter's father has
banned Buster from ever

coming onto his boat.

Buster's father insists that
Buster stand up for himself

and get right onto his
girlfriend's boat.

This leads to one of
the funniest sequences

in this final sunny,
beautifully constructed

silent masterpiece, his
tenth in five years.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

And so ended the
great Keaton decade.

His independence, his
marriage, silent movies,

everything he had
achieved was forgotten.

And pretty soon, he fell prey
to the country Gore Vidal

referred to as the United
States of amnesia.

But back in 1965, the year
before Keaton passed away,

the Venice Film Festival gave
a tribute to the great Buster

and he received the
longest standing ovation

in the history of this
Italian festival.

For more than 10 minutes,
the applause rolled on,

Buster was moved to tears.

Patricia: He couldn't believe
that anyone would care about

these movies that he
had made so long ago.

Richard: Eleanor was telling
me he didn't understand it,

it was 50 years after he made
these films and they were

being appreciated like
they were just opening

for the first time and
he didn't get it.

Johnny: It's amazing how
timeless he is and how that

type of physical comedy
will never be unfunny.

It was funny then,
it's funny now,

it will be funny
in 100 years.

And how many filmmakers
can you say that about?

Narrator: They remembered
him, he said,

and yes he will indeed
never be forgotten.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

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