Safety Last

Released Apr 1, 1923

1 hr. 14 min.

Comedy

List

97%

77 Reviews

Tomatometer

93%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

A boy (Harold Lloyd) moves to New York City to make enough money to support his loving girlfriend (Mildred Davis), but soon discovers that making it in the big city is harder than it looks. When he hears that a store manager will pay $1,000 to anyone who can draw people to his store, he convinces his friend, the "human fly," (Bill Strother) to climb the building and split the profit with him. But when his pal gets in trouble with the law, he must complete the crazy stunt on his own.

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Critics Consensus

Persuasive enough to give audiences acrophobia when they aren't laughing at Harold Lloyd's antics, Safety Last! is a marvel of visual effects and slapstick comedy.

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Jess

This one will always have a special place for me as it's the first silent movie I ever watched. The clock scene is incredible even for todays standards. A true classic for any silent film lover

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/24

Full Review

Joel H

I had seen the famous scene of Harold Lloyd hanging from a clock many times before, but I wanted to understand the full context of it, so I gave Safety Last! a shot. That climbing part is very impressive, and stands as a monument of how stunt work, visual effects, acting & editing can create a highly memorable movie moment. However, the story does take its time getting to that scene, and the laughs, while there, weren't as plentiful as I anticipated during this comedy. I don't regret watching Safety Last at all, and I would recommend others watch it, but it's just not one of my favorite silent films.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Harold Lloyd gives audiences an eye catcher with Safety Last. From the way Safety Last was executed, the film was witty and clever. It should also be noted that the film's sound was clever as well. But what made the film really special, was the film's special effects that were both special and effective. Especially during the climbing sequence where Harold Lloyd's character is dangling from a clock at high altitude. Safety Last is such an iconic film in terms of visual effects and slapstick comedy. The film is highly artistic. Safety last but comical first.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Christopher B

Being a big fan of both Chaplin and Keaton, this was my first experience with Harold Lloyd (thanks to The Criterion Collection's beautifully remastered Blu-ray version) and man was I impressed. The film was amazingly staged and was hilarious from start to finish as well as unnerving in the amazing stunts performed by Lloyd. I rarely laugh out loud during films but I was dying laughing throughout the film. The building climbing finale is both expertly staged and terrifying to watch as Lloyd teeters on the edge and dangles from multiple places on his long journey upwards. Watch a great comedy of the everyman Glasses character and one that most people then and now could relate to in some way or another. Highly recommended!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/29/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Famous in the silent-era for the sequence of Lloyd clutching the hands of clock, dangling from the side of a skyscraper over city traffic, Safety Last! is one of the great silent comedies of all, cementing Lloyd as one of the eminent comic actors of the 1920s which includes Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

william d

There are lots of laughs here. Harold Lloyd isn't as well remembered as Chaplin and Keaton and that's a shame.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Fred Newmeyer

Director

Sam Taylor

Director

Harold Lloyd

The Boy

Mildred Davis

The Girl

Bill Strother

The Pal

Noah Young

The Law

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Safety Last: 10 of the Most Daring Stunts of the Silent Era

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Inez Cunningham

Chicago Tribune

Why [people] should be supposed to find entertainment and not torture in seeing another human on the point of falling to certain death is a mystery to what intelligence I possess. However, there are six reels of it, and it proved vastly entertaining.

Feb 22, 2023

Full Review

Grace Kingsley

Los Angeles Times

As for Lloyd, we always knew he was funny, but we never realized how funny until this one. It isn't only that he does funny stunts; his comedy method Itself is perfect of its own original kind.

Feb 22, 2023

Full Review

P.W. Gallico

New York Daily News

As photocomic entertainment it is in a class by itself. We have rarely heard people laugh and shriek in a theatre as they did yesterday.

Feb 22, 2023

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Lloyd is generally considered the most prosaic of the era’s comedic “big three,” lacking Chaplin’s poetry and Keaton’s deadpan genius. But his movies were, and are, great mainstream entertainment...

Nov 30, 2023

Full Review

Jennie Kermode

Eye for Film

There are some brilliant slapstick sequences and there’s also great character work which emphasizes that, for truly skilled actors, spoken dialogue is far from a necessity.

Rated: 5/5

Aug 21, 2023

Full Review

Jules Caldeira

Film Inquiry

To see a film from a hundred years ago that can still make your palms sweat is especially impressive. Safety Last!, Harold Lloyd’s most famous picture, manages to do so while also delivering delightful comedy throughout.

Jul 29, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

A boy (Harold Lloyd) moves to New York City to make enough money to support his loving girlfriend (Mildred Davis), but soon discovers that making it in the big city is harder than it looks. When he hears that a store manager will pay $1,000 to anyone who can draw people to his store, he convinces his friend, the "human fly," (Bill Strother) to climb the building and split the profit with him. But when his pal gets in trouble with the law, he must complete the crazy stunt on his own.

Director: Fred Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
Executive Producer: Suzanne Lloyd Hayes
Screenwriter: Sam Taylor, H. M. Walker, Hal Roach, Tim Whelan
Distributor: Continental Home Vídeo [br], Pathé Exchange Inc.
Production Co: Pathé, Hal Roach Studios Inc.
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 1, 1923, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 17, 2017
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.37:1)

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