mattzilla-13475 This film is not only one of the funniest movies I've seen, It's also one of the most astounding. Seeing Keaton perform all of his own stunts (Mainly the famous wall scene) is always a thrill to watch, and the whole second half of the film where the town is ripped apart by a storm must have been incredible to watch when this film originally came out. The plot is simple and more coherent than other films of the age, and it lends itself well to some of Keaton's comedic style very well. Not only is this film great, but it was so well known in it's time that Mickey Mouse's first cartoon was based on it! Definitely a must watch for all lovers of not only silent films, but comedy films as a whole.

William Samuel There has never been another actor like Buster Keaton. Others have come close, but none have truly matched his level of physical comedy. And certainly no one else has performed this brand of acting while also directing and writing his own gags. He was and is one of Hollywood's all time greatest stars and filmmakers. And Steamboat Bill Jr. is one of his best works.The story is interchangeable with dozens of other silent comedies. Young man travels to meet father who he has not seen since childhood. Father is not impressed with son. Young man meets love of his life, but their fathers, who are bitter rivals, forbid them to see each other. Old man faces serious legal and/or financial trouble. No points for guessing that the young man will save both his father and the girl from a great peril, or that love will triumph in the end.So it's entirely predictable from beginning to end, but it doesn't matter. We know going in that the plot is little more than a thread to hang the jokes from. We came simply to laugh and be entertained. And rest assured, you will be entertained.Keaton is in full form here, delivering all his now-classic gags. He comes off as a naive innocent and a clumsy oaf, whose every action results in delightful mayhem. When shown the boiler room on his father's steamboat, he of course leans against the wrong lever and rear ends their competitor's boat. His late night attempt to visit his girlfriend inevitably leaves him in the drink. And from the moment I saw his ukulele, I knew it was destined to be destroyed I comic fashion.What makes this material work is that despite their broadness, Keaton's mishaps do seem to be accidents. We never get the sense that he's deliberately being clumsy to make sure we get the joke. In most movies today, many of these gags would be only mildly amusing at best, and quickly become repetitive, yet that doesn't happen here. I wonder if that's because silent film is such a different medium from modern talkies, and creates a different mindset in viewers. Or perhaps it's Keaton's ability to play the material completely strait. He wasn't called the "Stone Face of Comedy" for nothing.And what elevates Steamboat Bill above even Keaton's other works is the fantastic storm sequence. He out-mimes even Marcel Marceau here, pushed along by an imaginary wind, and bending so far forward that we wonder what keeps him from falling down. And the effects are incredible for their time. Buildings collapse or are picked up as though they were doll houses. Keaton at one point clings to an oak tree, and both he and the oak are lifted into the air and deposited in the river. I was at a complete loss to explain how they created many of these effects, the level of technology being what it was.The most amazing scene however, was not an effect at all. The iconic shot of a wall falling on Keaton, who is unharmed because he is standing in the path of an open window, is exactly what it looks like. They actually dropped a two-ton wall on the star, and if he had been more than a few inches off, he could easily have been killed. You just don't see devotion like that today.

evening1 I can't remember ever having seen a whole Buster Keaton movie so this was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with this masterful pantomime artist with a deadpan mug.Bill Jr. brings out the worst in everyone around him and the humor still works well as he aggravates his macho father and proves a laughing stock to everyone but the college girl who loves him.Music is used to very entertaining effect, with a cacophony of bangs and toots that seems to presage the work of Tom Waits.The supporting actors are uniformly wonderful, particularly Ernest Torrence as "the old bum," Bill's exasperated progenitor. The movie's dialog is as terse as it is clever.Perhaps a little longer than necessary, but definitely fun to watch!

classicsoncall This is probably the only movie on the IMDb where most of the positive reviewers have the film rated below it's overall average. I find myself pretty much in the same category; for me individual scenes stand out but the picture overall seemed almost tedious. However I can admire Keaton's creativity for putting it together the way he did. A genius at comic timing, you probably won't find a better choreographed disaster than the famous falling wall gag. The hat shuffle is also quite amusing, but the most entertaining I thought was the cleverly done uprooted tree in flight with Keaton hanging on for dear life. In between the high spots though, the story seemed to lag at times as the father/son relationship got tiring, and the potential romance with Miss Kitty King (Marion Byron) didn't really bloom in any meaningful way. The most amazing thing about the picture had to be Keaton's amazing athleticism in clambering about the Stonewall Jackson and the way he physically resisted the gale force winds. With no stunt double and literally inches from disaster with one false move, I now have an admiration for Keaton's craft that will have me seek out additional films in which he appears.