Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life *[Book]
From acclaimed cultural and film historian James Curtis—a major biography, the first in more than two decades, of the legendary comedian and filmmaker who elevated physical comedy to the highest of arts and whose ingenious films remain as startling, innovative, modern—and irresistible—today as they were when they beguiled audiences almost a century ago. "It is brilliant—I was totally absorbed, couldn't stop reading it and was very sorry when it ended."—Kevin Brownlow It was James Agee who christened Buster Keaton “The Great Stone Face.” Keaton’s face, Agee wrote, "ranked almost with Lincoln’s as an early American archetype; it was haunting, handsome, almost beautiful, yet it was also irreducibly funny. Keaton was the only major comedian who kept sentiment almost entirely out of his work and . . . he brought pure physical comedy to its greatest heights.” Mel Brooks: “A lot of my daring came from Keaton.” Martin Scorsese, influenced by Keaton’s pictures in the making of Raging Bull: “The only person who had the right attitude about boxing in the movies for me,” Scorsese said, “was Buster Keaton.” Keaton’s deadpan stare in a porkpie hat was as recognizable as Charlie Chaplin’s tramp and Harold Lloyd’s straw boater and spectacles, and, with W. C. Fields, the four were each considered a comedy king--but Keaton was, and still is, considered to be the greatest of them all. His iconic look and acrobatic brilliance obscured the fact that behind the camera Keaton was one of our most gifted filmmakers. Through nineteen short comedies and twelve magnificent features, he distinguished himself with such seminal works as Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Cameraman, and his masterpiece, The General. Now James Curtis, admired biographer of Preston Sturges (“definitive”—Variety), W. C. Fields (“by far the fullest, fairest and most touching account we have yet had. Or are likely to have”—Richard Schickel, front page of The New York Times Book Review), and Spencer Tracy (“monumental; definitive”—Kirkus Reviews), gives us the richest, most comprehensive life to date of the legendary actor, stunt artist, screenwriter, director—master. Read more
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Why Must Read Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life?
696 pages of text, and I read every word. I used to think that Rudi Blesh’s bio of Keaton would never be topped, but James Curtis has left all other biographers panting. Curtis did his damnedest to include every possible fact about Keaton’s life, and assembled them in very readable narrative form – no easy feat for a man whose professional career started in 1897 or so, and who kept working until October 1965 (Keaton died in February 1966). As others have pointed out, this is pretty much a week-by-week account of Keaton’s busy life, and we’re allowed to speculate (Curtis does not) if whether or not Keaton’s obsessions with mechanical objects, bizarrely narrow safety tolerances, baseball, and bridge hide a man with some undiagnosed Asperger’s. Keaton not only had (with Fred Astaire breathing down his neck) the most perfect sense of physical coordination known to 20th Century man, but also had a deep commitment to giving the audience pleasure in his company and vision. Of all the artists who have given their lives to filmmaking, I think that Keaton had the finest clarity of intent, matched by his exquisite perfection of execution. In spite of his many character flaws (alcoholism, zero business sense, a tendency to withdraw like a turtle), I’m not sure there’s anyone more deeply lovable in cinema history, a character trait much abused by his employers (they created a company and called it Buster Keaton Productions, but allowed Keaton not one speck of ownership!). Thanks to this book, I finally learned the address of Keaton’s money pit of an Italian mansion (on Hartford Way, off Benedict Canyon), and thanks to this book, I learned that Keaton’s nutty second wife Mae later married writer-director Sam Fuller!
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