The Cowboy (1925)

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Movie
German title The cowboy
Original title Go West
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1925
length 69 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
Rod
Director Buster Keaton
script Raymond Cannon
production Joseph Schenck
camera Elgin Lessley
Bert Haines
occupation

The Cowboy is a silent film comedy by and with Buster Keaton from 1925. In the western parody, Keaton also takes up motifs from Chaplin's films.

action

Impoverished and out of work, Friendless is forced to lead the life of a vagabond. At the freight yard in New York, he finds a small women's revolver in a lost women's handbag and has the inspiration to set off for the West with the next freight car. Once there, he hires as a cowboy on a cattle ranch - without the slightest idea how to saddle horses or get milk from cows.

The ranch owner's pretty daughter seems to like him, but a tender love bond develops between him and the young cow Brown Eyes after he has removed a stone from the animal's hoof. From then on, Brown Eyes Friendless no longer leaves the side, and he, too, does everything to protect her from adversity: By shaving her fur skilfully, for example, he fakes the brand and thus saves her the iron.

But Friendless is desperate when he learns that Brown Eyes is to be sold to the slaughterhouse with the rest of the herd. He tries in vain to change the mind of the ranch owner: The ranch owner is plagued by such financial worries that he is even prepared to incur the wrath of the other farmers who deliberately withhold their cattle deliveries in order to drive up the price. Friendless tries his hand at poker to buy his beloved cow with the money he has won, but he loses. In order not to be separated from her, he sneaks into the freight car with the cattle.

The train to the slaughterhouse is stopped by the other farmers. At the end of the wild shooting, the train is on its way without a driver, but with the unsuspecting Friendless. He manages just in time to bring the rapid train to a stop in the Los Angeles train station and frees Brown Eyes from the car there. Out of sympathy for the financial plight of the ranch owner and his beautiful daughter, he decides to lead the herd from the train station to the slaughterhouse. In the city, the cattle cause chaos and horror in the streets, department stores and at the hairdresser's. Friendless is losing control and is desperately looking for some red fabric to get the cows and bulls' attention again.

He slips into a red devil costume. The herd chases after him. Several policemen arrive to find those responsible for the chaos and are now just like Friendless on the run from the Stampede . When the fire brigade uses water cannons , the chaos is perfect. On the back of Brown Eyes, Friendless finally succeeds in delivering the cattle to the slaughterhouse on time. The ranch owner, who has now also arrived there with his daughter, is relieved to receive the much-needed check. He would like to thank Friendless with a present. He decides on Brown Eyes, and together they all happily drive back to the ranch in the car.

production

Keaton developed the story with Lex Neal , an old friend from his vaudeville days, and had the scenario written by Raymond Cannon . His regular authors ( Clyde Bruckman , Jean Havez and Joseph Mitchell ) were engaged by Harold Lloyd and Raymond Griffith . Charles Chaplin's The Gold Rush was just starting in theaters. Go West was not just a western parody , but Keaton's answer to Chaplin's comedy style: The vagabond Friendless is Keaton's version of Chaplin's tramp character, and the gentle-eyed beauty, the object of love and longing in Chaplin's films, is a cow by name in Keaton's Brown eyes .

Brown Eyes was trained for film work by Keaton himself: “I've never had a more affectionate or obedient animal. […] The only trouble was when I sat down and wanted her on my lap. ”However, production was held up for about two weeks when Brown Eyes refused to listen to any commands during their rutting season.

In the poker scene , Keaton makes fun of his own onscreen personality. When Friendless calls his poker partner a cheat, the latter points his revolver at him and orders: "If you say that: SMILE." Friendless faces an impossible task: Buster Keaton never smiles in his films. Finally he pulls up the corners of his mouth with his fingers.

His typical outfit, which he wore as a trademark since the beginning of his silent film career - flat hat, vest, baggy trousers and wide, flat shoes ("slap shoes") - Keaton used here for the last time in his comedies. Only later did he resort to his hat as a quotation. Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle , friend and supporter of Keaton since he entered the film business, can be seen in a cameo as a woman in the department store, although he was banned from appearing in Hollywood productions on a murder charge.

The film was a huge commercial success and confirmed Keaton's status as one of the most successful comedians of the day.

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Keaton, quoted in Jim Kline: The Complete Films of Buster Keaton. Citadel Press, New York NY 1993, ISBN 0-8065-1303-9 , p. 109.
  2. ↑ See Jim Kline: The Complete Films of Buster Keaton. Citadel Press, New York NY 1993, ISBN 0-8065-1303-9 , p. 110.