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3%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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6[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HighSign_9397.jpg]]
7[[caption-width-right:320:Subtle, guys.]]
8
9->''Guarding a man from danger and killing him at the same time is SOME job.''
10-->-- '''Intertitle'''
11
12"The High Sign" (1921) follows a drifter (Creator/BusterKeaton) whose audition a shooting gallery leads to his recruitment as both a hit man and the bodyguard of the intended victim. HilarityEnsues.
13----
14!!"The High Sign" provides examples of:
15
16* AccidentalAimingSkills: Arguably. Buster can shoot a bottle off a wall -- just never the one he's aiming at.
17* AlliterativeName: The Blinking Buzzards
18-->...a bold bad bunch of blood-thirsty bandits who would break into a bank, blow a battle-ship to bits or beat up a blue-eyed baby blonde.
19%%* AsideGlance
20* BallisticDiscount: A shooting gallery customer holds Buster at gunpoint and makes off with the profits.
21* BananaPeel -- first averted, then immediately done straight.
22* {{Blackmail}}: Extortion, actually, but there's no page for that.
23%%* BodyguardBetrayal: Subverted.
24%%* BookcasePassage
25%%* BrickJoke: The banana in the gun holster.
26%%* TheButlerDidIt
27%%* ContractOnTheHitman
28%%* TheDoorSlamsYou
29%%* TheDulcineaEffect
30%%* ExplosiveCigar
31* FailedASpotCheck: Buster and the Nickelnursers don't notice the Blinking Buzzards entering the house.
32%%* FakingTheDead
33* FiveFingerDiscount: How Buster acquires a newspaper and a revolver.
34%%* GunTwirling
35%%* TheGunslinger: Subverted.
36* {{Hobos}}: Buster, presumably, since he makes his entrance being thrown off a train.
37* {{Irony}}: The man whose newspaper Buster stole unknowingly buys it back from him.
38* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Buster, at least initially.
39* ImpossiblyCompactFolding: As Buster unfolds the newspaper, it just keeps unfolding until it's roughly the size of a bedsheet. As he tries to fold it up again, he has to stand on a bench to do so and quickly loses his balance.
40* ImprobableAimingSkills: Subverted ''and'' played straight -- Buster has to fake amazing marksmanship at the shooting gallery, but manages to toss his hat onto a rack in the next room without looking.
41* LargeAndInCharge: See picture. (Buster reportedly stood 5-1/2 feet tall).
42%%* LiteralAssKicking
43* MagicBullets: Or in this case, magic pellets -- one shooting gallery customer uses his own double-barreled shotgun and wipes out ''the entire gallery'' with ''one shot.''
44%%* NeonSignHideout: See picture.
45* NoseTapping: The Blinking Buzzards' "secret" signal.
46* PaintedTunnelRealTrain
47** Buster appears to paint a hook on the wall and then hang his hat upon it.
48** Buster dives through a seascape that conceals a secret passage.
49%%* PaperThinDisguise
50%%* PlayingBothSides
51* PortraitPaintingPeephole: The entrance to the Blinking Buzzards' headquarters.
52* PunnyName
53** "Dr. Pullem, Dentist"
54** August Nickelnurser, an elderly miser.
55%%* ShotInTheAss
56%%* {{Slapstick}}
57%%* TrapDoor
58%%* {{Undercrank}}
59* VisualPun: After sipping some spiked or poisoned tea, Buster looks into the cup and sees a kicking mule. So, a drink with some kick.

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