Cops
About Cops
The mayor's daughter tells Buster she will not have him until he is a businessman. He comes into a wallet of cash, buys a wagonload of furniture and a horse, and tries to deliver it. A homemade turn signal knocks out a policeman. He drifts into a police parade. An anarchist throws a bomb into the wagon; Buster lights a cigarette from the fuse and tosses the bomb back into the ranks. Hundreds of officers chase him. He locks them inside the station and walks out in a police coat. The girl sees the coat and turns away. His hat sits on a gravestone under the end title.
Cast & crew
More about Cops
Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton wrote and directed the two-reeler. First National distributed it. Elgin Lessley photographed it. Keaton edited.
Themes
Making
The parade and the bomb are staged so that one wrong throw turns a furniture delivery into a citywide police chase.
Look
Elgin Lessley shot the parade and the running chase through the streets.
Preservation
Prints of the two-reeler survive.
Notes
- Virginia Fox plays the mayor's daughter. Joe Roberts and Edward F. Cline are also in the cast.
- The chase uses a ladder pulled from both ends while Keaton stays balanced on it.
Scenes
- Buster lights a cigarette on the bomb's fuse and throws it into the parade.
- He locks the station doors on the entire force.
- The end title is a gravestone with his hat on it.
