This movie from Keystone actually has a plot--something often NOT seen in their early comedy shorts. The plot is pretty simple and conventional for the time, but still it does tell a story and is not just senseless slapstick.
A city guy has tire problems and Fatty generously helps out--lifting the car to fix the flat and blowing up the tire instead of using the pump--this is a pretty cute scene. While all this is occurring, the city guy talks to Fatty's girl and tells her about the glory of the big city. When the car is fixed, she sneaks off with this city slicker, so it's up to Fatty to go to town and retrieve her. How Fatty knew exactly where to go either meant the big city wasn't so big or else there is a small hole in the story. The place where the girl is at is actually a clip joint where she is paid to be nice to the customers--just how "nice" they don't say, but it seems that they are implying she was being forced to be a prostitute.
Fatty is attacked by the city slicker and his gang, but Fatty is too strong for them--throwing them through a wall! This scene is filmed pretty convincingly, by the way. Oddly, throughout much of the last few minutes of the film, in an adjoining room, several rough characters are standing around drinking and firing their guns in the air for no apparent reason.
The film has a few good sight gags and a coherent plot, though the plot does seem very old fashioned even for 1914. Also, the city guy is billed as Charlie Chase and I certainly didn't think the guy looked anything like the famous comedian--at least the way he was made up for the film, he looked nothing like the character Charlie made famous in the 1920s.
A city guy has tire problems and Fatty generously helps out--lifting the car to fix the flat and blowing up the tire instead of using the pump--this is a pretty cute scene. While all this is occurring, the city guy talks to Fatty's girl and tells her about the glory of the big city. When the car is fixed, she sneaks off with this city slicker, so it's up to Fatty to go to town and retrieve her. How Fatty knew exactly where to go either meant the big city wasn't so big or else there is a small hole in the story. The place where the girl is at is actually a clip joint where she is paid to be nice to the customers--just how "nice" they don't say, but it seems that they are implying she was being forced to be a prostitute.
Fatty is attacked by the city slicker and his gang, but Fatty is too strong for them--throwing them through a wall! This scene is filmed pretty convincingly, by the way. Oddly, throughout much of the last few minutes of the film, in an adjoining room, several rough characters are standing around drinking and firing their guns in the air for no apparent reason.
The film has a few good sight gags and a coherent plot, though the plot does seem very old fashioned even for 1914. Also, the city guy is billed as Charlie Chase and I certainly didn't think the guy looked anything like the famous comedian--at least the way he was made up for the film, he looked nothing like the character Charlie made famous in the 1920s.