Pluskylang Great Film overall

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Antonius Block Buster Keaton is his usual adorable, amazing, and funny self in this story of the son of a riverboat captain who tries to learn the ropes from his father while being attracted to the daughter of a rival captain. Keaton's character hasn't seen his father since he was a baby, and his scrawny build and beret are a disappointment to his father, played by Ernest Torrence. The movie is a teeny bit slow at the start, though there is a funny scene of his father trying to select a new hat for him. Stick with it. It builds to funny moments in the local jail (love that backwards rock toss), and then some fantastic scenes at the end, when a cyclone strikes, with Keaton displaying great physical comedy as well as bravery. In one of his most famous stunts, the side of building comes crashing down on him, only to miss him because he's standing in the spot the doorway lands. There are several other dazzling moments in an extended sequence that is the genius and crescendo to the film. The first half of the film is not as strong, and it would have been nice if the love interest (Marion Byron) had been expanded a little more, but this is still a very enjoyable, heartwarming movie, with some truly unique moments.

Bill Slocum It is ironic that the greatest film stunt ever pulled by comedy's finest man in motion, Buster Keaton, involves Keaton doing little more than rubbing the back of his neck as he stands perfectly still.Perfect stillness is hardly apt in describing "Steamboat Bill, Jr.," Buster's final and finest independently-produced comedy. For nearly the entire length of the film, he's stumbling, falling, somersaulting, and splashing around like a total madman. What you get is a distillation of Buster as he made his name in his short-film days, filled out with the help of a riverboat yarn to develop his sentimental side in surprisingly winning ways. Stone face, yes, but stone heart, never!Bleak days are upon Steamboat Bill Canfield (Ernest Torrance), captain of the once-proud, now-near-derelict riverboat Stonewall Jackson. His rival, John James King (Tom McGuire) runs both the town of River Junction as well as a fancy riverboat which he plans to use to put Canfield out of business. With a kind of optimism we recognize at once as misplaced, Steamboat Bill anticipates the arrival of his son from Boston, expecting a tall, strapping lad and not at all someone like Buster outfitted with beret, pencil mustache, and ukulele."If you say what you're thinking," Steamboat Bill Sr. warns his first mate, "I'll strangle you!"A fish-out-of-water comedy that ends up putting everyone in the water, "Steamboat Bill, Jr." spends a surprisingly long time setting the scene and the final 20 minutes sorting it out in a wild, anarchic way that recalls classic Buster shorts like "One Week" and "Cops." It's not an easy Buster film to characterize, requiring the audience to know Buster's history in getting in and out of trouble.You expect he will win over his gruff father, but how? You just know he'll find a way to pay off his affection for King's sweet daughter Kitty (Marion Byron), but how will he square things with her likewise stern dad?There are a bevy of winning scenes in this gag-packed film. Just watch Buster's eyes in an early scene when a barber (played by Buster's real- life father) shaves off his 'stache while Papa Bill glowers over his shoulder. He's so alive to the hilarity of the moment yet gives nothing away, even after the barber plucks a loose hair off his cheek.Demonstrating the unseaworthiness of the "Stonewall Jackson," Buster accidentally knocks a life preserver into the water only to watch it sink like a millstone. Later, trying to impress Kitty, he stands at the deck barking orders to people she can't see aren't really there, only to bid a quick retreat when the first mate approaches to see what he's up to.Torrence is a riot, too, mortified at the Eastern fop he has sired and pushing him about, then getting violently enraged whenever he sees anyone else doing the same. His temper (and King's machinations) finally land him in prison, which Buster tries to help him break out of by baking him a giant loaf of bread stuffed with files and other tools. Big Bill, not knowing what's inside the bread, wants nothing to do with it or his disappointing son."I'll just wait around until he's famished," Buster says, then performs a pantomime for his father mimicking a jailbreak with two fingers and a thumb that reminds me of Charlie Chaplin's similar hijinks with baked goods in "The Gold Rush." Again, Buster's eyes are key to the comedy.I don't know what to believe about the famous story where Buster, told he was about to lose his independence as a filmmaker, allowed himself to be filmed in a life-threatening stunt where a building facade falls on his head, only to leave him unscathed as the open attic window lands directly upon him. It reads too perfect to be believed, because it's the ultimate gesture of a filmmaker's faith in his vision overcoming grim reality. But there it is, Buster's most vividly remembered stunt, as astonishing the 50th time you see it as the first.It's also astonishing how the scene is mere preamble to a lengthy hurricane sequence that amazingly sets all to rights in Buster's topsy- turvy world, a triumph of comic imagination over harsh reality. If Buster never got such a break in real life, it's some compensation to see him effortlessly wind up on top in this sterling comedy milestone.

MissSimonetta Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) is likely the most accessible of all Buster Keaton's features. Not that the others aren't accessible, but this one has everything: great gags, great stunts, great writing, and a great dynamic between Buster Keaton and Ernest Torrence, who plays his estranged tough-as-nails father.Buster is in his prime here. Once again, his performance showcases his unique combination of subtle pantomime and cartoon-like energy. That he predominantly uses his eyes and body to emote makes him among the most timeless of silent film actors, proof that these people did not need to overact to get their feelings across in pre-dialouge cinema. Marion Bryon is the love interest and though she's no Sybil Seely or Kathryn McGuire, she's cute as a button and full of flapper charm.Ernest Torrence is one of my favorite character actors and his performance as the old Steamboat Bill is my favorite performance from him. His cantankerous, macho nature contrasts beautifully with Buster's timid, milquetoast hero, and the development of their father-son dynamic is the most memorable part of the film, giving it a great sense of heart. (Whoever said Buster Keaton's films have no emotional stakes was 100 percent wrong.)Out of all the great climaxes Keaton's silent work, Steamboat Bill Jr's hurricane climax is the most iconic. The destruction of the little Mississippi town in this movie is more exciting and credible than the overblown CG disaster porn to be found in modern blockbusters. It still works its magic, even on preteens conditioned against movies older than Titanic (1997).If you're looking to get yourself or someone you know into the wonderful world of silent cinema, then Steamboat Bill Jr. is a great place to begin. It's a perfect little movie and one that does not feel its eighty-plus years of age.

SnoopyStyle William Canfield Jr. (Buster Keaton) arrives in River Junction from Boston to see his father Captain William Canfield who he has never seen before. The captain runs an old steamboat, and is in a fight with the powerful JJ King and his new ship. The captain trains the tiny Jr to work on his ship, and he soon falls for Kitty King, daughter of the captain's competitor. When a hurricane blows into town, it sets off one of the most amazing physical comedy that is quintessential Buster Keaton.Buster Keaton is one of greats from the silent era. This is one of his most iconic movies. It's has some fairly funny gags. The story has some good humor. Then the storm comes. The movie explodes in unbridled physical demolition and hilarity. Is there a more iconic silent movie image than the building falling over on him?