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saw it 15 years ago and have been raving ever since. And someone found the dvd and gave me a copy. Narrator talks about his father *throwing* his then 6yr old son -at- hecklers in early vaudeville days and that's how "Buster" gets his name. By being thrown at hecklers on stage and off.The Canadien National Railway backdrop is some amazing cinemetography and wonderfully recorded jazz/bop/vaudeville soundtrack.
Yahoo:
In 1965 the National Film Board of Canada lured Buster Keaton north to star in The Railrodder, Gerald Potterton's slapstick travelogue of Canada as seen from the seat of an open railway track speeder. The twilight companion to Keaton's great railroad comedy The General is a modern silent film, accompanied only by a bouncy score, cartoonish sound effects, and the ever-present putt-putt sound of the chugging car. At almost 70 years old, the Great Stone Face lacks the acrobatic agility of the old days, but his timing is impeccable and he executes physical gags with the effortless ease of a master.
John Spotton recorded some behind-the-scenes events during the film's shooting in the 55-minute documentary Buster Keaton Rides Again. Spotton supplements the production with perfunctory biographical background (which is better explored in Kevin Brownlow's brilliant documentary Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow), but at heart it's a loving, revealing portrait of the aging master at work. Priceless footage shows Keaton brainstorming comic bits, schooling his young director on the proper staging of gags, relaxing over a hand of bridge, and stewing over a disagreement when Potterton overrules a stunt Keaton has developed. The bit involves Keaton fumbling blindly behind a giant map while the car rides over a trestle, and Potterton worries about the safety of his aging star. "Dangerous?" growls Keaton. "It's kid stuff." The core of Keaton bubbles out in the battle of wills: professionalism, pride, stubbornness, and the primacy of the gag. Keaton wins, and the gag is in. --Sean AxmakerDescription
Two Buster Keaton's for the price of one from the National Film Board of Canada. The great comic genius of the silent era still shines in these two programs. "Buster Keaton Rides Again" (55 min.) is a documentary filmed while Keaton was making "The Railrodder." The 1965 documentary provides an absorbing portrait of Keaton relaxing, telling yarns and plotting the next day's action with considerable flair. In "The Railrodder" (25 min.), Keaton travels across Canada aboard an open railway trackspeeder. Perched on his seat, this endearing traveller chugs nonchalantly past some of Canada's most spectacular landmarks. These programs are a memorable and intimate view of one of the most indestructible of slapstick comics.TC
Follow Ups:
A family that used to live across the street from me had a very young daughter...not much older than 1...who could not even speak much at that point beyond "mama" and "dada". But she loved trains, loved seeing them, loved hearing them, absolutely fascinated by trains (as my father was a railroad engineer she had opportunity to experience them very closely!). One day her mother and she came by when I began to watch Keaton's "The General". She sat across from me in the room, totally transfixed, for the hour-plus running time. That film never had a better audience than that small child who loved everything Keaton did with the trains.A child that could not even say a phrase yet sat mesmerized by Keaton's magic.
And I thought I was a fan! I couldn't compare with that!
There is a scene in "Sherlock, Jr." where Keaton changes the $1.00 price on a box of candy to $4.00 to impress his girlfriend. There are, of course, consequences to this. I used to tell the fellow who introduced me to Keaton that the scene was so simple that even a small child could understand it. Lo and behold, some time later one of his children was making a point and she said, "You know, like Buster Keaton changing the price on the box of candy".
Great story!Isn't it strange how small children readily grasp the comedy in silent films? What child does not "get" Chaplin or Keaton or LLoyd? But the introduction of sound created new styles of comedy. And when I think of some of the comedies aimed at children today ("Cat in the Hat" for example), I shudder.
I saw "rides again" on TVO (TV-Ontario, up here in Ontario, Canada) a few months ago, and previous to that, on PBS a year or so ago.Until then, I was a "passive" BK fan. My first REAL exposure to him was upon hearing two CDs of Bill Frizell trio's soundtrack recordings that they did for some silent film stuff (the music was incredible), and caused me to search out BK's films. It seems that Frizell's music and BK's antics go hand in hand!
I agree that a 70+ year old guy has no right being that agile!!! Its crazy good how he could still do those things (and his own stunts!) on his own...
A great tribute to a pioneer in the art!
Cheers,
Dman
GREAT GEAR DESTROYER!!!
I have all the Keaton silent films on laserdisc and have played the Frissel CDs along with a couple and they relly work, especially "One Week".
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