“Night Shift” (1982)
Keaton took a string of terrific comedy roles in the early ’80s, starting with this one, the sophomore feature from Ron Howard, starring his “Happy Days” co-star Henry Winkler alongside Keaton and a luminous Shelley Long. The film, which details a scheme hatched by a pair of morgue attendants to run hookers out of their place of work may seem in dubious taste, but it’s terribly sweet-natured underneath it all, and derives its heart from the touching friendship that develops between Keaton’s motormouth, braggadocio-spouting, ADD-type and Winkler’s meek, mild-mannered morgue clerk (and Winkler really is very good, for anyone who only knows him as The Fonz). It was an early marker for the type of role that Keaton would make his own over the next decade—a little manic, a little unpredictable, though here he perhaps plays a little dumber than usual, if no less intense. It was a breakout of sorts for Howard (the script was by his future longtime collaborators Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, who also worked on “Happy Days,” and who would write the Keaton-starring “Multiplicity”), as well as Keaton, in only his second feature role. His first? A supporting part in Billy Crystal’s debut movie “Rabbit Test,” about the world’s first pregnant man, directed by Joan Rivers, currently sitting at a 2.9 IMDB rating and we cannot believe we haven’t watched it yet.
“Batman” (1989) / ”Batman Returns” (1992)
A strong streak of contrarianism had us wanting to leave out Keaton’s turn as The Dark Knight in Tim Burton’s two films in favor of performances we cherish more and couldn’t find room for, like “Gung Ho” or “The Paper.” But sober heads prevailed, because as much as we may not be feeling Keaton’s Bruce Wayne as much as some other of his performances, it is one of the most essential roles for understanding his later career, and, possibly, for admiring him that much more. Having worked with Burton already on the terrific “Beetlejuice,” Keaton reportedly wasn’t surprised at being offered “Batman,” because he’d originally assumed it would be of a mood with the campy Adam West version, not the darker, less comedic take Burton imagined (how ironic that assessment seems in this post-“Dark Knight” world). In fact, his role here is one of the less overtly comedic of his career, and he feels somewhat squished into it and tamped down, in our humble opinion. Still, together the films made a gazillion dollars and largely defined the blockbuster market of the early ’90s, so there’s that. What’s more interesting is how he left the franchise, bowing out when Burton was dropped from the third film, and showing unerring taste by refusing a massive paycheck to return for Joel Schumacher’s “Batman Forever.” Not only that, but Keaton subsequently stayed away from blockbuster films, preferring to take smaller roles in ensembles like “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Jackie Brown,” or leads in comedies and light dramas like “My Life,” “Multiplicity,” and “Speechless.” Which means his profile may have slipped a bit, but his output remained diverse.
“The Merry Gentleman” (2009)
Taking over the reins when original director (and the film’s writer) Ron Lazzeretti fell ill before filming began, Keaton’s directorial debut is a slow-paced, elegiac relationship thriller about a broken-down hitman (Keaton) forming a tentative friendship with a woman fleeing an abusive marriage (Kelly MacDonald). It’s very impressive in its intelligence and restraint, so it’s a shame that only about seven people ever actually saw it. Pulling off the notoriously difficult trick of directing himself his first time at bat, Keaton’s performance, as well as MacDonald’s, is a lovely, minor-key turn that could have been the polar opposite of the mania of some of his earlier roles, were it not for the fact that he needs that edge of potentially violent unpredictability to sell the closed-off character as well as he does. Luxuriously photographed by Chris Seager, and beautifully played all round, the film is an unassuming, but totally absorbing little fable, and certainly for us, it was the performance of Keaton’s that marked the beginning of his voyage back from “First Daughter” hell. Though “Postgrad” followed, so maybe he hadn’t quite finished atoning for those past life sins just yet.
