Topic: Three Stooges In Orbit One Of The 50 Worst Movies

[shemps#1]

I'm currently watching something called The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made on Netflix and The Three Stooges In Orbit made the list at #13. This may not be popular opinion but I can't really complain too much or disagree as it is a terrible movie. The VO guy summed it up with this sentence : "obsoletism has never been so obvious".

[metaldams]

I'm currently watching something called The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made on Netflix and The Three Stooges In Orbit made the list at #13. This may not be popular opinion but I can't really complain too much or disagree as it is a terrible movie. The VO guy summed it up with this sentence : "obsoletism has never been so obvious".

I've seen that DVD for cheap at Borders and came close to picking it up.  What were some of the top 10 choices, just so I can get a better idea of where this list is headed?  Are we talking Ed Wood camp bad or just boring bad?  Derita era Columbia features fall into the former for me, though obviously higher budgeted than Ed Wood features.  The Snow White debacle falls into the latter, as I can never watch that again.

[shemps#1]

More on the campy bad side with some on the boring bad (in fact Wood appears three times). Here's the list:

50. Glen or Glenda (1953)
49. Mesa of Lost Women (1953)
48. Troll (1986)
47. Teenage Zombies (1959)
46. The Fat Spy (1965)
45. Voodoo Woman (1957)
44. Ishtar (1987)
43. Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)
42. The Creeping Terror (1964)
41. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
40. Howard the Duck (1986)
39. They Saved Hitler's Brain (1968)
38. Black Belt Jones (1974) *they said this was the only film on the list "so bad it's good"
37. Greetings (1968) *first film to receive an X rating and stars a young Robert Deniro
36. The Great Alligator (1979)
35. Hillbilly's in a Haunted House (1968) *I'm downloading this one
34. TNT Jackson (1975)
33. Robot Monster (1953)
32. The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
31. Firebird 2015 A.D. (1981)
30. Dracula vs Frankenstein (1971) *Lon Chaney Jr's last film
29. Bride of the Monster (1955)
28. Smokey and the Bandit part 3 (1983)
27. Xanadu (1980)
26. Leonard Part 6 (1987)
25. The Wild Women of Wongo (1958)
24. Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)
23. The Ape (1940) *stars Boris Karloff
22. Galaxy of Terror (1981) *Star Wars rip-off with James Cameron as unit director
21. The Robot vs The Aztec Mummy (1957)
20. Snow White (1955) *German live action version
19. Creature From The Haunted Sea (1961)
18. The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974)
17. Trial of Billy Jack (1974)
16. Killers From Space (1954)
15. Spider Baby (1964)
14. Trog (1970)
13. The Three Stooges In Orbit (1962)
12. The Crippled Masters (1982) *kung fu flick with a guy with no arms and a guy with no legs, I so want to see this
11. The Sorceress (1983)
10. The Crawling Hand (1963) *Starred Alan "Skipper" Hale Jr
9. Bloodsucking Freaks (1976) *formerly banned in the US
8. J.D.'s Revenge (1976)
7. Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)
6. Killer Shrews (1959)
5. Great White (1980) *Italian Jaws rip-off
4. Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)
3. The Thing With Two Heads (1972)
2. Eegah! (1962)
1. The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed Up Zombies (1967) *A monster movie musical

[xraffle]

I have to wonder why he picked "The Three Stooges In Orbit" over the other 4 DeRita flicks. In my opinion, "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules" is easily the worst one. For some reason, I really hate that movie.

[Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum]

I have to wonder why he picked "The Three Stooges In Orbit" over the other 4 DeRita flicks. In my opinion, "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules" is easily the worst one. For some reason, I really hate that movie.

I haven't seen "Orbit," but I thought "Hercules" was OK -- i.e., on about a par with "Daze" and "Outlaws." "Snow White" was the real stinker for me.

Hey, maybe we should have a "rank the DeRita features" thread. I'd start it, but I've only seen 4 of the 6. (I haven't seen the two "space" ones.)

[metaldams]

I've only seen 10 of these 50.  Brief comments on each.

50. Glen or Glenda (1953) - Absolutely bizzare.  Bela Lugosi as God and plenty of cross dressing.  My least favorite Ed Wood.

47. Teenage Zombies (1959) - This one bored me.  I saw it fairly recently too, within the past year.

41. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) - Stone cold bad film classic.  A must see for all bad film lovers, as the theme song alone will suck you in.

29. Bride of the Monster (1955) - Bela Lugosi in his last REAL role, a fun movie overall.  Great for Tor Johnson fans too!

24. Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) - So shoot me, I love this one.  I like the Jerry lewis impersonator better than Jerry Lewis, and Stooge fans, Muriel Landers from SWEET AND HOT is in this one!

23. The Ape (1940) - I love the old Monogram horrors, and this would be one of them.  I'm surprised none of the Lugosi Monograms, or the PRC classic THE DEVIL BAT made the list.

19. Creature From The Haunted Sea (1961) - Roger Corman would do so much better after this.  This one bored me to tears.

13. The Three Stooges In Orbit (1962) - Typical Derita feature, I don't see how this one stands out from the others for this list.

6. Killer Shrews (1959) - Awesome movie!  Those little shrew guys at the end are great!

4. Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) - Do I really need to comment?  

[metaldams]

I haven't seen "Orbit," but I thought "Hercules" was OK -- i.e., on about a par with "Daze" and "Outlaws." "Snow White" was the real stinker for me.

Hey, maybe we should have a "rank the DeRita features" thread. I'd start it, but I've only seen 4 of the 6. (I haven't seen the two "space" ones.)

Hercules would be my favorite, Snow White would be my least favorite, and the other four just blend in together somewhere in the middle.

[BeAStooge]

6. Killer Shrews (1959) - Awesome movie!  Those little shrew guys at the end are great!

fyi -  Sequel just started production. James Best returns in his original role (his company is producing); his DUKES costars John Schneider and Rick Hurst costar. A friend of mine, David Browning, is also costarring.

[Boid Brain]

How did 'Howard the Duck' get on that list? I can see it being on a worst Lucas film list, but ALL TIME list? 

[shemps#1]

I just finished watching Hillbillys in a Haunted House: avoid this piece of shit at all costs.

[Rich Finegan]

fyi -  Sequel just started production. James Best returns in his original role (his company is producing); his DUKES costars John Schneider and Rick Hurst costar. A friend of mine, David Browning, is also costarring.

The original is coming up on TCM on June 17.

[Dunrobin]

fyi -  Sequel just started production. James Best returns in his original role (his company is producing); his DUKES costars John Schneider and Rick Hurst costar. A friend of mine, David Browning, is also costarring.

The original is coming up on TCM on June 17.

The original is also available on the website for the sequel: http://www.killershrewsmovie.com/original_movie.html

I've always liked The Killer Shrews, and this sequel sounds like it might be fun.  Hopefully it will be as "bad" as the original.   

[falsealarms]

3S in Orbit has no business on a list like that. While hardly a masterpiece or prime Stooge material, it's still an entertaining 90 minutes. I prefer it to others like OUTLAWS IS COMING.

[xraffle]

3S in Orbit has no business on a list like that. While hardly a masterpiece or prime Stooge material, it's still an entertaining 90 minutes. I prefer it to others like OUTLAWS IS COMING.

Agreed. While the DeRita flicks are nothing to brag about, there are a lot worse movies I've seen.

[shemps#1]

I would hardly call In Orbit an entertaining 90 minutes. None of the Derita flicks are good by any stretch of the imagination and I guess they just put all of the names into a hat and picked one. I'll go back to Netflix and report and what they said about the film in particular.

[ThunderStooge]

Wait.  Why is Troll there, but not Troll 2?

Also, I too wanna see that crippled Kung-Fu flick.

[Shemp_Diesel]

Well, I guess opinions are like earholes, everyone has as least two. My own $0.02, I actually like In Orbit and would call it the best of the Derita era. Now if you wanna talk boring there is The Outlaws is Coming,  or just plain bad, the Snow White movie and to a lesser extent, Have Rocket, Will Travel. But Orbit being the worst, no way.

 

[pipboytaylor]

I agree, Orbit isn't that bad. Snow White is definitely, by far the worst of the six. Orbit has several funny scenes but I can't think of any in Snow White. The biggest knock I would have on Orbit is the sequence with the stooges in the flying contraption. It is way too long and drawn out.

My ranking.

1.Three Stooges Meet Hercules
2.The Outlaws Is Coming
3.Three Stooges In Orbit
4.Three Stooges Go Around The World In A Daze
5.Have Rocket, Will Travel
6.Snow White And The Three Stooges

[shemps#1]

And I quote...

"After 30 years the Three Stooges should have just hung up their squirt tricks and Curly replacements: but they didn't. ...They continued making movies well into the 1960's...and they actually believed the pie in the face routine would still humor audiences...but once they made The Three Stooges In Orbit they went too far. Obsoletism has never been so obvious..."

The ellipses denote clips of the movie being turned up in volume. Look I love the Stooges as much as anyone else here but I can't see why some of you are upset about it. First off it's an opinion and second I look at it as an amalgam or "representative" of the Derita Era. Would I have picked a different Derita movie? Yeah, I would have gone with Snow White most likely, but I think Orbit is up there to represent the entire Derita Era as a whole and what was said about it looks like it backs up my theory.

[ThunderStooge]

My grandma has a VHS copy of Go Around the World in a Daze.  I'm thinking about popping it in out of curiosity.

[Rich Finegan]

My grandma has a VHS copy of Go Around the World in a Daze.  I'm thinking about popping it in out of curiosity.

Definitely check it out and give it a chance if you haven't seen it. Regardless of the mostly negative comments it seems this thread is getting about the DeRita feature films, a lot of Stooges fans do like them.
So if you bear in mind that Curly Joe isn't Curly Howard (and that's not his fault) and can undestand that Moe & Larry are getting pretty old by that time, there's still a lot to enjoy for Three Stooges fans.   

If you watch it once and hate it, that's okay too. You don't have to watch it again. But at least give it a chance.

[metaldams]

If you watch it once and hate it, that's okay too. You don't have to watch it again. But at least give it a chance.

Agree.  The only one I absolutely cannot stomach is SNOW WHITE AND THE THREE STOOGES and I guess KOOKS TOUR too if that counts.  The others are not classics, but are certainly worth one viewing for Stooge fans, and quite frankly, since I've seen the shorts so many times, I may just give the Derita films another chance.  I'm probably going to watch THE THREE STOOGES IN ORBIT before this extended weekend is over, and I'll pitch in my thoughts.

[shemps#1]

I'm watching it as I type this. I think some people might be a little too overzealous in defending it and the Derita era in general.

[shemps#1]

Here's a short review I wrote for my blog "Flipping Off The Movies":

I am a long time fan of the Three Stooges and not ashamed to be so. I have all 190 of their Columbia Pictures short subjects on DVD and my favorite Stooge is the oft overlooked Shemp Howard. The made short subjects for Columbia from 1933 to 1958 and went through Three "third Stooges" during that time (the popular Curly, the aforementioned Shemp and the villified Joe Besser) without receiving a single raise in pay during that time. Columbia dropped them, the last of the Shorts department, which had become a dying breed with the advent of television. It would be that same television which had ended their long run that would revive their careers as well. The shorts would become popular in syndication and Moe and Larry took advantage by hiring yet another "third Stooge", Joe Derita and going on tour for personal appearances before eventually making full length movies.

The movies are nothing great, but upon watching a DVD on Netflix called The 50 Worst Movies Of All Time (that's how I found out about Hillbillys in a Haunted House) I was a bit taken aback by the inclusion of The Three Stooges In Orbit. Not only was it on the list but it was pretty high up there (#13). That's even higher than Hillbillys in a Haunted House (#35). I remember not caring for the movie but don't remember it being that bad so I thought I would take another look.

Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe host a Saturday Morning kiddie show called The Three Stooges Scrapbook and are kicked out of their apartment after their landlady catches them cooking (it seems odd today that cooking would not be allowed in living quarters) and hook up with a kooky inventor (played by long time Stooge foil Emil Sitka) who lets them stay with him and his daughter. The inventor is being watched by martians (who of course want to invade Earth and steal the inventor's submarine/helicopter/tank hybrid) and enlists the help of the Stooges in exchange for his helping them come up with a brand new style of cartoon (electronic animation).

The main problem with In Orbit is the Stooges themselves, their ages in particular. These guys are old (Moe was 65 and looked 75) and they definitely look and move about like senior citizens. It's disheartening to watch the social security aged Stooges smack each other around and downright creepy to watch them go gaga for women who look young enough to be their granddaughters. The third Stooge is the main problem: Joe Derita is a charismatic black hole void of personality or likability. Joe Besser might have been a terrible Stooge but at least he brought something new to the table. With Derita it feels like they grabbed some random fatass off the street, shaved his head and said "there's the new Curly". I know the history and know that isn't what happened but I'm just relaying how it feels.

The supporting cast puts in a third-rate, uninspired performance other than Sitka who actually shines brighter than the Stooges themselves. Within seconds of the handsome Air Force rep appearing on screen you can automatically guess that he will hook up with the inventor's daughter for a tacked-on romantic subplot. The gags are recycled from an era long gone by 1962 and had been done by the Stooges much better when they were much younger.

I won't spoil the outcome for anyone but I'm pretty sure you can correctly guess what happens in the end. The Three Stooges In Orbit is a terrible film and as a Stooges fan it pains me to be vicious to them in a review. With that said I do think there are other Derita features that are worse than this one and more deserving of a "worst movies" list such as Snow White and the Three Stooges and while I can see why this one was included (I like to think of it as a representative of the Derita Era in general rather than this film particular) it is nowhere near as terrible as Hillbillys.

1 middle finger

[ThunderStooge]

So far, the only DeRita material I've seen are from the 60's animated series.  Not very good, but I found it fairly enjoyable.  I didn't expect to see much in the physical department anyway, considering it was aimed for children, and Moe and Larry were in their 60's.