One can see why ’70s hotshot director Peter Bogdanovich chose to make a documentary feature on the legendary silent-film comedian Buster Keaton. The two share parallels across Hollywood’s classic three-act structure:
1. heralded as a genius for early successes
2. career collapse marred by personal tragedy
3. respect regained late in life
For Keaton, redemption arrived as an honorary Academy Award and international fêtes, while Bogdanovich has settled nicely into an elder-statesman role as a bona fide film historian, and The Great Buster: A Celebration his latest document, one of pure delight.
Bogdanovich narrates, interspersing clips of his subject with excerpted interviews from gushing admirers, including Mel Brooks, Bill Hader, Carl Reiner, Leonard Maltin and Dick Van Dyke. Among other participants, Jackass Johnny Knoxville comes off as more knowledgable and insightful than Quentin Tarantino, and the only thing stranger than the head-scratching presence of Cybill Shepherd is the surreality of Werner Herzog’s, which I gladly take.
After one hour of sharing Keaton’s cradle-to-grave story, The Great Buster spends its final third more closely examining his 10-movie run made with zero studio interference and infinite creativity. The stunts and set pieces — still influential today, most notably in the work of Jackie Chan — flat-out amaze with their bravado and inventiveness. If the AIP Beach flicks of the 1960s didn’t exactly make the best use of Keaton among their crowded casts, at least he wasn’t being forgotten.
With his doc, Bogdanovich aims not only to ensure Keaton is remembered, but to restore luster. It’s a nobel pursuit, worth each and every perfect pratfall. —Rod Lott