Stream of consciousness hilarity from Buster Keaton and a few of his favorite collaborators. Despite the title, _Cops_ only briefly involves the police. Most of its eighteen-minute runtime is spent tailgating an enterprising young man on his quest for a quick buck, observing from a distance as he stumbles over a number of too-good-to-be-true business opportunities and repeatedly, naïvely, compounds his troubles. By the end of the picture, he carries a long tail of inevitable repercussions, a year's worth of fallout for one short afternoon's flighty misadventure, and that's where the grand, climactic police chase comes in.

Young Keaton's not a total dunce - in fact, his impulsive shrewdness provides one of the film's first big laughs (not to mention a serious bankroll) - he's just self-centered and oblivious to the max. This sense of ignorant innocence rears its head constantly, usually to the detriment of the innocent parties who happen to cross his path, and it always hits its comedic mark. Keaton's effortless in the act, averting his eyes to fluff a pillow or light a cigarette while he KOs a poor traffic cop and ruins a large-scale parade. Buying into this act is essential, as his seemingly well-intentioned character would probably come off as a real jerk if we believed he'd done any of it on purpose. Instead, he's more like a cursed dreamer who can't outrun his own fate.