BUSTER KEATON, in his silent film comedies, was a forerunner of the type of comedian later embodied by the clumsy antics of WOODY ALLEN or RODNEY DANGERFIELD.
This is especially true of COLLEGE, in which our hero is a man who wants to impress his sweetheart with his athletic abilities--and seems to fail miserably. It's a theme that was handled with a bit more finesse years later when Dangerfield went BACK TO SCHOOL ('86) and tried making his own distinct impression.
But Keaton, of course, has his moments even if they aren't the most inspired bits of nonsense in his repertoire. The plot is simple enough--he has a girlfriend who prefers brawn over brains and is insulted when he blasts athletics in his graduation speech as the school's brightest bookworm.
He follows her to college and intends to prove he can handle athletics as well as books. Most of the gags that follow are not as screamingly funny as they're meant to be--mildly amusing is what I made of most of the film. And the politically correct will not be wild about his impersonation of "a colored waiter".
Sorry, but there was too little plot to really engage my interest and I was bored long before the rowing crew ending. I definitely enjoyed Buster more in some of his other outings.
Nonetheless, we do have Keaton and Chaplin today, as Robert Osborne pointed out--and both of them have their following and cult status among a lot of the younger viewers. It's just that COLLEGE is not among Keaton's best work, in my opinion.
This is especially true of COLLEGE, in which our hero is a man who wants to impress his sweetheart with his athletic abilities--and seems to fail miserably. It's a theme that was handled with a bit more finesse years later when Dangerfield went BACK TO SCHOOL ('86) and tried making his own distinct impression.
But Keaton, of course, has his moments even if they aren't the most inspired bits of nonsense in his repertoire. The plot is simple enough--he has a girlfriend who prefers brawn over brains and is insulted when he blasts athletics in his graduation speech as the school's brightest bookworm.
He follows her to college and intends to prove he can handle athletics as well as books. Most of the gags that follow are not as screamingly funny as they're meant to be--mildly amusing is what I made of most of the film. And the politically correct will not be wild about his impersonation of "a colored waiter".
Sorry, but there was too little plot to really engage my interest and I was bored long before the rowing crew ending. I definitely enjoyed Buster more in some of his other outings.
Nonetheless, we do have Keaton and Chaplin today, as Robert Osborne pointed out--and both of them have their following and cult status among a lot of the younger viewers. It's just that COLLEGE is not among Keaton's best work, in my opinion.