This Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle silent comedy short with Buster Keaton in support is not as funny as their previous efforts but still provides some decent laughs in this post office/general store setting. The beginning was perhaps the most hilarious with Buster and Roscoe each hitting each other with mail packages. There's also some slapstick fun when Roscoe's girlfriend, Molly, pushes him in a barrel. The villain, played by Jack Coogan, Sr., Jackie Coogan's father, is actually more serious here as evidenced by the way he keeps beating up Buster. Like I said, not the most funny of the Arbuckle/Keaton shorts but The Hayseed is still worth a look.
12 Reviews
"Eat an onion and we'll smell together"
MissSimonetta6 January 2021
Like many of the Arbuckle shorts, the story of THE HAYSEED is rambling and unfocused (Roscoe Arbuckle is after a girl and hijinks ensue in his attempts to woo her), but there is a sense of playful charm that more than makes up for that. The actors all seem to be having a great time here. One can well see why Buster Keaton viewed these Comique films with such fondness decades later: they're freewheeling and innocent, uninhibited by the need to impress or be high art.
Pretty good but a problem with the script
planktonrules16 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This is a fairly decent pairing of Fatty Arbuckle with Buster Keaton--and the second to last time they appeared together on film. This is a rural comedy set around Fatty's general store/post office. Most of the film's more interesting moments occur when we see the mail being delivered and this is an odd film because usually Fatty's nemesis in these films is Al St. John, but this time it is the evil constable, played by Jackie Coogan, Sr. Here is the problem with the script--Buster catches Coogan going through the mail and stealing money from an envelope. However, he says nothing until the very end of the film. And, I say why did he wait? Oh, well. There's little that is particularly great or bad about the film--and a lot of the material seems very familiar.
Less than stellar short from Arbuckle and Keaton
gbill-7487724 April 2023
A pretty forgettable short from Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, their penultimate effort together. It peaks early with a gag that has Arbuckle apparently picking flowers for his sweetheart (Molly Malone), but then using them to perform a little burial service for an empty whisky bottle. The humor in the love triangle (John Coogan playing the other man) isn't strong, relying mostly on slapstick, but I liked the subversiveness in the cop being one stealing the money, especially for 1919.
Buster gets in a few moments relying on camera tricks, like taking the horses back to the stable (the team then move in reverse motion backwards) and getting pummeled by the cop (shot faster with a reduced frame rate, emphasizing the violence). Dropping off a big ladder tipping over into a horse drawn carriage was pretty neat too. I wish the magic act had been expanded on instead of the extended bit with Arbuckle's onion breath, but the resolution of the latter was amusing.
According to James Curtis in his biography of Keaton, one of the reasons Buster was downplayed here was that Arbuckle was determined to play a more rounded character, and even the advertising for the film reflected this (it read in part "He's Human," with a picture of him hugging Luke the dog). This almost certainly had to do with him wanting to grow as an artist and begin playing in feature-length films, as opposed to two-reelers, which he would begin doing a year later in The Round-Up (1920). In this short I think this more "rounded" character not only reduced Keaton's impact, but also took away from Arbuckle's performance, which was missing his usual dark comedic edge. All in all it's not bad, but a bit lacking.
Buster gets in a few moments relying on camera tricks, like taking the horses back to the stable (the team then move in reverse motion backwards) and getting pummeled by the cop (shot faster with a reduced frame rate, emphasizing the violence). Dropping off a big ladder tipping over into a horse drawn carriage was pretty neat too. I wish the magic act had been expanded on instead of the extended bit with Arbuckle's onion breath, but the resolution of the latter was amusing.
According to James Curtis in his biography of Keaton, one of the reasons Buster was downplayed here was that Arbuckle was determined to play a more rounded character, and even the advertising for the film reflected this (it read in part "He's Human," with a picture of him hugging Luke the dog). This almost certainly had to do with him wanting to grow as an artist and begin playing in feature-length films, as opposed to two-reelers, which he would begin doing a year later in The Round-Up (1920). In this short I think this more "rounded" character not only reduced Keaton's impact, but also took away from Arbuckle's performance, which was missing his usual dark comedic edge. All in all it's not bad, but a bit lacking.
A moderately funny Arbucle and Keaton comedy short
weezeralfalfa22 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Not one of the best of the 14 Roscoe Arbuckle plus Buster Keaton 2 reel comedy 'shorts from 1917-20. Hey, their 100th anniversary! Instead of the usual Al St. John as his nemesis, Jack Coogan Sr. is present, as the sneaky constable, in competition with Roscoe for the hand of Molly Malone, who is from the country. Roscoe is the mailman , and Buster is the manager of the general store, in which the post office is housed. First, Roscoe is angry because Buster ran into him while carrying a big pile of packages, making him spill all. They engage in a battle, hitting the other over the head with packages. Roscoe is very skilled at flipping letters into mail boxes with narrow slits. But, one letter is too big, so her tears it into 8 pieces, which he deposits......Roscoe and Molly play hide and seek near a farmer's barn. Roscoe hides in a haystack and falls asleep. The farmer comes along and sticks his pitchfork into the hay and Roscoe's rear end. .....Roscoe goes inside the post office, and tells the assistant that here is a letter with a declared value of $300. The constable overhears this, and later sneaks in, opens the letter by steam, extracts the money and reseals it. Keaton sees all this from outside, and tells the constable, who rings his neck , then punches him in the face many times to instill fear of revealing the theft. Later, the constable will accuse Roscoe of the theft, but Buster will come to the aid of his friend.......Molly asks Roscoe for a ring, to prove his love. He looks in a catalogue of cheap fake jewelry, and writes a letter saying that the ring should fit over the 3rd bump on this pickle. But, the constable beats Roscoe in putting a ring on Molly's finger. Nonetheless, Roscoe arrives with a bigger (fake) stone, and she hides the other ring......Up on the roof, Keaton dumps a bucket of water on the constable, below, and also on another man. They team up to induce Keaton to step on the ladder, then hoist the ladder away from the building, causing Keaton to fall into Roscoe's mail wagon, without injury........ I'll let you see the rest, without comment......In general, I believe Roscoe incorporated too many prat falls in his comedies. An occasional one is OK, but not one after the other, repeated. Also, he and his performers are often too wordy, and we have no idea what they are saying. This film is available at YouTube, and in various DVD sets.
Dance Scene Steals The Show
springfieldrental27 September 2021
Buster Keaton's second movie after WW1 with Arbuckle turned out to be a career highlight for the pairing, October 1919's "The Hayseed." Buster had a lightbulb moment that followed him throughout the remainder of his career. He designed and shaped a new pork pie hat, a style he wore throughout his most popular years in cinema. The material stood up to the abuse the comedian had heaped upon himself for all those skits.
Arbuckle is a mailman while Buster is the owner of a general store. The villain of the movie is actor John Henry Coogan Jr, a lithesome, tall statured performer who had appeared as a dancer in "Back Stage." Here, he takes cash from a letter and later claims Fatty stole it. As a sidenote, John Coogan was the father of Jackie Coogan, who plays the little boy in Charlie Chaplin's 'The Kid,' as well as Uncle Fester in television's 'The Adam's Family.' Also starring was Luke the Dog, a Staffordshire Terrier who was the personal pet of Roscoe and his wife Minta Durfee. For six years Luke made several appearances in Fatty's movies, including "The Hayseed." He demanded and received a high salary of $150 a week, over $2,200 in today's dollars. When Minta split with Roscoe in 1921, the divorce agreement treated Luke like a treasured child, where Fatty had visitation rights with Minta winning custody of him.
One of the many gags in the film is a dance set that is not to be missed.
Arbuckle is a mailman while Buster is the owner of a general store. The villain of the movie is actor John Henry Coogan Jr, a lithesome, tall statured performer who had appeared as a dancer in "Back Stage." Here, he takes cash from a letter and later claims Fatty stole it. As a sidenote, John Coogan was the father of Jackie Coogan, who plays the little boy in Charlie Chaplin's 'The Kid,' as well as Uncle Fester in television's 'The Adam's Family.' Also starring was Luke the Dog, a Staffordshire Terrier who was the personal pet of Roscoe and his wife Minta Durfee. For six years Luke made several appearances in Fatty's movies, including "The Hayseed." He demanded and received a high salary of $150 a week, over $2,200 in today's dollars. When Minta split with Roscoe in 1921, the divorce agreement treated Luke like a treasured child, where Fatty had visitation rights with Minta winning custody of him.
One of the many gags in the film is a dance set that is not to be missed.
Roscoe Arbuckle is Wrongfully Accused
SendiTolver31 August 2018
Roscoe Abruckle delivers the mail, while Buster Keaton manages the general store. While delivering the mail, Roscoe visits his girlfriend (Molly Malone), and the engage in the game of hide and seek. Local dirty lawman (Jack Coogan Sr.) who is also interested in Fatty's girlfriend, steal the money from the post office to buy her a diamond ring. After winning the popularity in talent contest, Fatty is wrongfully accused in stealing.
Arbuckle and Keaton's later collaborations were more concentrated on the storytelling, rather just setting up another slap stick gag after another. 'The Hayseed' also doesn't include many hilarious stunts in great scale, but there are plenty of clever and subtle amusing moments.
Great fun indeed. Arbuckle and Keaton rarely disappoint.
Arbuckle and Keaton's later collaborations were more concentrated on the storytelling, rather just setting up another slap stick gag after another. 'The Hayseed' also doesn't include many hilarious stunts in great scale, but there are plenty of clever and subtle amusing moments.
Great fun indeed. Arbuckle and Keaton rarely disappoint.
A Lesser Entry From the Famed Comedy Duo
drqshadow-reviews27 August 2020
A case of small town drama as the local mailman (Fatty Arbuckle) fends off the amorous advances of a conniving sheriff with eyes on his girl. Buster Keaton slides into the mix as a tangentially-involved general store owner who becomes aware of the lawman's inherently slimy nature, but it's mostly Arbuckle's show. The two stars (plus Fatty's famous dog, Luke) give us plenty of sight gags, often of the daring physical variety, but there isn't much to the plot and most scenes overstay their welcome. There's a good recurring bit at the end, where Buster convinces his buddy to chow down on a bushel of onions before an important choral recital and his foul breath causes all sorts of comic misunderstandings. Otherwise, it's a whole lot of flashy derring-do without much substance to back it up.
Uncle Fester's father and some perforated cheese.
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre23 April 2006
Warning: Spoilers
'The Hayseed' is one of Roscoe Arbuckle's comedy shorts, with strong emphasis on slapstick and 'impossible' gags. As usual at this point in his career, he's ably abetted by the great Buster Keaton. Also on hand is John Coogan, father (and manager) of future silent-film star Jackie Coogan. The elder Coogan made a few film appearances before sitting back and living off his son's earnings.
SPOILERS COMING. Keaton is lumbered with a more awkward character than usual here. Midway through the proceedings, he discovers that the village constable (Coogan) has stolen a postal order worth $300. When he confronts the thief, Coogan proceeds to beat the stuffing out of Keaton in a manner that's not quite realistic but rather too brutal to qualify as conventional slapstick. I can't call this a fight sequence, as Coogan is dishing out all the punishment, and Buster receives all the blows. After this startling encounter, Buster carries on going about his business as if nothing has happened ... only to get justice against Coogan later.
Arbuckle is sweet on a local girl (Molly Malone) who seems to conform to the standard stereotype of the rural ingenue ... until she knocks Arbuckle down and causes him to pratfall into a washtub full of water. Molly is genuinely gleeful at Arbuckle's discomfort.
In most of Arbuckle's Keystone and Comique films, he was assisted on-screen by his nephew Al St John, a skilled acrobat. When St John was briefly elsewhere, Arbuckle replaced him with John Coogan, a vaudeville performer whose speciality was eccentric dancing. Coogan does a few dance steps here, and they're enjoyable to watch but they don't fit the character which Coogan is portraying in his movie: a larcenous constable.
Coogan also represents a great missed opportunity for Arbuckle and Keaton. A widower at the time (he later remarried), Coogan brought his young son Jackie to the set with him every day. Arbuckle and Keaton were impressed by little Jackie's talents as a singer, dancer and mimic, but never thought of putting this talented boy into one of their films. Ironically, when rival comedian Charlie Chaplin read in the trade papers that Arbuckle had hired Jack Coogan, Chaplin interpreted this as a reference to the son rather than the father ... and it was this misinterpretation which inspired Chaplin to build a starring vehicle ('The Kid') around young Jackie. Without even realising it, Arbuckle and Keaton gave Chaplin one of his greatest inspirations.
I've seen an original nitrate print of 'The Hayseed' with its original (English-language) intertitles, and I've also viewed a print with French titles. At one point in the original film, a customer rings up Arbuckle and requests some Swiss cheese. The only cheese he has on offer is (apparently) Muenster, so he takes out a brace-and-bit and proceeds to drill some holes in it. In the French print I viewed, the customer asks for 'Gruyere' ... which kills the joke. Quelle fromage!
Many of the gags in 'The Hayseed' were written by Jean Havez, a talented idea man who was even larger and fatter than Roscoe Arbuckle. Havez eventually followed Keaton to his own production company, at which it was mandatory that all male actors and crew participate in Buster's beloved baseball games. Because of Havez's bulk, he was the umpire. I'll rate the very funny 'Hayseed' 8 out of 10.
SPOILERS COMING. Keaton is lumbered with a more awkward character than usual here. Midway through the proceedings, he discovers that the village constable (Coogan) has stolen a postal order worth $300. When he confronts the thief, Coogan proceeds to beat the stuffing out of Keaton in a manner that's not quite realistic but rather too brutal to qualify as conventional slapstick. I can't call this a fight sequence, as Coogan is dishing out all the punishment, and Buster receives all the blows. After this startling encounter, Buster carries on going about his business as if nothing has happened ... only to get justice against Coogan later.
Arbuckle is sweet on a local girl (Molly Malone) who seems to conform to the standard stereotype of the rural ingenue ... until she knocks Arbuckle down and causes him to pratfall into a washtub full of water. Molly is genuinely gleeful at Arbuckle's discomfort.
In most of Arbuckle's Keystone and Comique films, he was assisted on-screen by his nephew Al St John, a skilled acrobat. When St John was briefly elsewhere, Arbuckle replaced him with John Coogan, a vaudeville performer whose speciality was eccentric dancing. Coogan does a few dance steps here, and they're enjoyable to watch but they don't fit the character which Coogan is portraying in his movie: a larcenous constable.
Coogan also represents a great missed opportunity for Arbuckle and Keaton. A widower at the time (he later remarried), Coogan brought his young son Jackie to the set with him every day. Arbuckle and Keaton were impressed by little Jackie's talents as a singer, dancer and mimic, but never thought of putting this talented boy into one of their films. Ironically, when rival comedian Charlie Chaplin read in the trade papers that Arbuckle had hired Jack Coogan, Chaplin interpreted this as a reference to the son rather than the father ... and it was this misinterpretation which inspired Chaplin to build a starring vehicle ('The Kid') around young Jackie. Without even realising it, Arbuckle and Keaton gave Chaplin one of his greatest inspirations.
I've seen an original nitrate print of 'The Hayseed' with its original (English-language) intertitles, and I've also viewed a print with French titles. At one point in the original film, a customer rings up Arbuckle and requests some Swiss cheese. The only cheese he has on offer is (apparently) Muenster, so he takes out a brace-and-bit and proceeds to drill some holes in it. In the French print I viewed, the customer asks for 'Gruyere' ... which kills the joke. Quelle fromage!
Many of the gags in 'The Hayseed' were written by Jean Havez, a talented idea man who was even larger and fatter than Roscoe Arbuckle. Havez eventually followed Keaton to his own production company, at which it was mandatory that all male actors and crew participate in Buster's beloved baseball games. Because of Havez's bulk, he was the umpire. I'll rate the very funny 'Hayseed' 8 out of 10.
Charming
Kieran_Kenney14 July 2003
A low-budget-looking film starring one of the greatest paired talents in screen history is not their best, but makes itself enjoyable none the less. Molly Malone makes a convincing love interest who's not as innocent and sweet as most female characters in these sorts of films are. The hide-and-seek scene is great, as is the bit inside Molly's house, at the melodeon, and the final dancing party in the store. The ending got a bit random and confusing, but otherwise the movie works very well and holds up alright by modern (2003) standards.
Has Some Pretty Good Gags
Snow Leopard13 August 2001
The Arbuckle/Keaton feature "The Hayseed" is a short comedy that has some pretty good gags. The material is held together more by the situation - 'Fatty' and Buster are running a combination general store/post office - than by the plot. There are some routine stretches, but also some good parts, with Keaton getting some of the best moments this time.
As in most of the Arbuckle/Keaton features, they get lots of mileage out of the props and the settings, with some rather creative ideas. Arbuckle has some imaginative ways of handling the mail, and the general store also provides good material. John Coogan (Jackie Coogan's father) also appears as Arbuckle's rival.
Most of it works, and though it's not one of the most memorable Arbuckle/Keaton shorts, it's still worth seeing. Like all of the features in the series, it offers pleasant light entertainment with characters that seem like old friends.
As in most of the Arbuckle/Keaton features, they get lots of mileage out of the props and the settings, with some rather creative ideas. Arbuckle has some imaginative ways of handling the mail, and the general store also provides good material. John Coogan (Jackie Coogan's father) also appears as Arbuckle's rival.
Most of it works, and though it's not one of the most memorable Arbuckle/Keaton shorts, it's still worth seeing. Like all of the features in the series, it offers pleasant light entertainment with characters that seem like old friends.
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