Buster und die Polizei

Buster Keaton's "Cops" is a very funny and very well-crafted short comedy with a wide range of comic material, ranging from subtle timing gags to hilarious slapstick, and featuring some impressive choreography as well. It takes a short while to set everything up, and then it is very humorous the rest of the way. Keaton's character is involved in a series of misunderstandings at the beginning of the film that eventually lead to him driving across town in a rickety carriage filled with things that don't belong to him. Soon he is being pursued by (literally) every policeman in the city. There are plenty of laughs from Keaton's own comic skills, and a lot of large-scale chase scenes that are carefully filmed and very entertaining.

This is a movie not to be missed for anyone who enjoys silent comedies.

We just don't have as much of this light, albeit subversive humor anymore. So in order to catch a new generation up, show 'em this short. It's packed with about as much running, bumbling cops as possible.

Keaton plays a man trying to become a business man to, you guessed it, win the affections of the beautiful young woman. Unfortunately, a series of misunderstandings and mishaps frames him as a bomb-yielding terrorist, and a parade (literally) of cops eager to hunt him down.

The humor is massive... if you'll excuse the pun. This short makes a delightful little companion piece to Seven Chances, only replacing the tide of pursuing brides-to-be with the just as eager and possibly more dangerous avalanche of an entire city's police force (of which Keaton manages to suitably tie up and lock down, of course).

It's known as one of his strongest shorts, and I must put my vote in the mix (even though I think The playhouse is his strongest short of all).

--PolarisDiB

Each film of Buster Keaton, for me, is support of reflection. "Cops" is not a reflection. But a sketch about motifs, choices, situations and fine art of birth of comedy. A film about manner to survive to adversary situations. And to build a form of happiness in the most inspired manner. The furniture, the horse, the cops and the innocent victim of unhappy situations are good pieces of a realistic and profound useful portrait of near reality. The same after almost a century.

Arguably Buster Keaton's finest two-reeler, Cops is the perfect distillation of the appeal of this gifted artist. One cannot help but feel great sympathy for the lead character, all the while laughing at his unfortunate circumstances. Yet in the midst of being suckered out of his (stolen) fortune and finding himself wrongly suspected of an act of terrorism, Buster never for a minute expresses a hint of self pity. He brilliantly deals with the circumstances as they unfold while his face exudes a calmness and confidence that seem quite contradictory to the madness that surrounds him. See how he calmly handles finding himself in the middle of a giant parade of police officers and how he nonchalantly lights his cigarette with a terrorist's bomb. The audience breathlessly tries to keep up with Keaton as he navigates an obstacle course strewn with hundreds of well-choreographed cops. With impeccable timing he seems to improvise his way through it using the many tools available to him, most notably his quick wit. Every second of this film is wonderfully entertaining. The ending is typical Keaton - satisfying and very funny. This is the perfect introduction to Buster Keaton and silent films in general.

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

This is not my favorite Keaton film, or even my favorite Keaton short. It is not quite on the level of "One Week", for example. But it still has some of those great physical gags that Keaton was known for (the see-saw on the fence is vintage Keaton).

There is some question over whether or not the dynamite is a reference to Harold Lloyd. I have my doubts on that, but who knows? Either way it is interesting to have an anarchist in the plot. Audiences today (2015) may not fully appreciate how ubiquitous stories of anarchists were when this film came out, and it was actually a timely joke.