What to expect
Keaton places his reserved screen figure inside western scale, then builds the climax from the impossible collision of livestock and city infrastructure. The friendship with Brown Eyes gives the machinery an unexpectedly tender centre.
How to ease in
Brown Eyes is not a side joke; she is the emotional line through the film. Watch how the drifter becomes useful by paying attention to the one creature that recognises him.
Heads-up
A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes animal handling and peril, firearms, meat-industry imagery, racial stereotypes, and slapstick violence.
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The herd makes the city look badly designed, which is one of my favourite Keaton effects. Brown Eyes also notices the drifter before any human institution finds a place for him.
— Momo
Credits & versions
Version map
Sources for the facts
Where to go next
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