Time and again writers/directors will insert personal stories or feelings into their movies with a loose resemblance to their actual circumstances. Buster Keaton was no exception. He addresses the events where his friend, Roscoe Arbuckle, was defending his reputation in the midst of manslaughter charges for a woman who was found dying in his San Francisco hotel suite. The short comedy, March 1922's "Cops" immediately establishes in the opening scene how an innocent man can be portrayed as committing an illegal act. Keaton attempts to return a man's dropped wallet. But instead of being thanked he gets slapped around because the wallet's owner thought Buster was pickpocketing him. Through a series of later misunderstandings, Keaton finds himself driving a cartful of furniture in the middle of a parade honoring the city police. He becomes the target of the men in blue for a situation he has no idea what his crime is all about.
"Cops" illustrates how an innocent person can become ensnared by the judicial system despite what an honest explanation could offer to solve the misunderstanding. Edward F. Cline, a former Keystone Studio scriptwriter beginning in 1914 who wrote gags for Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle, was instrumental in helping Keaton come up with the outrageous sequences in both "My Wife's Relations" and in "Cops." The two continued to work as a brilliant team throughout remainder of Buster's short films.
"Cops" illustrates how an innocent person can become ensnared by the judicial system despite what an honest explanation could offer to solve the misunderstanding. Edward F. Cline, a former Keystone Studio scriptwriter beginning in 1914 who wrote gags for Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle, was instrumental in helping Keaton come up with the outrageous sequences in both "My Wife's Relations" and in "Cops." The two continued to work as a brilliant team throughout remainder of Buster's short films.