Rating: 12/20
Plot: A lily-livered nerd likes a girl. His childhood nemesis, a bully, likes the same girl. In the small rural community in which that title character lives with his grandmother, a tough old bitch, there's a fugitive robbin' and murderin' miscreant on the loose. Cowardly Grandma's Boy joins a group of men who set out to capture the tramp but can't overcome his fear. His grandmother tells him the nutty story of his Civil War hero of a grandfather and gives him a special amulet, and then the movie ends exactly how you think it will.
This is far too typical, and the gags seem at least 85 years old. Gags, like bread, can't survive for 85 years. Harold Lloyd pulls out the whole step-on-a-rake-and-hit-yourself-in-the-face gag. And if I find out that this is the first film that used the step-on-a-rake-and-hit-yourself-in-the-face gag, I will deduct 13 points from my rating and give this a negative rating. This was made a couple years prior to the only other Harold Lloyd movie I know (Safety Last! with the brilliant skyscraper stunts), and seems leagues away and doesn't have any memorable scenes or images like classic silent-era films. Some 1920's charm, but far too much 1920's predictability. It's entirely possible that I'm being too harsh here. This could be better than I think it is. I just can't get that scene with the rake out of my mind.
Here's my right eyeball, laughing hysterically:
1 comment:
Yes, I think you were very harsh. This would be lower-third Lloyd, but there is a lot to enjoy here (in a one hour movie). I enjoy little picked-on Lloyd with the same glasses and I liked Grandma. What I thought was great were the scenes with the hobo (very interesting how negatively hobos were viewed), and especially the scenes with the bully. How can you not love Lloyd's relentless harrasment of the bully who has had enough and thinks Lloyd is nuts? He catches, loses, and catches the hobo repeatedly (love the part where the unarmed bad guy comes out of house and spooks the entire armed posse) and he gets the girl in the end. This is a very light, but enjoyable films with many more laughs than dated parts. A 15.
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