El chivo

'The Goat' is the one with the shot of a train coming right at the camera, and stopping just as it reaches the viewer with Buster sitting there on the cowcatcher, which is simply marvelous (it's at about the 9:05 point). He's running from the police because he accidentally hit one with a horseshoe (fleeing from just three of them here, unlike the horde in the following year's film, Cops), and he's running from a guy trying to collect a reward, having been mistaken for the notorious killer 'Dead Shot Dan.'

There are lots of clever moments here, including Buster being dragged on his belly by a car, ingeniously catching three cops in the back of a truck, hiding behind a burly traffic cop by standing behind him and making the same arm motions, and hopping on a table and leapfrogging over a guy's head to dive through a transom window. He shows his prowess with trains, something we'd certainly see later in his career, by climbing to the roof of one as it chugs along and unhooking the car containing the police. He jumps into what he thinks is the spare tire of a car about to drive off, thinking he will make his getaway, only to find it's part of sign advertising Vulcanizing. My favorite bit was at the end though, with the chase up and down the stairs and the elevator manipulation - Buster controls it by climbing up and moving the dial saying what floor it's on, you see.

Keaton's extraordinary physical comedy was highly influential to cartoonists like Chuck Jones and comedians like Lucille Ball among countless others, and it's very easy to see that in this film. It may not have his very best material, but the pace is great and there is quite of variety, making it a lot of fun. The title seems to be short for 'scapegoat' since that's what the character ends up being, but I like to think of it as The GOAT, the Greatest of All Time, because that's what Keaton surely is.

Buster Keaton is walking past a jail when he grabs the bars and peers inside. On the other side of the bars is notorious murderer "Dead Shot Dan" who is being photographed. Seeing that Keaton is behind him, Dan ducks out of shot and once he escapes, a photo of Keaton, seemly behind bars is published. As a result of this Keaton is forced to go on the run from various police officers including a persistent Police Chief who just won't give up.

I watch a lot of Silent Comedy but if I had to ask someone to watch just one short silent picture it may well be this one. The Goat is packed full of wonderful jokes, ingenious set ups and incredible stunt work. I laughed more at twenty seven minutes of this film than I have during probably every comedy I've seen so far this year combined.

What makes this film so great is the sheer quantity and quality of gags. While essentially a chase comedy, this is to the Keystone Cops what BBC4 is to ITV2. Sure they have similarities, but one is far more sophisticated that the other. Keaton seems to find endless possibilities in places to hide and ways of escape, only to have them backfire on him. The way that the gags join together feels effortless. Nothing about the film feels forced despite the huge number of jokes and stunts. Keaton never creates a tenuous link from one to another, the whole film feels smooth and calculated while remaining frantic and fast paced.

As well as being incredibly funny, this is also quite surreal in places, in keeping with Keaton's cannon. Some of the more surreal moments include a clay horse melting under Keaton's weight and perhaps one of Keaton's most famous scenes in which a train approaches from the distance and stops immediately in front of the camera showing Keaton, stone faced, riding the cow catcher. This isn't really played for laughs but you laugh at the audacity of the shot. Perhaps the most surreal scene involves an elevator chase in which Keaton and the Police Chief (Joe Roberts) are involved in a chase through an apartment block. Keaton manipulates the mechanical elevator floor indicator to his advantage (even though this wouldn't really effect where the elevator was) and by pulling it hard and past the top floor Keaton forces the elevator out of the roof. The scene is like a cross between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and something Terry Gilliam would produce. It's a wonderfully clever and funny scene.

Something else that stands out, as with any Keaton picture, is the star's athleticism and gymnastic abilities. It sometimes seems as though Keaton is made of rubber as he jumps, falls, stretches and squeezes with ease both in and out of trouble. Keaton, who once broke his neck during a film (and didn't realise until years later when he had an x-ray) was never afraid to put himself in harms way and that is certainly true here. In The Goat he can be seen jumping through windows and off vehicles, sliding down elevator shafts and falling of a variety of apparatus. During all of this his expression never changes.

To call The Goat a masterpiece would be no exaggeration. It is easily amongst the greatest silent shorts of the 1920s and amongst Keaton's best work. The humour, timing and plot don't feel out of place today. It's the sort of film that you'll be afraid to look away from for just a second or two in case you miss a gag or glance. This is comedic perfection.

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A simple contrivance--the Great Stone Face is mistaken for an escaped mass murderer--gives Buster Keaton room for changes rung on a theme that will make your jaw hang. The amazing thing here is the protean story invention--Keaton uses an offhand set-up to generate every kind of reversed-expectation gag. He shortens, elongates, and crash-dives out of left field every expected joke. The astonishment here is the surrealist freeness with storytelling, not just the masterly composition and choreography. THE GOAT feels as gaily, cartwheelingly modern as UN CHIEN ANDALOU. And more than even some revered Keaton features, it's a masterpiece of invention.

The comments on this page attesting to the genius of this film are all on target. After more than eighty years, it's still fresh; last year's Hollywood comedies are stale by comparison. I was lucky enough to see this screened at Webster University with a live, contemporary soundtrack performed by the After Quartet. Not only did these guys do a first rate job, but it made me realize how liberating it is for the classics of silent film to be performed without a hokey, melodramatic "style pianola" soundtrack.

Frequent readers of my comments know that I believe movies can change you, can hurt or build. At least I make a pretty good case when it comes to heavy films. There are some very competent ones of these, "good" by many measures... that depending on how you are building yourself should be avoided.

But what about comedy? Shouldn't it just be taken as it comes? Isn't the whole idea about the flow?

Well, I know that some films make me laugh and later feel bad about it. And some amuse in different trivial ways, But when I think of funny, real funny that lasts, its gotta be the Marxes and this guy Keaton.

This humor is physical, but instead of pain, it is based on the unexpected. Cinematic surprise. And this movie, to my mind is one of his best because he relies less on his sad character and more on the movement of the thing.

Was this the first filmmaker who mastered it all, writing, directing, editing, acting?

The thing about this is how it builds and builds. The pacing of the episodes, for sure. That doesn't seem so remarkable today. But the pacing of the stunts within that framework is remarkable in how the energy is compounded: setup, burst and faster and faster with the trigger.

Its really something to see. And at the end, after you've seen it the first time and been surprised — and laughed, then you can wonder whether comedy can be as powerful as the other film experiences. Maybe so.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.