A series of mishaps leads to a young man being chased by a big city's entire police force..


Eighteen minutes. That’s all Buster Keaton needs to stage a municipal apocalypse and still leave room for a punch-line that stings like aftershave on a razor nick. In Cops, the 1922 one-reel wonder he co-wrote and co-directed with Eddie Cline, Keaton distills the DNA of every chase film that would thunder down the ce...

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Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.

Edward F. Cline

Edward F. Cline
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" Eighteen minutes. That’s all Buster Keaton needs to stage a municipal apocalypse and still leave room for a punch-line that stings like aftershave on a razor nick. In Cops, the 1922 one-reel wonder he co-wrote and co-directed with Eddie Cline, Keaton distills the DNA of every chase film that would thunder down the century’s corridors. Yet calling it a “chase short” feels like calling Chartres a stone shack; this is a kinetic poem whose stanzas are pratfalls, whose caesuras are the split-second..."
Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton
United States

