Cops (film)

Cops

Theatrical poster for Cops (1922)
Directed by Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Produced by Joseph M. Schenck
Written by Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Starring Buster Keaton
Virginia Fox
Joe Roberts
Edward F. Cline
Steve Murphy
Edited by Elgin Lessley
Distributed by First National Pictures Inc.
Release date
  • March 1922 (1922-03)
Running time
 18 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent film
English (original intertitles)

Cops is a 1922 comedy short silent film about a young man (Buster Keaton) who accidentally gets on the bad side of the entire Los Angeles Police Department during a parade, and is chased all over town. It was written and directed by Edward F. Cline and Keaton.

Background and plot

This very Kafka-esque film was filmed during the rape-and-murder trial of Fatty Arbuckle, a circumstance that may have influenced the short's tone of hopeless ensnarement.[1][2] Even though the central character's intentions are good, he cannot win, no matter how inventively he tries. He gets into various scraps with police officers throughout the film. Eventually, he unwittingly throws a bomb into a police parade and ends up being chased by a horde of cops.

At the end of the film, Keaton's character locks up the cops in the police station. However, the girl he is trying to woo disapproves of his behavior and gives him the cold shoulder. Therefore, he unlocks the police station and is immediately pulled in by the cops. The film ends with the title "The End" written on a tombstone with Keaton's pork pie hat propped on it.

One of Keaton's most iconic and brilliantly-constructed short films, Cops was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry in 1997.

Cast

See also

References

  1. ↑ Neibaur, James L., and Terri Niemi (2013). Buster Keaton's silent shorts, 1920-1923. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 148. ISBN 081088741X.
  2. ↑ Oldham, Gabriella (1996). Keaton's silent shorts: Beyond the laughter. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. p. 203. ISBN 0585108064.
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