The General (1927)

I love to race. My favorite is racing people to the buffet line. I am also partial to drag racing on main street, which usually involves flipping off cowboys and then speeding away from their Ford F-150's. One form of racing that I don't partake in is racing trains to an intersection. A public service announcement once told me that being hit by a train is like running over a can of soda. The car is the train, the can is my car, and I am the soda. That whole scenario is a little confusing but it kept me away from trains because if I'm soda, then I can't drink soda without being considered a cannibal. That's not a life I want to live. The General however showed me the fun and wild side of trains. Based on what I saw I have deduced that trains are not dangerous at all and so I'm reconsidering my reservations about train racing.

This is a Buster Keaton movie, and I know what you're thinking, "Who is Buster Keaton?" He is a comedic actor most known for his silent movie roles. He's a lot like Charlie Chaplin, but with a little bit different sense of humor. A modern day comparison would be Charlie Chaplin is like Jim Carey because he pulls funny faces, and has a very physical humor. Buster Keaton is like Ben Stiller because although his humor is also very physical, most of the humor comes from funny situations that just never go right. Johnny Depp based his character Sam from the movie Benny & Joon on Buster Keaton.



The General is about a southern train conductor that sets out to win the civil war for the south. SPOILER ALERT! He fails because the one thing I actually learned from History class is that the south lost the war. Johnie (played by Keaton) has two loves in his life; His train and his girlfriend. When his train is stolen, with his girlfriend on board, he sets out to get it back. It is then that he learns that the train was stolen by Yankee spies that plan on using the train to ambush the south. Despite his accident prone nature Johnie will stop at nothing to stop that ambush from happening.

Although this movie wasn't as funny as City Lights with Charlie Chaplin it was very entertaining. I really enjoyed the music from this movie. It was heavy on the accordion which doesn't sound appealing, but it gave a fun feel to the movie. I was also impressed by all the stunts they did on the trains. All in all a fun movie.

The bottom line:
Rating: 4.2
Would I own it? I don't see it happening at least in the near future.
Would I recommend it? I could see myself doing so.