There has always been something about Buster Keaton that really moved me. While I have only seen a small fraction of his work, what I have seen always spoke to my heart and it has always been my intent to see much more of his work.
About eight or nine years ago, a friend of mine asked me if I had seen Benny & Joon. The film has a wonderful cast including Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aidan Quinn , Julianne Moore & Oliver Platt.
I loved this movie right from the first few moments and it immediately became one of my favorites. To me, this movie speaks volumes of the human spirit and it never fails to put a smile on my face. If you have not seen Benny & Joon, you have missed a great movie and I highly recommend that you track it down and watch it.
In the following video clip, Johnny Depp does an amazing Buster Keaton impression. I could watch this over and over. I hope it puts a smile on your face!
href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBafYlgSCXs
Here is a higher resolution version though it is often slow to load
and is missing 35 seconds at the end of the clip.
href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osAHjOPYOyE
Photo Credits
Buster Keaton Thumbnail – Public Domain
Benny and Joon is probably my favorite movie ever. It’s the movie that got me interested in silent films to begin with. Keaton was awesome. 🙂
This is the 1st Depp film I ever saw, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
one of my favourite movies!! …so warm and heartfelt.
i still use the line about raisins being “humiliated grapes” lol
thx for posting this, Gil 🙂
much bliss
~kylen
That is a great line!
Have a great rest of the week Kylen!
Cheers,
Gil
but you know what the BEST part is…the part where they are in the diner… omg…everytime, that has me rolling! where he’s making the forks dance with little breadstick feet, MY GOD, HILARIOUS!!!!
or the part where he’s trying to break her out ….and he’s swinging by her window!!!!
Hi Mary,
Have a peek at the link Katharine sent. Thats the diner scene 🙂
Cheers,
Gil
Thumbs up! This is way cool – Depp is such an extraordinary talent! And I think Keaton was an amazing talent that I was just too young to see much of!
Hey Dan .. you young fellah you 😉
Did you look at the Buster Keaton link? It goes to his Wikipedia profile. I had NO idea he was so prolific and held in such high esteem!
Cheers,
Gil
This is one of my favourite scenes too. I also love the part in the restaurant when he pokes forks into a couple of dinner rolls and makes them dance. You can see this a test for this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBCh1K9U2Ek (it’s about a minute in).
Hi Katherine,
Indeed! That is a very funny clip. Thanks for sharing it with our readers 🙂
Cheers,
Gil