Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

rdjeffers Saturday, December 12, 7pm The Castro, San Francisco An unlucky young vagrant (Buster Keaton) is mistaken for the notorious fugitive Dead Shot Dan. Chased through city streets by a mob of feckless policemen, he wins the heart of a girl (Virginia Fox) with an act of chivalry along the way.Released in May of 1921, The Goat was the eighth of nineteen silent era comedy shorts starring Buster Keaton and his last distributed by Metro Pictures before moving to First National later that year. Keaton's inveterate use of mistaken identity, absurd coincidence and extreme physicality are all successfully exploited, along with his love of trains. Returning favorites Virginia Fox and Joe Roberts co-star as Buster's romantic interest and an enormous police detective. Scenes of particular note include: a complex gag using mannequins, whose secondary but actual payoff comes later in the film and a stunning feat of acrobatics involving a dining room table, Big Joe and a transom.

okaycuckoo Saw this for the first time on UK TV, with good musical accompaniment. The elevator scene is class, especially when he does the going-down thing in the phone booth, and then fiddles with the floor-indicator. The jump through the transom is really impressive, and there's so much more. Apart from all the stuff that's been mentioned before, there's the fight with the man who's been bullying the woman with the dog - it just looks so simple. The only drawback is the plot - he gets mixed up with Dead Eye Dan, who then escapes but doesn't reappear, even when some more gangsters get involved later on. The scene where it looks like he's shooting at the fat inspector is funny, but would have been better if Dead Eye was the one pulling the trigger.

James Alex Neve Buster Keaton was arguably at his most enjoyable when he did short 20 minute films, and they don't come more rib-ticklingly funny than this gem. The dead pan comic gets involved in a photographic mix-up with a wanted felon. This leads to his elaborate evasion of several street cops and fellow passengers who recognise the his face from the "Wanted" signs. The Goat is choc-a-bloc with brilliant site gags, from the opening scene at the bread queue, right up to the wonderful elevator chase at the end. A Keaton film never feels as though its silence is lacking, as sound is never something you needed with him. His movies explain themselves through the wonderful (yet incredibly dangerous) things he did to himself. It isn't hard to see just how influential he really was - the man is every bit as thoroughly amazing today as he was in 1921.

nunculus A simple contrivance--the Great Stone Face is mistaken for an escaped mass murderer--gives Buster Keaton room for changes rung on a theme that will make your jaw hang. The amazing thing here is the protean story invention--Keaton uses an offhand set-up to generate every kind of reversed-expectation gag. He shortens, elongates, and crash-dives out of left field every expected joke. The astonishment here is the surrealist freeness with storytelling, not just the masterly composition and choreography. THE GOAT feels as gaily, cartwheelingly modern as UN CHIEN ANDALOU. And more than even some revered Keaton features, it's a masterpiece of invention.