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

[ThunderStooge]

This is a newer movie, but I absolutely could not stand Epic Movie.  I sat through 10 minutes of that, and I had to change the channel.

As for DeRita, I watched one of his solo shorts, and I do agree that he had potential of being a decent Stooge if he tried, and if the writers had tried to work better with the trio.

[shemps#1]

Hey Saturday, no long no see.

You're right that you are comparing two different comedy styles in regards to Rickels and the Stooges. Rickels isn't doling out or receiving slapstick and he never really did. They say that the mind is usually the last thing to do, and The Stooges were never a cerebral comedy group to begin with. Even their one-liners and the like were used ad nauseum over the years and top that off with watching a trio of geriatric men trying to pull off some of the same physical comedy and it's not a good recipe.

Derita was hired on for resembling Curly, who had of course become very once again via the syndicated shorts. I feel at least some of the blame falls on his shoulders because he failed to inject new life or vibrancy into the group and they had become very stale only appealing to small children who probably didn't notice as much that these guys were ancient.

[kinderscenen]

shemps#1 (yes, he is!) stated:

Derita was hired on for resembling Curly, who had of course become very once again via the syndicated shorts. I feel at least some of the blame falls on his shoulders because he failed to inject new life or vibrancy into the group and they had become very stale only appealing to small children who probably didn't notice as much that these guys were ancient.

You know, I don't even know if he HAD the Curly-type of vibrancy--looking at his solo shorts, it was pretty much what the man himself said, something along the lines of just reacting, and saying "But honey, don't leave me!"  (However, according to my piano teacher who caught whichever of those Minsky's Follies, thought that the stage DeRita was way funnier than the film one.  Take that however you wish.)  But the 1946 DeRita could be surprisingly physical, and according to Ed Bernds (or Norman Maurer, I can't remember which), stated that he could be quite graceful.  Then again, I seem to recall something about he had to become much less physical due to the fact that Moe and Larry were up in years...I can't remember--it's in (S)crapbook, or maybe even one of the Mousie Garner/Forrester Bros. books.

Seeing the fellows (even in something like Kook's Tour!), I wasn't left with the feeling I get when I see later Woody Allen films...you know, where SOMEHOW he's still able to have all these women falling over him (or perhaps he's dreaming they're falling over him, who knows?)

As for kids noticing whether the Stooges were ancient, I am reminded of the first time I saw The Rolling Stones (1979?) Too bad the Stooges weren't like the Stones--they looked pretty damn old from the very beginning! 

[xraffle]

To be honest, I don’t know why Moe and Larry insisted on continuing as stooges after Shemp’s death. They were already stooges for over 20 years and that’s long enough. But instead they continued seeking for replacements and ended up with Besser and DeRita. I think they should’ve ended in 1956. They’ve worked long enough and I think that was a good time for them to retire.

[Curly4444]

To be honest, I don’t know why Moe and Larry insisted on continuing as stooges after Shemp’s death. They were already stooges for over 20 years and that’s long enough. But instead they continued seeking for replacements and ended up with Besser and DeRita. I think they should’ve ended in 1956. They’ve worked long enough and I think that was a good time for them to retire.

When you do this all your life, its just all you know. Moe and Larry probably would have been board to death sitting around doing nothing.

[xraffle]

When you do this all your life, its just all you know. Moe and Larry probably would have been board to death sitting around doing nothing.

Yeah, that makes sense. I guess it's better than sitting home and doing nothing.

[xraffle]

Here is what I read from Wikipedia.

Although DeRita enjoyed working with Moe and Larry, and made a good living doing it, he was not a fan of the Stooges' humor. He told an interviewer the following:

"I don't think the Stooges were funny. I'm not putting you on, I'm telling the truth — they were physical, but they just didn't have any humor about them. Take, for instance, Laurel and Hardy. I can watch their films and I still laugh at them and maybe I've seen them four or five times before. But when I see that pie or seltzer bottle, I know that it's not just lying around for no reason. It's going to be used for something. I was with the Stooges for 12 years and it was a very pleasant association but I just don't think they were funny.”

That quote was taken from The Three Stooges Scrapbook. Since I cannot fully trust Wikipedia, I'm going to confirm that quote when I get home. I have a copy of the Scrapbook at home and will check tonight.

Assuming he really said that, it makes me hate DeRita even more.

[metaldams]

X, I've heard that quote from Derita several times, and it just confirms the way I always felt, that he was a professional, nothing more, nothing less.  I don't hate the guy for it, can't blame him for making a buck.

[xraffle]

Unfortunately, though, it shows in his performances. There are actors out there who hate the role they're in, but they do a great job in hiding it. DeRita, unfortunately, makes it very obvious.

[Final Shemp]

Reading through that entire list, I find it quite blah.  The Crawling Hand one of the 10 worst movies ever made?  Puh-leeze.  It's not even one of the 10 worst movies ever featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

And I'll just say this to get it out in the open:  I LOVE FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD!  I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!  Own it on DVD and proud of it!

[shemps#1]

To be honest, I don’t know why Moe and Larry insisted on continuing as stooges after Shemp’s death. They were already stooges for over 20 years and that’s long enough. But instead they continued seeking for replacements and ended up with Besser and DeRita. I think they should’ve ended in 1956. They’ve worked long enough and I think that was a good time for them to retire.

They didn't retire because they needed the money, plain and simple. Remember they never got a raise while doing the shorts and got zilch as far as syndication and whatnot.

[BeAStooge]

They didn't retire because they needed the money

Moe was a wealthy man via his investments, primarily real estate.

[curlysdame]

Crazy facts about MANOS is that a couple of cast members sadly committed suicide shortly after, and the literal English translation is HANDS: HANDS OF FATE.

I just watched the MST3K version a few days ago, after reading all this stuff.  I had heard of it, but had never gotten around to watching it.  ...The worst thing I've ever seen - needless to say, I loved it.  So bad, it's great - 'Torgo' is frickin hilarious.  After I did some reading up on it, a couple things made a little more sense to me, regarding it's shittiness (besides the acting).

1.  'Director' Hal Warren had no clue what he was doing - The only reason this film was made was because he lost a bet.  Literally.  Warren, a fertilizer salesman from El Paso, TX was having lunch, one day, with a friend who was actually in the entertainment industry; Warren poo-pooed, 'it can't be that hard to write and shoot a local movie.'  So he wrote a script, got around $19k together, a Bell and Howell 16mm camera, and hired some local talent.  Did I mention he cast himself as the lead (of course)?

2.  It was an editing nightmare - The entire film is basically jump-cuts  The Bell and Howell 16mm had to be wound by hand, and the longest take one could get with it was only 32 seconds - hence the jump-cuts.  

3.  Horrible dubbing - Because the entire film was shot on a Bell and Howell 16mm, none of the sound could be recorded.  So, Warren, and 3 or 4 other people had to dub all the dialogue and sound effects - and not a lot of it was matched well with the final takes.

Yeah, you're right Metal - the guy that played 'Torgo' did commit suicide.  His name was John Reynolds - I think he was around 25 when he died.  Apparently, it had something to do with the braces he wore on his legs during production, to give added effect to his character.  They really did a number on his knees, which caused him great deal of pain (probably due to the fact that Hal Warren had no idea what he was doing probably didn't take correct safety precautions, IMO).  He ended up turning to drugs, eventually killing himself like a month before the movie 'premiered.'

Nevertheless, if you're a fan of the 'awesomely bad' you gotta see this.  'Torgo' is definitely one of my new favorites.

  

[metaldams]

Well Sara, you just wet my appetite more to see MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE.  A couple youtube clips did too.     It takes a special kind of person to appreciate cheese, as it amazes me how many people do not have a sense of humor about this kind of stuff.

I eagerly await Torgo, but for now, my all-time favorite bad movie baddie is Mickey Hargitay's "Crimson Executioner" in BLOODY PIT OF HORROR, no contest.  I may have posted this before, but so what, it's worth posting again.  Who knew sadism could be so funny?

[youtube=425,350]sRO7pnSsbMw[/youtube]

....and how can one forget THE GIANT CLAW, made by Columbia (!)  which has the best bad movie monster ever.

[youtube=425,350]hOj0nXpRqX8[/youtube]

[shemps#1]

I just finished my review of Manos, and while I do appreciate its "greatness" I would not say it is the top bad movie of all time. I would recommend you watch the regular version and not the MST3K one so you can appreciate the awfulness without distractions.

[Rich Finegan]

....and how can one forget THE GIANT CLAW, made by Columbia (!) which has the best bad movie monster ever.

I too love the cheap cheesiness of THE GIANT CLAW!
And it's coming up very soon on TCM - on June 9, as part of a whole month of "bad" mostly 1950's sci-fi flicks.

[xraffle]

Derita was hired on for resembling Curly, who had of course become very once again via the syndicated shorts. I feel at least some of the blame falls on his shoulders because he failed to inject new life or vibrancy into the group and they had become very stale only appealing to small children who probably didn't notice as much that these guys were ancient.

The reason why Curly-Joe resembles Curly is because he was fat and shaved his head. Other than that, he doesn't look like Curly in any other way. Just for the fun of it, I’ve posted a side by side comparison of Curly and Curly-Joe. That picture of Curly is pretty cool. I’m changing my avatar to that, LOL.

[shemps#1]

We can look back at it now and say that being that we're grown and it's 2011, but it might have fooled some of the slower children on the 60's. Or perhaps they just didn't notice until they hit a certain age. I just spoke to a friend of mine who was a child during that time and she said she never noticed but did notice Shemp and didn't like him.

[metaldams]

We can look back at it now and say that being that we're grown and it's 2011, but it might have fooled some of the slower children on the 60's. Or perhaps they just didn't notice until they hit a certain age. I just spoke to a friend of mine who was a child during that time and she said she never noticed but did notice Shemp and didn't like him.

Wanna know my confusion as a kid?  I used to think Derita was Joe Besser taking on a Curly persona.  I knew Joe Besser was a Stooge, but only saw his shorts once or twice as a kid, so it's not like I had him memorized like I did Curly.  Upon seeing THE THREE STOOGES MEETS HERCULES (the only Derita feature I saw before my 20's), I assumed it was Joe Besser when they called him Curly Joe because his name was Joe and I did not yet know about Derita.  I was probably in my very early teens when I learned about Derita.

[shemps#1]

My Dad was always a big Three Stooges fan and was quick to point out to me the difference between Curly and Curly-Joe, so perhaps I'm lucky in that respect. I can definitely see how a small child (which those later films were aimed at) would fail to notice the difference between the two.

Going back to the list it seems that many of the movies are available free online. #1 "The Incredibly Strange Creatures..." is up on crackle.com.

[xraffle]

When I was a kid, the first time I saw Curly-Joe was when I was watching “The New Three Stooges” cartoons. My uncle gave it to me as a Christmas gift. I have to admit, when I first popped in the video and watched the first live action segment (Dentists), I was like “Is that Curly?” Since this was a public domain video that I was given and the print was so bad and blurry, it looked like Curly at first glance, but then I was puzzled why he wasn’t do much silly stuff. I knew Curly was more energetic and sillier than that. Then when I watched the next live segment on the video (Janitors), I knew for sure that it wasn’t Curly.

I only started watching the Curly-Joe movies when The Family Channel started showing them. I was in the 5th grade when they aired those. By then, I knew that Curly-Joe wasn’t Curly.

[JazzBill]

Wanna know my confusion as a kid?  I used to think Derita was Joe Besser taking on a Curly persona.  I knew Joe Besser was a Stooge, but only saw his shorts once or twice as a kid, so it's not like I had him memorized like I did Curly.  Upon seeing THE THREE STOOGES MEETS HERCULES (the only Derita feature I saw before my 20's), I assumed it was Joe Besser when they called him Curly Joe because his name was Joe and I did not yet know about Derita.  I was probably in my very early teens when I learned about Derita.

The first time I saw Derita I thought he was Curly after he got old. Of coarse I was just a kid and didn't know the whole story back then.

[Rich Finegan]

.... the difference between Curly and Curly-Joe, so perhaps I'm lucky in that respect. I can definitely see how a small child (which those later films were aimed at) would fail to notice the difference between the two.

The Stooges themselves (or maybe it was Moe who had them printed) didn't help matters in the Joe DeRita period by giving away fan photos of shots that had Curly as the third Stooge, but with Curly-Joe's name pre-printed on the picture of Curly (Moe sent me one in 1973. It's a shot from IF A BODY MEETS A BODY but with the "Joe" part of Curly-Joe crossed out by Moe when he personally signed it. How'd that be for even further confusing some young fan?)

[Rich Finegan]

Wanna know my confusion as a kid?  I used to think Derita was Joe Besser taking on a Curly persona. 

Speaking of confusion as a young Stooge-watching kid, I can remember (and it goes way way way back) when I thought Larry was Curly. Hey, wouldn't a dumb young kid logically assume that the guy with the curly hair is the guy they're calling "Curly"?

[metaldams]

The Stooges themselves (or maybe it was Moe who had them printed) didn't help matters in the Joe DeRita period by giving away fan photos of shots that had Curly as the third Stooge, but with Curly-Joe's name pre-printed on the picture of Curly (Moe sent me one in 1973. It's a shot from IF A BODY MEETS A BODY but with the "Joe" part of Curly-Joe crossed out by Moe when he personally signed it. How'd that be for even further confusing some young fan?)

You're lucky you got to correspond with Moe, trickery or not!