Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27708312-20170202163909/@comment-31166511-20170310040757

Are you familiar with the classic film comedian, Buster Keaton?

He was famous for his lack of expression as things went crazy around him. His nicname was "Old Stoneface". Back in the 1920, they didn't have stuntmen or reliable safety equipment. When Buster Keaton fell off something he really fell!

Keaton's most famous film "The General" has a terrific chase scene with two trains. Keaton's train is dragging a cannon on a railroad flatcar. Now the character wants to shoot the cannon at the other train. The joke in the script says to have the cannonball was supposed to make a short hop and land in the cabin of Keaton's own train.

The first time they rehearsed the sceen, they used too much black powder and the cannon ball completely shattered the whole train engine. The film crew cut the amount of powder in half and tried again with a new engine. The new engine was badly damaged again. Finally the crew got down to counting indivual grains of powder. Finally, using less than 20 grains, they launched the 100 metal ball 40 feet through the air to hit the target precisely.

But it just goes to show how difficult it is to use a cannon and explosives to hit a target with precision rather than just smashing your way through anything--which is what cannons do best!