by lhb412 » Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:21 pm
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Last year I got the big Buster Keaton boxed set and became a fan. I recently traded that set back in because Kino International is re-releasing all of that material in far-superior, new Blu-Ray editions! I used the store credit to buy a few of the discs released so far, first up: Steamboat Bill, Jr!
This film disappointed me last year because it's Keaton's best known film besides The General and I don't think it measured up to that film or a few others (Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, and Our Hospitality - to mention a few), but now I see I was just being thick: Steamboat Bill, Jr. is an awesome movie. Buster is an effete college boy who goes to visit his father, a tough riverboat captain, who hasn't seen him since he was a kid. At first Buster is an embarrassment to his dad, but in the climactic, stunt-filled finale (set during a hurricane - that famous shot of a house falling on Buster is from here) he proves his mettle.