The Great Buster (2018) User Reviews

An excellent, though occasionally flawed, look at an amazing comic.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 11 July 2019]

If it wasn't for the lengthy and amazing documentary about Buster Keaton by Kevin Brownlow that was made back in the 1980s, "The Great Buster" would seemed like an even better documentary. The problem is that the 80s film was simply perfect in every way....and was long enough to thoroughly explore the man's art and life. Now, nearly 30 years later is this other film....though "The Great Buster" is a bit different in style. Sure, it shows film clips...but much of it also includes interviews with folks who either knew him or loved his work. Most of this I really enjoyed...though WHY they had Johnny Knoxville among these interviewees is beyond me....especially when he compares "Jackass" and "Bad Grandpa" to the refined and brilliant work of Keaton. It's like comparing a Hummel figurine to a Michelangelo masterpiece! Fortunately, he was only a small part of the film and the rest of it was quite good. Having Peter Bogdonovich narrate was a bit plus, as he's one of the foremost film experts and directors there is....and I highly respect his knowledge and craftmanship you see in making this movie. I could tell it was his labor of love.

For fans of Keaton as well as the unitiated, it's well worth seeing. But do yourself a favor....find "Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow" and see it first. I know it's on YouTube and a few DVDs are floating around out there. It is THE definitive story of Buster Keaton. Then, see "The Great Buster" as well....you'll be happy you did.

The greatly missed Buster

[nedeljkodjukic88 · 9/10 · 27 February 2019]

People's collective sense of humor change with time. But, this reminds me of people frantically trying to keep up with technology that is supposed to make their lives easier. Just as we become more and more addicted to and dependent on technology and all its modern gadgets - we gradually lose our own resourcefulness and creativity.

This is what happened in movie industry with comedies (and not just comedies). First we had silent B&W movies where you needed to be a genius to make audience laugh with no use of sound and color, with things you could barely call special effects today and smart use of dialogues only when necessary. A while later, it was easier for actors and directors as they could use all those things to make a good movie. Need for ingenuity lowered.

Then suddenly, the only thing that worked was actors swearing in almost every line they spoke. Nowadays, almost exclusively, directors rely on swearing, sarcasm and cheap irony (in other genres blood, nudity, violence, etc.).

Need for ingenuity practically disappeared. Or do we need it more than ever?

One of such original genius of the silent era was Buster Keaton. And he pretty much did all his best work himself - he wrote the scenes, directed them, acted in them and pulled many highly dangerous stunts to achieve perfection each time. This documentary by Peter Bogdanovich (Petar Bogdanovic in Serbian - he's my countryman :)) puts the Great Buster under the spotlight right in time as the cinema is crying for it. And it will serve as a quality intro for announced restoration of the comic's top movies. Bogdanovich's choice of talking heads is questionable, but some of them are obviously selected to draw the younger audience.

It is truly a celebration of Keaton's legacy but also a reminder what the real, healthy humor is all about - not vulgarity and humiliation, but simplicity, originality and inventiveness. This brilliant comic was known as the Great Stone Face, but - as pointed out by Cybill Shepherd (and as told by John Ford once) - you act with your eyes, not with your face.

I just hope that at least a part of today's spoiled audience that only ask for new, loud, fast (and senseless) movies will recognize the great value of Buster's works - all presented timely and nicely by Bogdanovich - and discover it for themselves. I sure will, although I decided this already after watching The General.The Genius Buster - the one we need today...

Buster was the man

[gbill-74877 · 9/10 · 12 September 2019]

An excellent overview of Buster Keaton's life and work. The man was such a genius and seeing this touching documentary made me smile. I liked seeing all the miscellany and smaller things he did in his later life, even the commercials, because I had never seen them before. I also liked getting a little excerpt out of so many of the early two-reelers, and of course those extraordinary moments from his major works. I'm not sure about all the choices Bogdanovich made in terms of the celebrity interviews and would have preferred a little more depth in places that didn't get it, but it does show the scope of the influence Keaton had. In the end I appreciated the balance in the documentary, between all of the little clips and rare bits (running the risk of turning attention away from the major films) and the truly amazing physical comedy in those epic moments (running the risk of just becoming just a montage of film clips). It's not perfect, but I saw and learned new things, and was touched and inspired afterwards.

Sheer bliss

[dwknuj · 10/10 · 27 April 2020]

I have never understood why lovers of silent comedy have to divide into rival gangs. There are lovers of Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton. I think that they're all extraordinary. This wonderful documentary about Buster Keaton proves that he has a place with the gods of laughter. I like that it has so many contemporary voices in it. I would recommend this to anyone, especially those becoming acquainted with Buster.

Heartfelt valentine to a true American film icon; one of the year's best films

[george.schmidt · 10/10 · 8 October 2018]

THE GREAT BUSTER (2018) **** Wonderful documentary on the inimitable comedic icon and filmmaker, Buster Keaton, compiled and narrated by fellow director Peter Bogdanovich who traces the comic's career and troubled life, from vaudeville child star to landmark Hollywood star and eventual global phenomenon with vintage clips of jaw-dropping sequences from Keaton's filmography of his epic death-defying stunts and daredevil display of acrobatics the likes not haven't been matched in generations. Super fans included are Richard Lewis, Mel Brooks, James Karen, Johnny Knoxville, Bill Hader, Werner Herzog, Carl Reiner, Cybill Shepherd, Nick Kroll, Quentin Tarantino, French Stewart and Jon Watts. A must for film buffs.

If You Don't Love Buster, You Don't Love Movies

[boblipton · 6/10 · 21 August 2019]

I became aware of Buster Keaton in the early 1970s, when THE GENERAL played on PBS, and I bought and read his ghost-written MY WONDERFUL WORLD OF SLAPSTICK. Those were the days when all we had were memoirs with a few stills. Now, almost half a century later, almost all of Buster's work is available if you want to see it and are willing to pay a bit extra for stuff that's out of print. Yet Peter Bogdanovich's documentary tells the same story now. albeit with some clips from the 1960s, and kind words from Quentin Tarrantino and Bill Hader: can't get the young kids in unless there's someone they've heard of.

I understand that. We want people to give Buster a try, and centenarian Norman Lloyd talking about being on the set when Chaplin and Keaton were working together won't do it. Also, the story as offered is a wonderful, simple one that offers a beautiful narrative: great artist makes fatal mistake, then struggles back thanks to the love of a good woman. Yet, once you delve deeper into Keaton's films and his life, it quickly becomes far more complicated than that. So what you are left with are the clips of Buster's stunts.

And what stunts they are! People may argue endlessly about who the greatest slapstick pratfaller was, but no one will ever dispute that Keaton was among the best, and because of that, he created grand gag sequences that no one but Jackie Chan has ever come close to equaling. So if you don't know Keaton, beware. The story, like all finite stories, is hopelessly simplistic and at times false -- Keaton had a lot more control over his Educational shorts than this movie would have you believe, for one -- but take a look at it anyway, for the many clips and short sequences. Because the things this movie gets right is that Buster was one of the greatest film makers of the 1920s, and a daring and enormously effective comedian and actor.

Great introduction to Keaton

[jellopuke · 8/10 · 28 June 2021]

While maybe not the most definitive look at the man, this does a great job of explaining why and showing why he was so great and will leave you wanting to track down all of his movies you can. IF you've seen lots already and already love him, it's not really much new, unless you really wanted to know what Johnny Knoxville thinks... That said, Keaton was amazing so this is well worth watching.

Not particularly great

[mbrindell · 6/10 · 6 November 2018]

A good doc on Keaton, but not great.

Once again another film confronts its viewers with talking heads telling us why ***they*** think the title character was great. Please, don't tell us, show us! Give the viewer credit for having some substance between his/her ears. Show us why Keaton was a great comedian. Don't inundate us with personal opinions. It's easily demonstrated, i believe, because the man was truly great.

I tire of entertainment personalities acting as qualified historians. If they have good, unbiased insight into the man, I'll listen; however, none of this movie's talking heads are unbiased. They all have a dog in the fight. They all passionately adore BK. That's fine, but please don't think because you knew the man that you have some secret insight into him. Many of the talking heads are simply repeating apocryphal stories.

A good written biography and a small selection of his best film's on DVD is a fine introduction to the man.

This film is more hagiography than insightful biography.

Having said all this, I'd still recommend the film. Just make sure you pick up those DVDs.

I notice mixed reviews on The Great Buster

[eospaulding · 9/10 · 22 August 2019]

Unfortunate. This is an excellent piece of history,and combines two elements key in documentaries: (1) It allows a novice to get up to speed, while (2) Informing and entertaining those already familiar with the one of the giants of early film-making.

The biography comes first, followed by the high point -- the second half of the film dwells on Keaton's 10 or so feature length films.

Other than the unneeded inclusion of several younger comedians who could not have had any contact with Buster or his contemporaries, this is top notch.

Could be better

[drjgardner · 6/10 · 28 April 2022]

Buster deserved better. Better editing would go a long way to make a wonderful film. Still, if you're a fan as I am you'll enjoy it, especially the silent clips and the discussions with some of his fans.

BUSTER THE GENIOUS...!

[masonfisk · 8/10 · 5 May 2022]

A 2018 documentary on one of the kings of silent film Buster Keaton directed & narrated by the late, great Peter Bogdanovich. Most people will say Charlie Chaplin others my say Harold Lloyd but in many circles the undisputed silent film champ is Keaton. Tracing his roots as a vaudevillian who was the child in a family act, he soon gained the eye of Fatty Arbuckle who gave him a chance to make shorts w/his studio which afforded him to make feature length productions gaining him worldwide fame & notoriety but as bad follows good, things turn when he became a contract player for MGM. Never having owned his material didn't give Keaton the cache that Chaplin would command so his inventiveness (he was a consummate tinkerer figuring out his gags in advance) were relegated to the sidelines as his talent was further wasted when talkies took over. Happily he found appreciative fans overseas in Europe where he would be feted for his past triumphs & although later in life during the 1960's, dying from cancer he'd continue to work (appearing in some of the Beach Blanket films & tons of ads promoting different products but really a return to form as they were essentially the same kind of shorts he perfected some 40 years before). W/talking heads as varied as Richard Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Mel Brooks, Werner Herzog, Johnny Knoxville, Bill Hader & former Pathmark shill James Karen to name a bunch, we're giving an unsung cinematic hero his due. My only complaint is the film finishes about 90 minutes in but Bogdanovich tacks on another half hour to illustrate his greatness w/a collection of his most famous sequences making this portion of the doc almost an afterthought but ultimately servicable.

Should have been edited better

[xkdsy · 6/10 · 7 June 2023]

Why would you talk about buster dying An hour into the film, barely talk about it and then have a half an hour more about some of his work. What kind of weird structure for a documentary is this? It would've been great to see more in depth content about Buster as a person. What he was like to be around. This movie just gives you the basics, he was born, was in movies, people loved him, had a nose dive of a career, and he died. You can look this up on Wikipedia, and watch YouTube clips of his films and get the same knowledge. If you want a well thought out structured film with an arc and some emotion, this is not it. Pretty sad for such an interesting character and amazing artist. It could've been emotionally satisfying, but it felt like a boring history movie I would've falling asleep to in high school.

Lazy and traditional

[CinePhile-istine · 5/10 · 23 November 2020]

If you are not familiar with Buster Keaton, I guess this is not a bad place to start. However, unlike it's subject matter, this documentary is quite mediocre. In this age of great documentaries, this one still starts and ends in a traditional way - by starting with Buster's birth, career, etc. Even structurally, the docu is not well thought-out, suddenly showing a greatest-hits type compilation at the end, after having finished Buster's life story with his death. It has nothing new to add or show, except a few talking heads on what Buster meant to them. Most of these had either no connection to Buster, or they are not appropriate people to speak to (I mean, do you really care what Johnny Knoxville thinks of Buster Keaton?) It's a pretty lazy piece of film-making that is also not very well-researched.If you can, try to catch the three-part 1987 British docu called "Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow".

A great look to the life and comedy of Buster Keaton

[Petey-10 · 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.

Extremely educational, interesting, fascinating, beautiful, great and classic documentary about Buster Keaton

[hankalorinczova · 10/10 · 23 May 2023]

I would definitely recommend this 112 minute long documentary for anyone regardless of if someone has seen or if someone hasn't seen any film written and directed by Buster Keaton. It was a highly educational, interesting, fascinating documentary about one of the most important, fundamental, abstract director, written, actor and comedian of all time (of course even Charlie Chaplin definitely belongs to this category).

It was a spectacular, grand and luxurious biographical document accompanied by different famous and notable people talking about the timeless and eternal legacy of Buster Keaton.

We found out so many important facts about him - who he was, what he was like and also we saw very special and original footages from Buster Keaton's work of art.

The conclusion? Buster Keaton was not only comical, timeless and universal, but also classic, intelligent, wise, good, sensitive, persistent, hard working, interesting, exceptional, unique, notable, excellent and also terrific.

Buster is great, but this documentary is only alright

[MissSimonetta · 7/10 · 12 July 2022]

For the uninitiated, this would probably merit 8 stars-- it's an agreeable enough introduction to Buster Keaton if you know nothing about the guy and it's presented in a modern, snappy style that isn't too academic. At 100 minutes, it does not outstay its welcome either.

However, as someone who's been a Keaton fanatic since 2010 and who counts him as her favorite filmmaker of all time, this documentary offered me nothing new. It's far less in-depth than the excellent Kevin Brownlow documentary from the 1980s (sadly kept out of print due to legal hang-ups) and has a weird structure, not bothering with looking at the feature films until after going over Keaton's entire life. It's fine and seeing Buster appreciated in any way always puts a smile on my face, but it's mostly treading water.

"Great" doesn't do him justice.

[adamjohns-42575 · 8/10 · 8 July 2023]

The Great Buster (2018) -

I recently watched 'Go West' (1925) and found an appreciation for the comedy genius that was Buster Keaton within the first few minutes and by the end of it, he was my new favourite. As a result of that I was very keen to watch this documentary in order to find out as much as I could about him and the other films that he had been a part of.

It was a shame that the narrator's (Peter Bogdanovich) voice was so monotonous and dull, because the clips of Buster were hilarious and quite often laugh out loud moments at times.

The journey mostly followed a chronological direction and gave warning when it would have to go back to something for further investigation, as such it was easy to understand and it clearly showed the highs and lows of Buster's life.

I think that for me to find such joy in performances that are over 100 years old says something about the brilliance and skill of the man in question. His works have certainly stood the test of time better than a lot of others, including some of the more recent efforts from just the last 40 years, which are already dated and cringey.

There's nothing really to say about production values, etc, so this review will be finished here, but if you've ever been tempted by silent movies, watch this to see where to start.

760.11/1000.

OK if Cosmetic Introduction to a Comic Genius

[Cineanalyst · 5/10 · 15 September 2021]

Buster Keaton is great. Let's make that clear from the start. This surface-level documentary recitation of his filmography filled with clips from his films interjected with random celebrities spouting superlatives so as to advertise Cohen Films' new line of Keaton film restorations, "The Great Buster: A Celebration," as assembled and narrated by Peter Bogdanovich, not so great. At best, it comes across as a mediocre home-video extra. As for biographical documentaries on Keaton, I haven't seen it in years, but I'd recommend the three-part "Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow" (1987) instead. It was made by real film historians and preservationists, Kevin Brownlow and David Gill. Their outtakes-filled "Unknown Chaplin" (1983) is even more intriguing, let alone their sprawling "Hollywood" (1980) and "Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood" (1995) chronicles of silent cinema and Brownlow's books and especially his work on preserving the 1927 "Napoléon," my BFI copy, by the way, of his five-and-a-half-hours restoration screaming to finally be watched amid this year's inaugural Silent Movie Day.

The closest Bogdanovich's movie gets to getting into much of any historical depth or even interesting aesthetic analysis is when someone--Mel Brooks, maybe--holds up a copy of Eleanor Keaton and Jeffrey Vance's book, "Buster Keaton Remembered." In my experience, you can't go wrong with anything with Vance's name on it, which raises the question of why no actual historians or scholars for the talking-head interviews. Maybe they would've actually had something interesting to say, as opposed to pretty much everyone that was actually interviewed here. I mean, I don't care what the "Jackass" guy thinks makes for timeless physical comedy, let alone that he thinks he topped Keaton's falling house stunt. Talk to us in a hundred years when everyone has forgotten you.

And, I don't mean to just take shots at that easy target; all of the interviews here aren't worth more than a few factoids Bogdanovich's pals were able to glean from the internet after they were asked to make some quips for the camera that could be edited in to make it look like the documentary was going anywhere beyond a clips compilation--kind of like the ones Robert Youngson used to make, such as "The Golden Age of Comedy" (1957) or "When Comedy Was King" (1960) that just added goofy narration to highlights from silent slapstick.

It'd be another thing, too, if Buster Keaton weren't already so well known and his films so much more accessible than most silent-era filmmakers. It's not as though they were hard to get before the Cohen set. I've already seen all of his silents up to "The Cameraman" (1928) (i.e. All except for "Spite Marriage" (1929)) via Kino (Lorber) DVDs and Blu-rays. "This Is Francis X. Bushman" (2021), for instance, which I also reviewed recently, I was more forgiving of and interested in because he's no longer as well known, his films not nearly as widely available, as well as largely lost. There haven't been numerous and more insightful books and documentaries already made about him. But, again, if Bogdonavich's connections and celebrity pals can get more people interested in Keaton, it was worth it.

Indeed, I feel like watching his films now. Perhaps, I'll finally check out "Spite Marriage" despite its poor reputation, although reportedly I just saw its best gag, so maybe I'll revisit one of his classics. For my money, the cinematically-reflexive "Sherlock Jr." (1924) is his masterpiece.

A Mystery

[abenr · 5/10 · 27 April 2020]

I cannot understand why all the prints shown in this homage to Keaton are so washed out as to make the viewer blind. There are fine prints of many of his works, certainly I've seen excellent copies of The General, why not use them. Even modern titles like bits of Sunset Boulevard are show washed out. What gives?

Loose structured and confusing.

[WesternOne1 · 2/10 · 20 August 2019]

This is a clear example of modern film documentary making. Though Bagdonovich, the nominal force behind the film, has been in the film industry for half a century, and indeed knew many of Hollywood's past luminaries, this film is geared towards a modern, abbreviated attention span. Film scenes and especially various still images are fired by at a lightning pace, without enough time to take them in, and obviously some could have been left behind. Judicious editing is preferable to just throwing everything possible onto the screen, without any time available to explain most of them. it's like a CD Extra disc with a 1000 images on a subject had to be incorporated into the actual documentary. Also, there is no effort to keep the pictures in chronological order! Another feature that modern day docs suffer from is present here; celebrity talking heads that have little more connection to the subject matter than they'll say positive things. or comment on specific clips they seem to have been directed to. I guess to force-fit some kind of relevence to today, actors that have something to do with CGI superhero movies and TV cartoons (and clips of such) are included. Some don't seem to realize you don't use expletives in a supposedly serious work, but then again, why is that left in? After Buster's life is gone through, all the way to his funeral, we go on back for more clips from some of his features, all already discussed. This Doc, nearly two hours long, becomes exhausing. Why break with established forms of coherent documentary-making? If I weren't familiar with Keaton, and was a young enough to find it all new, I might be entertained by the Keaton footage, but confused as well.

Utter Tripe.

[ericjimirory · 1/10 · 2 February 2020]

This is just a bad rip off of Kevin Brownlows "A Hard Act To Follow", his 1987 UK TV Documentary. Honestly? How is Cybill Shepherds knowledge of Buster Keaton going to surpass Kevin Brownlows.

You won't learn a thing about him

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 21 April 2022]

What a disappointment! As a huge Buster Keaton fan, I was really looking forward to Peter Bogdanovich's documentary, but it was just awful. I came away with absolutely no insight to Buster's inner character, why he made certain choices in his life, or even little tidbits like his hobbies or whether or not he liked animals. The entire ninety minutes could be summed up as "Here are five quick facts about Buster Keaton: he started in vaudeville with his family, he made silent movies with elaborate stunts, his career took a nosedive after talkies, and he made a comeback in television and commercials." There's very little else you will gleam from this documentary, which is a crying shame.

Bogdanovich was a major reason why this movie was so bad. As writer, director, and narrator, I held him directly responsible for the lack of personal information included. In the section of the documentary when Keaton was making his feature-length silent films, Bogdanovich actually told the audience, "More on that later." He skipped to the invention of talking pictures, skimmed through the rest of Keaton's life, and then after the funeral, he disjointedly cut back to the 1920s silent films. The last half hour was merely footage of Keaton's films run under Bogdanovich's commentary of his interpretations and opinions of the movies.

No offense, but his opinions have no relevance to a documentary on Keaton's life. If Bogdanovich wanted to release an anthology of his film critiques, he should have done so. But to take up one-third of the running time with "Here's what I think of this scene" is egocentric and immaterial. If he didn't want to end the documentary on the "downer" tone of Keaton's funeral, he could have wrapped it up with all the young comedians interviewed saying that Keaton was a great inspiration and continues to be remembered in the present day.

Also, Bogdanovich's constant narration was told in the present tense, which was not only inaccurate (In 2018, Buster does not "go" to Hollywood; he "went" to Hollywood) but it was incredibly jarring when the other interviewees all spoke in the past tense. So, while I enjoyed seeing Dick Van Dyke, Richard Lewis, Carl Reiner, and Mel Brooks talking about Keaton's influence, the rest wasn't worth watching. The younger folks seemed out of place, put in the lineup quite obviously to secure more viewership, especially since they didn't contribute any information besides "the Great Stone Face is awesome." For all you'll learn from this documentary, you might as well watch the Donald O'Connor biopic instead - which ironically, this movie insults for its lack of correct information.