Fatty's Reckless Fling

This Keystone ensemble comedy from 1915 owes most of its real comedic value to a fairly realistic -- well, realistic for Keystone -- handling of the situation -- except for the 60-shooters that the House Detective wields. At Keystone bullets never do more than produce a trail of smoke and cause people to jump and clutch their pants; nor are they exhausted until the target is at point-blank range with his arms raised.

Other comments have given a fairly good idea of the plot and story. Despite Arbuckle's star status -- at this point only Chaplin, Normand and Sterling ranked as high in public esteem as he -- he is, as a director, generous. It is amazing to see Edgar Kennedy with a full head of hair, yet clearly Edgar Kennedy in his mannerisms. Only the patented slow burn is missing, but at Keystone, the word 'slow' is not part of the English language.

Very amusing.