Now, I have never seen a Buster Keaton film before which is really just sad because I wrote a paper about him my Junior year of high school (Okay, it wasn't all about him, I don't want to seem like a completely terrible student. It was a paper about film's transition to sound and how it somewhat spared Hollywood from the Great Depression, but I did talk about Buster Keaton for an entire paragraph and how his sound films bombed because people didn't like his voice.). Well, The General was a good ol' silent film, that's for sure, and a prime example of Buster Keaton's work according to every Top 100 Films list I've read (and just a prime example of what a movie should be, in my opinion, if you give a damn).
In Case You Haven't Seen The General, Here's A Quick Summary:
Buster Keaton stars in The General as a character who has a name that doesn't matter because we all know it's Buster Keaton (but, if you're going to demand his character's name, it was Johnny Gray). The film right off the bat introduces that he has two loves of his life, his train (called "The General") and a girl (called Annabelle Lee). Chaos erupts in Buster's life when the Civil War breaks out and he is banned from joining the army because he is too valuable as a train engineer. This breaks the girl's heart (she likes, I mean really likes a man in uniform), which breaks Buster's heart. Then, his train gets taken by Union soldiers and Buster goes to chase after them to get his train back, unaware that the other love of his life (the girl) is also on the train.
Then laughter, romance and action (not romantic action, train-chasing action) ensues.
My Thoughts (If You Give A Damn)
The film is categorized as a comedy. Buster Keaton is a comedian, that is true, and there are certainly funny parts to the movie, but this film isn't just a comedy. No, I would also categorize it as an action film. What? Buster Keaton? An action hero? Yes! I think so at least. I went into this film knowing nothing but the title, really, and the genre. With that in mind, I expected a film more akin to Duck Soup than The Great Train Robbery. But no, this movie is filled with train chases, spies, and a mission to save the (two) love(s) of his life. Sure, there were comedic scenes in between the train chases, like when Buster Keaton has to stop for wood to fuel the train. All the logs he throws onto the car either tumble over the other side or comedically fall back towards him, forcing him to duck and cover in a hilarious, slipping and falling, slapstick sort of way. However, even though I found myself laughing the entire time through these and other hilarious scenes, I still sat at the edge of my seat because I knew the bad guys were just around the bend.
And Now For the Bit About Pop Culture
Now, I've given you my thoughts. I've given you a quick idea of the premise of the movie. The whole point of this blog apparently is to try and see how the film's influence on current pop culture has influenced my viewing of the original, classic film.
Admittedly, this is a little more difficult for a 1927 silent comedy (as famous as this one is). I can't think of any parodies or references to The General made on Saturday Night Live or other shows. But, perhaps it's one of those things that has been out there that I've seen, but just didn't get because I didn't see the film or know what movie was being referenced. (Perhaps I shall follow up on this if I run into any jokes on television about Buster Keaton and/or his filmic masterpiece, The General.
I will also be able to chat about the film if it ever comes up in conversation or during one of my film classes. This is perhaps the main reason I decided to put this 1927 flick on the list; it was mostly to try and familiarize myself with silent films (which I have seen very few of), which is something that comes in handy more in a film history class and analyzing other films than it does in a conversation with a regular person (unless, that regular person happens to be a film student who has also gone out of their way to track down and watch silent movies), or in being able to laugh at parodies and appreciate references in pop culture today.
A theory has popped into my head...
Perhaps The General is left to the world of filmic appreciation and not referenced in modern day pop culture as much because a lot of referencing and parodying of film is done through quoting lines. For example, the whole title of this blog is based on a line, which is a lot more difficult to do for a silent film since they don't really have lines. Silent films in that way are a completely different world and although they have influenced current films by creating a base for the form of art and entertainment, how they tell stories really are different, and more difficult to "relate to" I guess using our modern way of filmic storytelling.
That's something I'm going to think about and look out for as I wander around this world surrounded by popular culture. I may end up proving myself wrong... we shall see.
COMING SOON: Thoughts about all two hours and four minutes of Metropolis.
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