Buster Keaton's classic STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. is perhaps the best remembered of the many films shot on the Sacramento River. The Sacramento Bee pronounced the city "Movie Mad" on July 18, 1927 after over 1800 people registered at the Chamber of Commerce for jobs as extras in the big budget United Artists film. Keaton's famous "collapsing house" set was a part of the "River Junction" set built for the comedy and his gags walking against gale-force winds and surviving a wall falling directly over him are cinematic icons, greatly admired and never done better.
