The Railrodder

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01/16/2020 Buster Keaton in The Railrodder 1964 A film shot towards the end of Buster Keaton’s life but shows how Canada looks from the east coast to west coast of Canada by train. It uses old slap stick and silent movie jokes and reuses gags that were seen in Buster Keaton’s older films. It is like watching a Looney Tunes cartoon or Warner Brothers cartoon. But the physics do not work for the amount of things Buster Keaton’s character is able to do while on this small train cart. It is like Mary Poppins bag but instead it is a train cart box that Buster Keaton’s character is able to pull all these supplies from. I like the Canadian geese and camouflaging the train car with tree limps. I like all the jokes and the look of the film and seeing Canada. See more 09/05/2010 Obviously Keaton couldn't do all those great stunts he used to do at this point, but this movie could have been a lot funnier, like maybe if there were more characters or some dialogue? It's entertaining enough, but the story isn't well developed. I'd only recommend this to the die hard fans. See more 04/27/2010 It's a good thing this movie was short, because it would have been a little too boring any longer than that. As it is, it pays great homage to the silent comedies of the far past. And Buster Keaton? Man...that guy is the epitome of "crotchety old man" in some scenes. See more 04/21/2010 Buster Keaton's comeback vehicle (pardon the pun) was an amusing throwback to the silent era, despite "talkies" being around for a long time. The humour often feels outdated, but Keaton's energy and dead pan delivery are entertaining enough to carry the 24 minute run time. See more 06/13/2009 Short about Buster Keaton swimming over to Canada to take a railroad tour of the country. It's fun for the sight gags. See more 04/17/2009 The Railrodder is a fairly entertaining short made near the end of Buster’s career. The film has a lot of slapstick and visual gags reminiscent of those in Buster’s early silent days. The problem with the film is, Buster wasn’t in charge. His influence is plain to see in the film, and you can really tell which gags were his creation, and which gags he was forced to act out because the Canadian crew (who had nowhere near the expertise Buster had) made him. The jokes that Buster did manage to get into the film are fantastic, but it feels like Buster needed a few more takes just to work them to the perfection he demanded of himself. It’s really too bad Buster Keaton didn’t have creative control on this one, because flashes of his genius are splattered throughout. Why the Canadian Film Board stuck the master with a Director who didn’t know a good gag from a pie in the face (and the behind the scenes documentary only affirms this) is beyond me. Watching this film (and the documentary) it’s plain to see Buster would have faired a lot better had he been left to his own devices. The film may not be as good as it might have been had Buster lead the project himself, but it’s better than nothing, and I’m glad it exists, flawed though it may be. See more Read all reviews

The Railrodder

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