SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) I am actually a bit surprised this 20-minute short film from 1922 is among Buster Keaton's more famous works. Here, over 90 years ago, he was in his mid-20s directing, writing and starring in this one. The problem with him is that his character rarely manages the levels of charm, humor and sweet love stories from Chaplin's movies, although he's probably at least as talented as his fellow silent film pioneer. So it's usually the story that has to save Keaton's films from mediocrity. And when it does not, like here, the overall result is rather disappointing. I assume the popularity of this one mostly comes from the fact that it's as historically significant as it's a bit of guilt processing of how Native Americans were mistreated by Indians in the past.In any case, Buster runs in the middle of a conflict between oil barons and Indians and soon finds himself at the stake. However, his will of survival and one of the Indian squaws manage to save him and he soon joins the Indian's side. Chase sequences and the final confrontation between the two parties are the core of the film, but I wouldn't recommend it to people willing to get into Keaton's work. There's better choices out there.

robinakaaly Any spoilers are in references to Buster's sight gags. The inventive genius of Buster Keaton never ceases to amaze. Though not one of his greats, this short is full of some brilliantly observed gags, many of which are cleverly set up during the film: (a) being chased by the Indians and all stopping while he inspects a wasp which stings him; and the gag with the butterfly net and the chief; (b) moving the stake while the firewood is being piled up to the consternation of the wood gatherer who eventually gets knocked out by the stake when Buster bends over; (c) the rope bridge across the canyon which Buster crosses by moving the few slats one at a time; (d) when Buster is caught by the oil executive who wants to change clothes with him, Buster produces a small leafless tree to provide no privacy; (e) whilst doing the war dance in the oil company office, stopping to explain to an Indian how the dance should be done; (f) crawling after an escaping executive and about to scalp him, when the exec lifts off his toupee. Buster takes it to the chief who is mightily impressed; (g) when he jumps out of the tree, the Indians suddenly produce a firemen's mat for him to land in (as used by Eric von Stroheim in Foolish Wives); (h) the gates to the Indian encampment, knocking out pursuers by swinging the locking bar up then down. Many of the sight gags done for real, and hardly ever bettered, will, as one reviewer notes, turn up later as staples for everybody's cartoons. For example all the ones on the mountains. Also, the film is certainly not racist: it is clearly on the side of the Indians, and Buster takes an Indian girl and kisses her for two years(!) at a time when he couldn't have done that with a black girl. (The reference to the scantily clad tribe having lost their clothes in a game of strip poker is not racist.)

Space_Mafune After having their land unscrupulously stolen from them by greedy oil sharks, a tribe of Native American Indians vows to kill the next white man who comes into their presence. Said white man turns out to be an unknowing Buster Keaton seeking butterflies for his collection.This movie is basically a live-action cartoon. It features the type of chase and stunt sequences one more expects from Looney Tunes only here its accomplished in live action via a series of daring stunts and surprisingly well accomplished special effects sequences. These are pulled off much better than I though would be even possible for the time and era.Overall this short may not be as humorous as many of Keaton's other efforts but it sure doesn't lack in terms of its overall entertainment value due to the above mentioned dangerous stunt sequences that seem more fitting for a cartoon than live action, the best of which involves Buster being thrown over a cliff and creating a makeshift bridge across a gorge.

Snow Leopard While this is only an average comedy by Keaton's standards, it's still pretty good by most other measures. It does not have the vast wealth of inventive material found in Keaton's best short features, but it has plenty of slapstick and good gags, with some chases thrown in.The story concerns Buster encountering a tribe of Indians who have been swindled out of their land by an oil company, and who are ready to take it out on the first outsider to enter their village. The Indians are portrayed in an occasionally silly but definitely sympathetic light. The funniest moments probably come in the earliest confrontations between Buster and the Indians.This one is probably of interest primarily to those who are already Keaton fans, but at that it's pretty good.