weezeralfalfa Review of The Goat

The Goat (1921)

Some good gags, but too many chase scenes for me.

[7/10 · 14 September 2018]

I find comedies with too much time devoted to chase scenes, especially involving police, boring. In this film, Buster Keaton spends most of his time running or hiding from police. In part, this is because he threw a horseshoe over his left shoulder, in mimicry of a passerby who then found a wallet on the street. But Keaton has no such luck, as his horseshoe hits a policeman in the face. Eventually , 2 other police join the victim in chasing Keaton all over. Later, Keaton is chased by the gigantic police chief(Joe Roberts) because his picture was on a poster and the newspapers show his picture, as the escaped murderer: Dead Shot Dan. So, how did this happen? ........Instead of minding his own business, Keaton happened to look through a barred window in the jail, seeing a photographer take a picture of Dan, who ducked when the shutter opened. Instead, the picture shows Keaton's head. Dan escaped just after this incident. After, Keaton's picture was shown in the newspaper, everyone he met on the street ran from him, despite the $5000. reward for his capture: dead or alive. Only the police chief pursued him. Keaton's various tricks to avoid capture, either by the 3 police, or by the police chief, constitute the main substance of humor.......Keaton does one good deed in knocking out the man who was bothering a young woman on the street. Later, she is identified as the daughter of the police chief. Later, she invites him for dinner at her parent's apartment. Unfortunately, her father arrived soon after Keaton arrived. After the women retired to another room, Keaton runs across the table, hops on the chief's shoulders, and dives through the window above the door. Previously, Keaton had run into a hospital, hid under a sheet on a surgery bed, and jumped out the window when he saw the hand saw laid on his chest. In another incident, Keaton was running from the chief, and hopped on the outdoors clay horse model of a sculptor, then hidden behind a sheet. Soon, the clay model began to sag, and Keaton ran off........Keaton and the chief spend considerable time in a cat and mouse chase involving the elevators of the high rise the chief lives in. The chief's daughter is also sometimes present, and favors Keaton over her father. Finally, Keaton pulls the floor indicator beyond the highest floor, assuming that the indicator controls the movement of the elevator. We see the elevator shoot out of the roof, and lay on the roof, with the chief inside. Keaton and the girl go across the street, where a sign reads "You furnish the girl, and we will furnish your house". Keaton picks up the girl, slings her over his shoulder, and walks in the door......See it at YouTube