Overrated

Must See Movie...

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

While this doesn't feature too many of the mind-blowing and death-defying stunts that Buster Keaton was known for - don't get me wrong, there are a couple, one involving a small bomb that Buster uses to light a cigarette before discarding in front of some cops, and there's a bit with a ladder that he gets stuck on between two sides of cops after him - it's an excellent example of making comedy out of a chase. A lot of people will say physical comedy would be nothing without the chase sequence, and it's in that in mind that Cops is essential viewing.It's not a chase through the whole film, and the majority of the cops of the title aren't there until halfway through; this is actually about Buster trying to impress a girl by becoming a 'good businessman', and how he does that is use a (ahem) wallet he happened to lift, sort of accidentally, from some town mayor, and uses the money to help out a family moving their stuff over town. He (sort of) helps pack up a cart and has to go with the horse across town. Not necessarily easy, one sees, when the horse is slow as hell. Maybe some goat gland therapy (?!) will do the trick, and maybe too well as case turns out.The reason to see this isn't for the story and Keaton and co-director Kline know that, so it's really jam-packed with energy: seeing Buster run, even at the sped-up film speed, is exhilarating, especially when seeing how it's choreographed with the hundreds (I'd say that's a fair estimation) of cops chasing after Buster once he happens upon a city-wide cop parade. There's always time for a gag where Buster hides in a trunk (or gets caught in one), and how he manages to slip out and keep moving may be ridiculous, but there's always some logic to it, whether it's more cartoonish at times than others.I think the key thing with Cops is that we're fully on Buster's side, though the Cops of the title make for splendid foils and characters for Buster to play off of; when he is being chased by one cop, he tries to hide behind another cop directing traffic, and the cop hits the other instead of Buster. Classic move, and yet while we're often told to respect the police and be nice and yada yada, Keaton knows that with him in the lead there's no way we don't want to see him f*** with them at least a little. It's a joy to behold how this man acts and directs this, leading up to an ending that might almost be bittersweet if it wasn't all so perfectly silly.

Buster Keaton has certainly caused a lot of mayhem in his films, but getting the entire police force of a huge city against him is a first, even for him. This is exactly what happens in "Cops", s silent black-and-white comedy film from 1922. At this point, the end of Buster Keaton's short film career wasn't really far anymore and the end of the careers of Joe Roberts and Virginia Fox wasn't too far anymore either. Keaton wrote and directed this film together with Edward F. Cline, his longtime collaborator and Cline, as almost always, plays a minor character in here again as well. The huge star, however, is Keaton again. Sadly, the action and comedy in this film was not great enough to keep me interested. The ending was interesting though as you don't see such that frequently in films, especially back in the 1910s and 1920s, but it certainly added a bit of the "sad" factor to Keaton's movies in general. However, I do not recommend "Cops". I cannot really see why this was inducted in the National Film Registry.

Although I love SEVEN CHANCES and PLAY HOUSE, COPS might just be Buster Keaton's best short film--and is a joy to behold. Unlike his full-length films, this one is relatively short on plot but it still works out perfectly--making this one of the very best silent shorts period--as good as anything Lloyd or Chaplin made.Buster is having probably the worst day imaginable, as again and again and again, things go wrong that make this ordinary guy one of the most wanted people in America--and resulting in hundreds and hundreds of extras dressed as cops chasing him though the film. What makes this all work so well is that again and again wonderful sight gags and stunts all work perfectly and come with such fast timing that you almost have no time to breathe. Because it is so visual, it's best not to even try describing the action--you just have to see it to believe it. And, if you are a serious fan of silent comedy you MUST see this film. If you are not, then you must see it anyway, as you are in for a treat and even the biggest curmudgeon can't help but laugh!

Monday September 19, 2005 7:00pm The Seattle Paramount Theater"Get some cops to protect our policemen!"Cops is a symphony of misunderstanding, beginning with a stolen wallet and ending with a thousand men in blue chasing Buster through the streets. In between, he makes off with a wagonload of furniture he has unknowingly stolen, pulled by a crazy old horse with false teeth. Keaton ends up bombing a police parade and the chase is on! He finds himself riding an enormous teeter-totter then snatching hold of a passing car to make his escape. Virginia Fox, a Keaton favorite, proclaims "I won't marry you until you become a big business man." The con man, played by Steve Murphy, was also featured as a pickpocket in Chaplin's "The Circus" six years later. And who is this oddly familiar old dog macking down on Buster's hand?