Cops (1922)

Directors:

Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton

Writers:

Edward F. Cline (writer)
Buster Keaton (writer)

Release Date:

March 1922 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy | Family

Plot:

A series of mishaps manages to make a young man get chased by a big city's entire police force.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Bomb | Anarchist | Furniture | Chase

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Buster Keaton	...	The Young Man
Joe Roberts	...	Police Chief
Virginia Fox	...	Mayor's Daughter
Edward F. Cline	...	Hobo

Runtime:

18 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Finland:S (1972) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Arbor Mansion, Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

Joseph M. Schenck Productions

Trivia:

In the scene where Buster lights his cigarette from the lit fuse of the anarchist's bomb he is, knowingly or not, mirroring the darkest day in Harold Lloyd's life. On 24 August 1919, Harold Lloyd was posing for gag photographs at the Witzel Studios. He thought it would be funny to light a cigarette from the fuse of a prop anarchist's bomb. When the bomb proved to be real, he lost his right thumb, index finger, and 30% of his palm. In addition, he was completely blind for 3 months and half blind for an additional three.

Quotes:

Opening title: [first line] Love laughs at locksmiths - Houdini

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults (1997) (TV)

Keaton is timeless

I was lucky enough to receive free tickets to a Buster Keaton film festival, and it was a surprise to see the 1000-seat theater so thoroughly packed that the organizers were actually turning people away. That Keaton is STILL able to draw these types of crowds is proof of his genius. This was my favorite film of the bunch, as it abandons any plot in favor of pure lunacy. The opening scenes at first seem slow and lead us to believe that the bulk of the movie will consist of Keaton trying to deliver some furniture, but things suddenly take a turn for the insane when he accidentally bombs a police parade (!) and finds literally hundreds of cops chasing him through the streets. The audience has barely a change to register what has happened, when he's avoiding the masses of cops in a series of death-defying stunts done at lightning speed. Already in one of his first films, Keaton outdoes the entire Keystone Cops series and sets the bar for cop-based comedy, only being surpassed in scope, so far as I know, 60 years later by "The Blues Brothers."

What I can't figure out is why nobody makes movies like this anymore. There is the very occasional attempt to revive them (like the aforementioned "Blues Brothers"), but for the most part, this sort of no-holds-barred slapstick appears to be a dying genre. It's not a question of being aged; I think modern-day audiences would LOVE to see more of this stuff, but studios are apparently uninterested. Until some sort of comedy renaissance happens, we'll just have to rely on Keaton to keep selling out seats.