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Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley, Fred Vroom ... see more see more... , Richard Allen , Joe Keaton , Mike Donlin , Tom Nawn , Jimmy Bryant , Budd Fine , Frank S. Hagney , Edward Hearn , Ross McCutcheon , Charles Phillips , Charles H. Smith , Anthony Harvey , Ray Thomas , Charles Smith

Buster Keaton plays Johnny Gray, a Southern railroad engineer who loves his train engine, The General, almost as much as he loves Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack). When the opening shots of the Civil War a... read more read more...re fired at Fort Sumter, Johnny tries to enlist -- and he is deemed too useful as an engineer to be a soldier. All Johnny knows is that he's been rejected, and Annabelle, thinking him a coward, turns her back on him. When Northern spies steal the General (and, unwittingly, Annabelle), the story switches from drama and romance to adventure mixed with Keaton's trademark deadpan humor as he uses every means possible to catch up to the General, thwart the Yankees, and rescue his darling Annabelle -- for starters. As always, Keaton performs his own stunts, combining his prodigious dexterity, impeccable comic timing, and expressive body language to convey more emotion than the stars of any of the talkies that were soon to dominate cinema. ~ Emru Townsend, Rovi

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92% liked it

10,241 ratings

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92% liked it

39 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 19 min.

Directed by: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton

Release Date: February 5, 1927

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DVD Release Date: October 26, 1999

 

Stats: 1,060 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,060)

  • fb619846742
    December 7, 2012
    fb619846742
    A humorous, beautifully shot and constructed silent film concerning a railroad engineer (Buster Keaton) who wants badly to serve the Confederacy in the Civil War but is turned down. When his train and girl are both stolen from him by Union spies he is compelled to try to rescue b... read moreoth. While not as skilled in the realm of slapstick humor as the great Charlie Chaplin, Keaton proves himself to be a capable comedian. It is not as moving and memorable as "City Lights" or some of Chaplin's silent films, but this is still a really well done movie that is consistently funny and entertaining, and it shows that it has a heart as well given its clever finale.
  • cosmo313
    July 30, 2012
    cosmo313
    *Side note* If you've been reading my reviews recently, it is just by coincidence that the most recent films I've seen were from the silent era, or, in the case of The Grey, and the Gold Rush, about trying to survive in a frozen landscape.

    Also, like The Gold Rush, this is a fil... read morem that's considered to be one of the best ever, silent or otherwise, and a top comedy as well. ANd personally, just like The Gold Rush, I'm going to sin again and say that this is overrated and that I wasn't totally in love with it, but still recognize it as being very important and enjoyable, even if, as just a movie it wasn't quite my cup of tea.

    Heck, you might be able to take my review of the Chaplin film and just swap out his name for Keaton's, and the review would basically be the same. Well, not really, but close. Instead of being a slapstick comedy based on history, this is a historical film that, while funny at times, isn't really a comedy, but still had some amusing moments and really made me appreciate the logn dead old school way of filmmaking on display here.

    Based on a true story, this is the tale of a train engineer named Johnnie Gray who, rejected by the Confederate Army, and dumped by his lady for seemingly being a coward, decides to win the Civil War himself on his own terms. When his beloved train The General is stolen by Yankees, he becomes a one man army determined to get it back, beat the enemy, and re-win the heart of his lady at all costs.

    Okay, so maybe I was a little harsh. This film is a comedy, and the above scenario I just described is humorous, but Keaton's style of humor is very deadpan, and it just didn;t always seem that funny to me. I like dry, deadpan stuff, but maybe the fact that this is silent is why some of it seemed lost on me. Actually it's not just a comedy, but a wild adventure/romance too.

    Keaton was basically the Jackie Chan of his day, doing all of his own stunts, and staging some really spectacular and amazing set pieces, ones that are still thrilling to this day, and not jsut because of the fact that they're all done practically. That helps though. Like Chaplin's stuff, the best bits from this have all been parodied and referenced many times over, and I once again spent a lot of time saying, "Oh, so THAT's where this comes from!). See, I told you the reviews were interchangable.

    This is some good stuff, and it is enjoyable, but yeah, I didn't think it is quite one of the best ever. It's still damn impressive though, and you should definitely give it a watch, if only, once again, for default reasons.
  • hunterjt13
    October 30, 2011
    hunterjt13
    Rejected by the Confederate Army, a train conductor pursues his love and the Union army in his engine, The General.
    This isn't just a great action comedy for its time; it's a timeless, great action comedy. Some of the stunts Buster Keaton is able to do make Jackie Chan look like... read more my grandmother. I marveled at how precise his movements are as he slips in and out of the bridge of the engine and later balances himself on the front; that first train chase is truly a fabulously choreographed sequence.
    Going into the film and even for the most part during it, I was uneasy about the hero of the film fighting for the Confederacy. And the film portrays the Union as being a bunch of bumbling fools while the Confederate general is stern, heroic, and eventually deals justly with Johnny Gray, Keaton's character. Yes, you can say that in 1926 there was an audience who still referred to the Civil War as "the war of Northern aggression" (hell, there are still some people who say that in 2011), and yes, you can say that the side Gray fights for is tangential to the plot, but I maintain that we should expect visionary filmmakers to be visionaries, people who, despite their contemporaries, still see righteousness. Is it too much to hope that Keaton picked the North as his hero? I suppose so, just as it's too much to expect his valorization of the South not to interfere with my enjoyment of the film.
    Overall, if it were possible to pretend that Keaton picked the Jets and the Sharks or the Capulets and the Montagues as the film's rivals, then I would have thoroughly enjoyed this silent classic.
  • fb100001581602053
    August 29, 2011
    fb100001581602053
    The film that many consider the perfect comedy from the perfect comedian. Yeah, not really. The General has its moments, but the disengaging storyline and the lack of many, effective jokes results in one of the more disappointing "classics" I've seen.
  • FrizzDrop
    March 24, 2011
    FrizzDrop
    One of the greatest silent films ever made, Buster Keaton uses daring action sequences packed with trains, Union and Confederate soldiers, and his damsel in distress, to make the first action-comedy. Though completely silent, there was a great use of train noises in the original ... read moremusic, also performed by organ, to build suspense during these rough hewn and well thought out action sequences. The protaganist, played by old Stoneface himself, is both clumsy and quite brave, as he follows Union spies in his train, as the only engineer not asked to participate in the war, his lady love travelling around with him until she is ultimately captured. As Orson Welles stated: this is the best silent, comedy, action film of all time. I would daringly agree to some aspects of that assessment.
  • stormyweather980
    January 2, 2011
    stormyweather980
    I would've never heard of this film had I not watched a cable network's list of greatest movies of all time and this silent film (with dialogue and effective sound effects and music) made the list pretty high. I remember seeing clips and how they said it was amazing how Buster Ke... read moreaton did his own stunts. After finally watching it, I'm not as impressed with the stunts as I thought I'd be. He didn't really do anything any very coordinated and athletic young person such as myself couldn't do, but I was a lot more impressed with the comedy side of it than I would have thought. This movie's very entertaining, especially with how much you'll laugh from seeing Buster and Annabelle's clumsy antics, like how he accidentally kills a soldier then not meaning to fling and lose his sword. This may be the oldest film I've ever seen so far. Highly recommended for those who like the classics.
  • stevenecarrier
    September 27, 2010
    stevenecarrier
    "The General" is a great platform for Buster Keaton's many talents. One of his most memorable efforts.
  • ajv2688
    September 3, 2010
    ajv2688
    One of Keaton's best. I can't imagine why it didn't do well in theatres at the time. See it for yourself and you'll see what I mean. This movie is hilarious.
  • webalina
    July 19, 2010
    webalina
    One of the classics of silent comedy starring one of the clown princes of the period, Buster Keaton. Loosely based on a true story from the Civil War, Keaton stars as Johhny Gray, a young train engineer in the Confederate South who retrieves a steam engine -- the General of the ... read moretitle -- when it is stolen by Union soldiers and taken over to the North's side.

    This started off rather slowly, and I was beginning to wonder what the big deal was about this film. But as it went along, it got more interesting, more exciting and more creatively chaotic, thanks to Keaton's trademark athleticism and comic timing. Credit his imagination as well, as Keaton had total creative control of the film, and claimed that all the numerous sight gags were improvised during the film's production. I started getting into the film about 1/2 way through, and by the time the battle scenes arrived, I was glued to the screen.

    There are several train "stunts" in the film which are simply incredible -- train crashes, locomotives tumbling into rivers on collapsing bridges, cannon fire and gunfire between characters on different trains. The meticulous planning that had to go into these scenes -- there couldn't have been more than one take per scene, considering the destruction involved -- must have taken weeks, even months. The same goes for the battle sequences, which resemble the scope of the similar scenes in Birth of A Nation.

    Keaton claims this is his favorite film, and pretty much anyone who sees it holds a similar opinion. I actually prefer Sherlock, Jr. from a comic standpoint, but for its technical merit, this one is unsurpassed.
  • smith44
    January 28, 2010
    smith44
    One of my new all time favourite movies. The best silent film ever and one of the greatest comedies ever. Poetry in motion.

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Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
January 11, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

The result is a flop. Full Review

Dave Kehr
January 11, 2008
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

An almost perfect entertainment. Full Review

June 24, 2006
Time Out

Only superlatives will do to describe Keaton's hilarious Civil War dramatic comedy. Full Review

Mordaunt Hall
March 25, 2006
Mordaunt Hall, New York Times

This is by no means so good as Mr. Keaton's previous efforts. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

[Keaton's films] have such a graceful perfection, such a meshing of story, character and episode, that they unfold like music. Full Review

Cole Smithey
September 5, 2011
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

[VIDEO ESSAY] There was only one Buster Keaton. "The General" is his swansong. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
June 25, 2011
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

One of Buster Keaton's most hilarious and most popular comedies Full Review

Charles Cassady
June 8, 2010
Charles Cassady, Common Sense Media

Silent masterpiece is enter-train-ment for all ages. Full Review

Sean Gandert
December 28, 2009
Sean Gandert, Paste Magazine

he General is the highlight of his career's tragicomic performances, featuring not just the awe-inspiring stunts that were his bread and butter, but also a level of fluidity only he and Chaplin attain... Full Review

Peter Canavese
November 25, 2009
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

Keaton proves as endlessly clever and athletic as his screen surrogates...chock-full of hilarious sight gags, including bits of business that incorporate moving trains, cow-catchers, a bear (and bear ... Full Review

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  • During the filming of "The General" on location near Cottage Grove, Oregon, cinders from one of the locomotives set off a major forest fire, which the cast and crew joined in with the firefighters and local volunteers to put out.
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