SAPPY BULL FIGHTERS (1959) -- ThreeStooges.net

This website is made possible, in part, by displaying a few online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker for this site.

Released June 04, 1959
Featuring Moe, Larry and Joe

Columbia
15.25 min. (Short Subject)

The Stooges are actors in Mexico who have just been fired, leaving them stranded. Their friend Greta helps them out by getting them a job, but when Joe kisses her, her husband comes along and vows to kill all three if he sees them again. Unfortunately, he sees them when they do their comedy bullfight act, so he lets a real bull into the ring, and Joe is really in for it now!

A remake of WHAT'S THE MATADOR? (1942).

Avg. Rating:

[2.03/10]

Cast List

Larry Fine
Larry

Joe Besser
Joe

Moe Howard
Moe

Greta Thyssen
Greta

George J. Lewis
Jose

Charles Cross
Stagehand

Paul Ellis
Bullfight announcer

Cy Schindell
Bullring attendant

Eddie Laughton
Bullring attendant

Joe Palma
Bullring attendant, new footage

Charles Cross
Spectator

Joe Palma
Spectator

Danny
Pepe

Mary Tyler Moore
Showgirl

Unidentified SAPPY BULL FIGHTERS 1
Showgirls

Unidentified SAPPY BULL FIGHTERS 2
Bullring attendant, new footage

Unidentified SAPPY BULL FIGHTERS 3
Spectators

Production Crew

Jules White
Producer

Jules White
Director

Saul Ward
Story

Jack White
Story and Screenplay

Saul Ward
Screenplay, stock footage

Irving Lippman
Director of Photography

L. W. O'Connell
Photography, stock footage

Harold White
Film Editor

Jerome Thoms
Film Editor, stock footage

Walter Holscher
Art Director

Sidney Clifford
Set Decoration

Max Stein
Assistant Director

Mischa K. Bakaleinikoff
Music

Stooge Businesses (0)

Stooge Goofs (4)

Stooge Mayhem (Avg. 4.50)

Re: SAPPY BULL FIGHTERS
Posted 2009-12-17 22:06:29 by KingKongFu

How could they butcher a classic short like MATADOR? Everything is terrible, and it's not just the ruined jokes from the original, the bull riding scenes, and the zombie-ish people cheering "ole Americano". It's the whole beginning sequence that is completely unacceptable! They use the same bits (taking the wrong luggage, the jealous husband, eating peppers, "how many rooms", etc.) in one room?!?! Man, I was expecting something better than the ordinary Besser-era shorts, something not claustrophobic in terms of production, such as outside scenes and other stuff as exciting as in MATADOR, but then I was gravely disappointed. What a way to end the series after 24 years of slapstick comedy.

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2003-06-22 21:16:00 by Stooge
Edited 2008-06-17 08:54:39 by Stooge

This is the last Stooge short ever released, and that's a shame because this film is terrible. This is a remake of WHAT'S THE MATADOR and the rehashed scenes are all weak and slow. The crowd chanting "Ole, Americano!" at the end seem so lifeless and zombie-ish compared to the lively and exciting chanting from the crowd in MATADOR. Besser is even worse here than he usually is, which is saying a lot. The whole short has him doing Curly's lines and routines from the original short, and he re-does them terribly! Like the "How many rooms?" bit. With Curly, the lines were said rapid-fire and the joke was funny. With Besser, he just did it all slow and dull with unneccesary pauses, and ruined the joke. (The '"Aw, shutup!"/"What did you say?"/spilled salt on tongue' exchange in GUNS-A POPPIN is another example of Besser delivering original Curly jokes too slowly)The low-budget of this remake really becomes noticeable in the part where Besser is shown riding on back of the bull. That scene looked so extremely fake, it's almost funny in itself because of how ridiculous it is.

Reviewer's Rating:

(1)

Re: SAPPY BULL FIGHTERS
Posted 2007-10-08 13:13:30 by FourthThird

Definitely a sad choice for last Stooge short released. I'm not quite as critical of this, or of Joe's performance in it, as others are. But the lousy editing wherein it's supposed to look like Joe is riding the bull -- complete with shots of Joe & "bull" against a TOTALLY STATIONARY BACKGROUND -- is one of the worst things in a Stooge short ever, and (to me) practically eclipses everything else bad about it!

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2001-04-30 16:44:00 by Nicole
Edited 2006-03-23 21:51:29 by shemps#1

This short was the first Besser short I ever had seen before. The first thing that went through my mind was, "Who the heck is that guy next to Larry and Moe?" Thank goodness this wasn't the first Stooge short I saw ( the first one I saw was "Three Little Beers"). Any way, one poke for its signifigance to me and everyone else, being the last short the Stooges had made.

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2001-03-01 19:46:00 by NicktoBarada
Edited 2006-03-23 21:47:12 by shemps#1

Right on, Cathy! And Uncle Mortimer, I agree, I wanna see SCRAMBLED BRAINS too! It's too bad they play junk like this on AMC in place of a classic Shemp or Curly short-- even if it's not their fault. Anyway... I'm being rather kind by giving SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS an extra half poke. To think it all started with a wonderful film like WOMAN HATERS and ended with a gag-fest like SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS. Hey, that's just the way I feel.To clarify, I meant "gag" as in sticking a finger down your throat, not a funny slapstick joke. Sorry!

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2003-08-07 01:14:00 by Pat Stooge

This is the last Stooge short and yes its a swansong.Man what a heck of a way for the Short Subjects department to go!Jules makes a horrid low budget remake of the 1942 short "What's the Matador" where Joe Palma the weak-arse pathetic Shemp stand-in is the bullring attendant,and Jack Jules' brother writes the same crap from 16 years ago.It's funny that Harry Cohn the president of Columbia pictures didn't live to see this film,he died from a stroke in September 1958 and was about to cancel thier contract,Joe's wife Ernie suffered a heartattack and her health was pretty dismal.All of the stooges prefromances are the worse I've ever seen.It's just sad to watch this short, sad.If Shemp was alive in '58 he probably wouldn't have wanted to do this short and Curly he really would have hated this one!A terrible tragic end to a great 25 year legacy of wonderful 15 minute shorts.

Reviewer's Rating:

(0)

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2003-06-22 23:14:00 by [Deleted Member]

I always considered THE TOOTH WILL OUT (I loved the hot dogdog gag though) the worst Stooge short but I saw this again last year on AMC & it is soooooo BAD!!! Curly must have been spinning in his grave when this came out.

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2002-09-24 02:24:00 by Uncle Buzz

Besser admittedly considered his 16 comedies as "The 2 Stooges plus Joe Besser." "Sappy B." was pretty sad to view recently as it reminded me of similar crap like "The Bullfighters," which Laurel and Hardy churned out for Fox at the end of their film careers. The best laughs are during the bullfight scene where Jules White has A LOT of Curly footage that doesn't quite match the Besser inserts. Worth viewing once, mainly for Greta T!

Reviewer's Rating:

(4)

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2002-06-17 17:08:00 by jaronson

A most generous F. Probably the only thing worth seeing is Besser getting eggs all over his face while crying. Repeating Curly's routines and lines is lame, especially, "I can't see, I can't see." This stinks as much as my guinea pigs' cage that hasn't been cleaned for a month.

Reviewer's Rating:

(2)

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2002-04-12 01:37:00 by black banana
Edited 2002-05-22 04:50:00 by black banana

Several of the Joe Besser shorts are enjoyable to me, but this stinks like an outhouse on a hot day!Even gorgeous Greta Thyssen can't help this...she's having a bad hair day here!The only short that is worse is HORSING AROUND.1/2 poke (for the stock footage)

Reviewer's Rating:

(0)

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2002-02-11 17:53:00 by Shemp_Diesel

After watching some of the non-AMC Besser remakes I must say this short is just a tad better than those. Hardly high praise though.1 1/2 pokes

Reviewer's Rating:

(3)

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2001-04-14 22:23:00 by [Deleted Member]

This short was pretty awful. May have been the worst Besser one made. Whenever Joe tried to imitate Curly too much, it was doomed to failure. Many of the gags that worked for Curly, like head butting the bull, just didn't seem to fit Besser. Why then did I give this one poke instead of a bomb? Because I do think this film has a certain significance as the last Stooge short that was ever made. That in itself makes it kind of interesting. And, like it or not, Besser is part of Stooge history and cannot be erased. While not nearly as entertaining or funny, I do find it somewhat interesting to compare and contrast the Besser shorts from the original classics with Curly and Shemp. And for those of you who do like Besser, I respect your opinion. Still, give me Curly or Shemp for my big belly laughs.

Reviewer's Rating:

(0)

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2001-03-23 18:51:00 by Mike Holme

Re-Review: A terrible remake of "What's the Matador?", which was not a very strong short in the first place. Most of what Joe says is what Curly said in the original. Joe is very annoying, and the part where he says "I can't see, I can't see!" was done terribly and was absoluetly pointless. A sad end for the shorts the stooges made.

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2001-02-25 00:54:00 by shemps#1

This remake of What's The Matador ranks with Hoofs And Goofs as the worst shorts I have seen. Joe can never replace Curly or Shemp, but they had him do just that in many of his films, and this one is no different. How many of you were hoping that either the angry husband or the bull would put Joe out his misery?

Reviewer's Rating:

(0)

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2001-02-05 14:48:00 by sickdrjoe

Outside of videotapes (many of which were drawn from inferior sources), the AMC series is the first time these shorts have been seen as intended (uncut & uninterrupted) on TV, so I can't get too angry at them for what's mostly a great package of titles (altho I believe the missing Curly shorts are due to PC concerns). If you notice, the majority of the unaired shorts are Bessers and late-era Shemps...if you've gotta have an incomplete set, those are the ones to be missing. As for Besser, it's weird how a guy who was so hysterical as Stinky on the Abbott & Costello Show could be so, so, so very awful just a few years later. As ghastly as the Bessers are, though, they've been so rarely seen over the years that I can almost appreciate the chance to see for myself how putrid they are. De Rita (whose heirs, amazingly enough, now OWN the rights to the Stooges name along with Larry's!!)was, in some ways, even worse.

Re: SAPPY BULLFIGHTERS
Posted 2001-01-30 14:54:00 by Uncle Mortimer

I hate to be negative, but this concerns a Besser short, so I hope to be forgiven. Here it is.....This is useless re-hashed garbage! I have no interest in ever seeing this junk again. I'm especially angry, you see, because those NIMRODS at AMC keep playing this joke of a short every other week (seems like), while great shorts like SCRAMBLED BRAINS or WE WANT OUR MUMMY remain unaired. Nice thinking AMC. Yeah, we'd LIKE to see a lousy Besser remake every month for the next 3 years, instead of an original with Shemp or Curly that we may not have seen since we were kids. Thanks alot! I'll only watch a Besser short for Moe & Larry. They're wonderful, of course. But I soitenly don't get a thrill when I see Sappy Bullfighters(or any of the other stupid Besser shorts) ready for broadcast...AGAIN!!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of the issues involved. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information please visit: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission directly from the copyright owner.

Working Title(s):	THAT'S BULLY
Prod. No.:	1912
Shooting Days:	2 days From: 1957-07-15 To: 1957-07-16

Book of the Day

Comic of the Day

Supporters

Donors: