Summary
The Knickerbocker Buckaroo serves as a quintessential vessel for Douglas Fairbanks’ transition from the ebullient socialite of urban comedies to the kinetic swashbuckler of the frontier. The narrative is introduced via a metatextual prologue where Fairbanks, donning the whites of a master chef, whisking together a cinematic batter of 'pep' and 'ginger'—a self-aware nod to his own screen persona. We are introduced to Teddy Drake, a man of such irrepressible physical energy that his penchant for leaping over mahogany furniture results in his ignominious expulsion from an elite Fifth Avenue club. Seeking to channel his aimless vitality into altruism, Drake ventures toward the American Southwest. A fortuitous, albeit clumsy, act of kindness leads him to a fateful encounter with Manuel Lopez, a Mexican bandit whose criminal exterior masks a filial devotion to his ailing mother. In a gesture of spontaneous solidarity, Teddy exchanges his high-society garments for Lopez’s rugged attire to shield the outlaw from a predatory, corrupt sheriff. This sartorial transformation plunges Teddy into the dusty machinations of Sonora, a border town where law is merely a veneer for larceny. Upon discovering Rita Allison—a woman unjustly incarcerated by a sheriff eyeing her hidden inheritance—Teddy’s 'selfish' impulses are fully transmuted into heroic resolve. The film culminates in a frantic, rooftop-leaping pursuit and a desperate defense against a lynch mob, eventually resolving through the intervention of a U.S. Marshal and Teddy’s triumphant return to the metropole with Rita as his betrothed.
Synopsis
In a prologue, Douglas Fairbanks appears in a chef's outfit mixing a cake with action, mystery, adventure, romance and comedy, seasoned with pep and ginger. The finished cake is The Knickerbocker Buckaroo. The story begins as buoyant Teddy Drake, expelled from his exclusive Fifth Avenue club for playing practical jokes and leaping over furniture, decides to reform his selfish impulses. Anxious to do "something for somebody," he boards a train bound for the Southwest. After helping an old woman off the train, Teddy takes the wrong train and meets Manuel Lopez, a Mexican bandit, going to visit his sick mother. To hide Lopez from a crooked sheriff, and because Teddy left his shirt in the first train, Teddy exchanges clothes with him. At the border town of Sonora, the sheriff chases Teddy along the roofs until, seeing a girl in jail, Teddy lets himself be arrested. Learning that the girl, Rita Allison, has money hidden that the sheriff wants to steal, Teddy escapes. After Lopez saves him from a lynching, Teddy finds the money, holds off the sheriff's gang until a U.S. Marshal arrives, and then returns to New York with Rita, now his fiancée.
Review Excerpt
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The Alchemical Synthesis of the Fairbanks Persona
In the landscape of 1919 cinema, few figures loomed as large or as energetically as Douglas Fairbanks. The Knickerbocker Buckaroo represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of the American screen hero, acting as a bridge between the drawing-room farces of his early career and the swashbuckling epics that would define his legacy. The film begins with a delightful, self-reflexive prologue that demands our attention. Fairbanks ..."
