Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) is a Buster Keaton silent comedy you can watch online on iFILM. Directed by Keaton and Charles Reisner, it was the last picture Keaton made at his own production company before producer Joe Schenck sold his contract to MGM that same year.

The setup is a collision of two temperaments. A rough-edged riverboat captain expects his son — and gets a slight, beret-wearing kid from Boston with no stomach for hard work or river life. There is also a rivalry between competing steamboat lines, and the son has gone and fallen for the rival's daughter. Everything culminates in a hurricane sequence: nineteen minutes of physical comedy filmed against sets that were actually being torn apart.

The film's most famous moment is the falling wall — a two-ton building facade drops directly onto Keaton, who stands exactly where an upper-floor window happens to be, with five centimeters of clearance on each side. One take. No stunt double. It is arguably the most precisely executed gag in film history. Stream Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) online on iFILM.