Steamboat Bill Jr.

Steamboat Bill Jr. is a feature-length silent comedy film featuring Buster Keaton, one of the masterpieces of American silent film comedy. Released by United Artists on May 20 1928, the film is the last product of Keaton's independent production team and set of gag writers.

Related Topics:
Buster Keaton - United Artists - May 20 - 1928

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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.

Related Topics:
Mississippi - Tom McGuire

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But Steamboat Bill's finest moments come during its cyclone sequence. Keaton filmed close to Sacramento valley, 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 did the stunt himself with a real building section and no trickery.

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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.

Related Topics:
Charles Reisner - Ernest Torrence - Marion Byron

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The movie was parodied by Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie", which also was the first Mickey Mouse movie to become commercially successful, and which was itself parodied by "Steamboat Itchy", an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon on The Simpsons. There was also a Nintendo cartoon featuring the character Mr. Game & Watch in his first episode Steamboat Watchey.

Related Topics:
Movie - Walt Disney - Steamboat Willie - Mickey Mouse - Itchy and Scratchy - The Simpsons - Nintendo - Character - Mr. Game & Watch - Episode

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