Petey-10 Review of The Great Buster

The Great Buster (2018)

A great look to the life and comedy of Buster Keaton

[9/10 · 2 February 2020]

In 2018 Peter Bogdanovich (also the narrator) made this documentary about one of the greatest comedians ever lived. The Great Buster tells about who else but Buster Keaton (1895-1966). This silent film comedian lived a pretty interesting life, and for those who want to learn about this man, must take a look of this movie. And then there are those fantastic clips from the classic movies he did. It's most excellent to see the great storm scene from Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) and then we see clips from the future movies where they copied Buster. And of course Keaton was known from doing his own stunts, and it's unbelievable to see that stuff. He was a true acrobat, ever since he was a little kid doing the vaudeville show with his parents. But how he was able to do all those crazy stunts, that even Buster didn't seem to know. Here we also see the decline of a great career with the coming of the talkies and one bad decision. And the new rise later in his career. Of course a documentary wouldn't be so interesting, if it didn't have a bunch of interesting people talking about the subject. And here there are many, some of which personally knew the man. One of them is Norman Lloyd (104 years old here!), who acted alongside Keaton and Charlie Chaplin in Limelight (1952). And the fellow comedians Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner talk about the master. Dick Van Dyke shares his fascinating memories of Buster. As does his close friend James Karen. Then there are names like Paul Dooley, Werner Herzog, Bill Irwin, Richard Lewis, Leonard Maltin, Cybill Shepherd, French Stewart and Quentin Tarantino. In archive footage you see Dick Cavett and Orson Welles. Besides those I especially enjoyed the clips of commercials as an older man. Great work by Bogdanovich about a great comedian, yet flawed as a man.