Bogdanovich’s ‘The Great Buster’ is a Blast of Pure Cinema

By Gregory Crofton

“The best special effect is Buster,” says critic Leonard Maltin in “The Great Buster: A Celebration,” a 2018 documentary directed by Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon). “He gave 100% to everything he did on camera.”

Stumbled on this film thanks to the Criterion Channel. I had seen Boganovich act on The Sopranos, and knew that he began his career as a film critic who became a noted director. I had most recently enjoyed his three-plus-hour doc on Tom Petty — Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin’ Down a Dream (2007) and was surprised to learn that “The Great Buster” is his final film (he died in 2022).

Still I was blindsided by this stupendously entertaining documentary. Bogdanovich applies his deep knowledge of Hollywood to satisfying effect. He interviews Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, Maltin and many others. Their comments mixed with his own narration and clips from Keaton’s enormous trove of innovative work, often exhausting and dangerous but always astonishing on screen.

Films, shorts and television spots I would never want to wade through myself, but Bogdanovich does the work for us all. There are plenty of sights to behold, many important milestones for the industry, which clip along at a great pace. It really is a masterpiece about a master of slapstick whose talent eclipsed the boundaries of comedy. Don’t miss this one.

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