| Steamboat Bill Jr. | |
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 Steamboat Bill Jr. DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Charles Reisner |
| Written by | Carl Harbaugh |
| Starring | Buster Keaton Tom McGuire |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | May 12, 1928 (USA) |
| Running time | 71 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | Silent film English intertitles |
| IMDb profile | |
Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) is a feature-length comedy silent film featuring Buster Keaton. Released by United Artists, the film is the last product of Keaton's independent production team and set of gag writers. It was not a box-office success and proved to be the last picture Keaton would make for United Artists. Keaton would end up moving to MGM where he would star in the most successful films of his career.
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Plot
The story concerns a young man straight out of college making good as a Mississippi steamboat captain, trying to follow in his father's footsteps, and falling in love with the daughter of John James King (Tom McGuire) who is his father's business rival.
Production
Steamboat Bill's finest moments come during its cyclone sequence. The film was shot in Sacramento, building $135,000 worth of breakaway street sets on a riverbank and then filming their systematic destruction with six powerful Liberty-motor wind machines and a 120-foot crane. Keaton himself, who calculated and performed his own stunts, was suspended on a cable from the crane and hurled him from place to place, as if airborn. The resulting sequence on film is astonishing and still watchable as spectacle, if not comedy. And it comes punctuated by Keaton's single most famous stunt. Keaton stands in the street, making his way through the destruction, when an entire building facade collapses onto him. The attic window fits neatly around Keaton's body as it falls, coming within inches of flattening him (Keaton performed a similar, though smaller scale stunt, 8 years earlier, in the short film One Week). Keaton did the stunt himself with a real building section and no trickery. It has been claimed that if he had stood just inches off of the correct spot Keaton would have been seriously injured or killed. The stunt has been re-created several times on film and television, though usually with facades made from lighter materials. Legendary Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan has often cited Keaton's acrobatics-- and this stunt in particular-- as one of his primary influences.
The director was Charles Reisner, the credited writer was Carl Harbaugh (although Keaton wrote the film and publicly called Harbaugh useless but "on the payroll"), and also starred Ernest Torrence, Marion Byron, and Tom Lewis.
Reception
The movie was not well received at the box-office. The New York Times called the film a "gloomy comedy" and a "sorry affair." [1].
Trivia
The movie was parodied by Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie, which also was the first Mickey Mouse movie to become commercially successful.
See also
External links
- Watch the Movie at the Internet Archive
- Steamboat Bill Jr. at the Internet Movie Database
- thorough Epinions description
- Choice clips from this Public Domain classic (in Windows and Real Media format)
References
- ^ New York Times; May 15, 1928; Page 17.
| The films of Buster Keaton |
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Short Subjects, starring Roscoe Arbuckle, featuring Buster Keaton (1917-1920)
Short Subjects starring Buster Keaton (1920-1923)
Short Subjects starring Buster Keaton, for Educational Pictures (1934-1937)
Short Subjects starring Buster Keaton, for Columbia Pictures (1939-1941)
Pest from the West • Mooching Through Georgia • Nothing but Pleasure • Pardon My Berth Marks • The Taming of the Snood • The Spook Speaks • His Ex Marks the Spot • So You Won't Squawk! • General Nuisance • She's Oil Mine Short Subjects starring Buster Keaton, for independent producers (1952-1966)
Paradise for Buster • Film • The Railrodder • The Scribe Feature Films starring Buster Keaton (1920-1965)
The Saphead • Three Ages • Our Hospitality • Sherlock, Jr. • The Navigator • Seven Chances • Go West • Battling Butler • The General • College • Steamboat Bill Jr. • The Cameraman • Spite Marriage • Free and Easy • Doughboys • Parlor, Bedroom and Bath • Sidewalks of New York • Casanova wider Willen • The Passionate Plumber • Speak Easily • What! No Beer? • Le Roi des Champs-Élysées • The Invader • Moderno Barba Azul, El • Buster Keaton Rides Again Feature Films with Buster Keaton, in featured or cameo role (1929-1966)
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