Keaton reflected toward the end of his life that he 'was more proud of that picture than any I ever made.' The General might be a comedy, but the way that it pitches an ordinary man into a dangerous political intrigue is pure spy thriller material, and Keaton's commitment to his own wildly dangerous stunts echoes in Tom Cruise's eye-boggling latter-day Mission: Impossible work. He gives chase in another loco, and a series of increasingly spectacular stunts and set pieces ensues. Desperate to sign up for the Confederates during the American Civil War to impress his beloved – yeah, not a tremendous decision – Keaton's train driver Johnnie finds himself spurned when he's turned down for service.īut then his other beloved, the locomotive The General, is stolen by Union spies. The spy just happens to be being played by the most gifted comic actor who ever lived. You've seen the bit where Buster Keaton bonks a railway sleeper out of the way with another railway sleeper watch the whole thing, though, and you'll see it's a proto-spy film.

Spy agent costume