Steamboat Bill, Jr.

STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. was Buster Keaton’s last independent silent comedy and also one of his finest. He stars as the sensitive son of a gruff riverboat captain (Ernest Torrence) who struggles to earn both his father’s respect and the love of beautiful Marion Byron. But the film is best remembered for the climactic cyclone sequence—a slapstick tour de force in which Keaton’s comedic stunts are performed amid the full-scale destruction of an entire town.