---
title: "Steamboat Bill, Jr.: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/steamboat-bill-jr/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/steamboat-bill-jr"
critics_score: 87
critics_reviews: 7
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928): what the critics said

Critics' score 87 from 7 reviews: 7 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative.

Every one of the seven reviews is positive, and the praise gathers in one place: the storm. Critics agree that the cyclone finale is the film’s high point, with the collapsing house front named again and again as the gag that shows what Keaton could do with his own body and a great deal of timber. Most also single out the smaller sight gags, the hospital bed swept down the street among them, and Keaton’s still, unhurried face, which several find as funny as the stunts.

The spread is narrow. Nobody has a serious complaint about the film itself; the reservations that exist are about how it has been packaged. Slant Magazine’s lower mark is for a Keaton collection, whose extras it finds thin, rather than for this film, whose cyclone it admires as much as anyone. The New Yorker is the coolest on the comedy, though warm on Keaton’s discipline and the way the storms answer his hero’s wishes.

## Time Out — Tom Huddleston

Rating 5/5. 14 September 2015. 

The review calls the film a comic masterpiece that remains in a class of its own. It praises Keaton’s lovingly framed face and the heart-stopping stunts.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/steamboat-bill-jr-1)

## Empire — David Parkinson

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 27 June 2006. 

Parkinson regards the film as a comic classic and Keaton’s last silent masterpiece. He especially praises the meticulously executed sight gags, including the collapsing house front and the hospital bed swept through the street.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/steamboat-bill-jr-review/)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 17 September 2015. 

Bradshaw finds the rerelease a reminder of the film’s remarkable ambition and calls its final storm sequence breathtaking. He singles out Keaton’s miraculous physical comedy and stunt work, especially the famous collapsing-house gag.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/17/steamboat-bill-jr-review-buster-keaton)

## Variety — Variety Staff

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1927. 

The critic calls it a pip of a comedy and one of Keaton’s best. They single out the windstorm as a gem and praise the supporting cast.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1927/film/reviews/steamboat-bill-jr-1200410064/)

## The New Yorker — Richard Brody

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 4 October 2010. 

Brody presents the film as funny and celebrates Keaton’s disciplined, stoic screen presence. He singles out the famous falling-house gag and the way the film’s storms echo its hero’s virtuous desires.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/dvd-of-the-week-steamboat-bill-jr)

## Slant Magazine — Bill Weber

Rating 3.5/5. 18 June 2019. 

Weber praises the collection’s restorations for doing justice to Keaton’s visual genius, while finding its extras little more than advertisements. He singles out Steamboat Bill, Jr.’s cyclone climax as an exhilarating high point of Keaton’s imaginative stuntwork.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review-the-buster-keaton-collection-volume-1-on-cohen-media-group-blu-ray/)

## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 15 September 2015. 

Kermode calls it one of Keaton’s best and a consistently entertaining film. She praises its inventive stunts and the surreal cyclone sequence.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/steamboat-bill-jr-1928-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/steamboat-bill-jr.md