怡蓉为躲过土匪的追捕,假扮警察贺峰的妻子进入青城,但却引起了贺峰女友刘曼玲的误会。土匪追到城下,要求交出怡蓉,不然就攻城,贺峰拒不同意。 怡蓉为了留在青城保命,几次三番编造谎言,却又都被一一拆穿,贺峰对她失望至极。怡蓉一气之下离开青城,差点被土匪打死,贺峰不忍,又将她救了回来。然而,青城百姓却强烈要求将怡蓉赶走。无奈之下,贺峰亲自送怡蓉出城,自己却遭遇土匪伏击,并被俘虏。
土匪长老无意间发现贺峰正是老当家高一鹰失散多年的儿子,于是计划把贺峰送回去,以便里应外合攻破青城,贺峰得知真相后也决定将计就计。。This very Kafka-esque film is Keaton's response to the Fatty Arbuckle scandal.[citation needed] Even though the central character's intentions are good, he cannot win, no matter how inventively he tries. He gets into various scraps with police officers throughout the film. Eventually, he unwittingly throws a bomb into a police parade and ends up being chased by a horde of cops.
At the end of the film, Keaton's character locks up the cops in the police station. However, the girl he is trying to woo disapproves of his behavior and gives him the cold shoulder. Therefore, he unlocks the police station and is immediately pulled in by the cops. The film ends with the title "The End" written on a tombstone with Keaton's pork pie hat propped on it.
One of Keaton's most iconic and brilliantly-constructed short films, Cops was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry in 1997.。