The resulting eighteen minutes are a thrilling chase
sequence with plenty of trademark stunts and dead pan.
One of the joys of this film is that Keaton never actually
does anything wrong. In the first instance he finds a wallet on the ground and
tries to return it before being accused of stealing. On the second occasion he
sees a crying man and tries to save him and his family from starvation, despite
the man in actual fact being a con man while the final brush with the law is
due to someone throwing a bomb which lands next to him. This begins a chase
sequence which despite creating some memorable turns was a little long in the
tooth for my liking. It is said that the plot was conceived as a response to
the Fatty Arbuckle scandal during which Keaton’s friend and collaborator Roscoe
‘Fatty’ Arbuckle was accused of rape and murder and victimised in the press (in
part due to his ‘scary’ size) even though there was no evidence to tie him to
the crime. (Incidentally the dead woman was found to have died due to a botched
abortion). In this case all charges were dropped but it ruined Arbuckle’s
career. In Cops Keaton’s character
similarly does no wrong but just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong
time.
One of Keaton’s most enduring images is from this film and
is as follows. While being chased by twenty or so Cops, Buster exits an alley, turns
180 degrees and faces them. As he does this a car goes speeding past behind
him. Without flinching, Keaton puts out his arm and grabs on to the back of the
car, being thrown up into the air until horizontal but away from the chasing
police. It’s an incredibly gutsy and dangerous manoeuvre as well as being
shocking and funny. Another joke I liked was in the opening scene when Keaton
is seen talking to his girlfriend from behind bars. With a title like Cops and Keaton’s never changing
stoicism you expect to find that he is in jail but when the camera pulls out it
reveals that he is in fact just on the other side of a park gate. This gets the
film off to a great start.
Comedy wise this film isn’t up there with the likes of The The Goat or One Week and in terms of story it isn’t in the same league as The The General or Steamboat Bill Jr but the film manages to combine both comedy and
plot in a satisfying manner while not leaving you short of either. The
prolonged chase may give it a bit of an unsophisticated feel but when you add
in Keaton’s subtle humour and basis for the plot what you actually get is a
funny and interesting film, laced with satire and poignancy.
8/10
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