Starring: Buster Keaton, Virginia Fox, and Joe Roberts
Directors: Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline
Rating: Ten of Ten Stars
After repeatedly failing to kill himself, a broke, impoverished, and unloved young man (Keaton) gets a sudden opportunity to turn his life around, be a hero, and possibly even find romance with a beautiful woman (Fox).
"Hard Luck" is at once one of the funniest and darkest comedies I've seen from Buster Keaton. It opens with Keaton's character being beaten down by Circumstance one time too many for him to bear, and then follows him through a number of attempts at killing himself (hanging, getting run over by trains and cars, trying to get himself crushed by a falling safe, drinking poison), all of which fail with hilarious results. Yes, you will find yourself laughing at this character who is trying to end his misery.
Even after it looks like his luck may be turning around, and he'll have a chance to find some semblence of stability and happiness in his life, viewers who are paying attention will see that this is initially a false hope; our suicidal hero falls in with a group of rich people among whom he will never fit in and that he will certainly find himself rejected and dejected once again. This is made even clearer when his new friends go on a fox hunt and he tries to join them but is left behind while trying to get on a Clydesdale. The jokes and physical gags during this part of the film are as funny as the various failed suicide attempts, and the humor isn't quite as dark, because you will find yourself buying into the character's new-found hope.
"Hard Luck" is at its best when Keaton's character finds himself in the middle of a robbery and kidnapping, and he defeat a gang of desparados led by a hulking brute (who is played by Joe Roberts, who has never been as menacing as he is here). The stakes are as high as they can possibly be--because if Keaton fails, he will be dead and the lovely Virginia Fox will most certainly be raped. The clever way by which Keaton's character singly takes on and defeats an entire gang of armed men features one of the best application of the silent movie standard of characters running in and out of rooms while fighting or pursuing each other. It was an old bit in in 1921, but Keaton puts a different spin on it, as well as adds some dramatic and hilarious complications.
Despite his heroism, however, Keaton's character still ulimately ends up without prospects and love... or so it seems. The film has one last big joke, which, according to sources, was not avaible in prints for decades... much to Keaton's disappointment, because he described it in at least one interview as his favorite part of this, one of his favorite works. (This last gag also ultimately brings light to the darkness of this movie, with a final twist that demonstrates that no matter how hopeless life can seem, no matter how much hard luck you're being beaten down by, happiness can be waiting any moment. That's the message I took from the final moments of the film, so I'm glad that lost footage was found and restored.)
After watching several versions of "Hard Luck" available on YouTube, I think the one I've embedded below is the most complete one that is easily available. I strongly encourage anyone who hasn't seen it to take 25 minutes out of their day to do so. If you are a Keaton fan, you won't regret it... and if you're not familiar with his work, you may just find yourself a new filmmaker to admire.
Note: September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Look out for those around you... and if you're ever in the mindset of the Keaton character in "Hard Luck", please remember that things CAN get better. I know; I've been there.
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