Rockin' In The RockiesIf I saw this in the movie theaters when it was originally released, I would've felt robbed. It's billed as The Three Stooges but it's really only The Two Stooges.
I don't understand the motivation of having Moe as a non Stooge character in the film. Occasionally, Stooge personalities were modified depending on the circumstances. I don't see why Moe couldn't have played a somewhat savvier version of his famous Stooge persona. Such a situation probably would've called for a less contrived plot than what occurred in this movie. Shorty Williams seemed weirdly out of place when Larry and Curly still performed with their familiar Stooge names and personas.
The movie's arrangement of the Stooge team was disquieting. It felt like viewing an alternate universe version of what would've happened if The Three Stooges had decided to split up. I could only imagine if Curly had stayed healthy if that's the direction they might have gone with; considering Moe wanted to be an actor at the start of his entertainment career. Very early on, Shemp had left the comedy troupe to go solo. So, if the conditions had been optimal, at some point, why not Moe. I guess if given the right roles, perhaps Moe could've been a successful Danny DeVito type of entertainer.
Speculatively, if Moe had left the troupe that had a healthy Curly, I still think Larry and Curly would've needed a third person to fill the comedic void. Overall, Larry and Curly were capable of delivering the humor. Their bit with getting on the horse was very good. However, there were places where Moe was needed to achieve a satisfactory comedic climax. At certain times without Moe, it felt like Larry and Curly couldn't quite get it over the hump, which left me with a lingering sense of frustration.
In any case, the movie only felt right when Moe would slip into his traditional Stooge persona. The (faux) exterminators were wonderful and showed how the movie could've been so much better if The Three Stooges were left intact. Towards the finale, I appreciated what seemed to be a sly meta-reference of "Shorty", Larry and Curly as The Three Stooges.
The musical numbers were okay but the music of
Swing Parade of 1946 is more of my preference.
The romance of Rusty and June was hokum; however I thought Shorty and Betty was sweet. I loved the suggestiveness of Shorty stealing Betty away during June's song "Somewhere along the Trail", only to find out Shorty needed Betty to hold the yarn for his knitting project of a saddle blanket.
Additionally, I felt that Rusty was unnecessary. It seemed he was only present to fulfill the obligatory, stereotypically attractive male, romantic role. He was woodenly there, sucking the energy out of the flick.
BTW, The Wagon Wheel Café appears to be the same locale as the Rite Bar which the Stooges exit from in the beginning of the short,
Beer Barrel Polecats.
My final verdict is that
Rockin' In The Rockies is watchable solely for the curiosity of witnessing the Stooges, Larry & Curly, sans Moe. And for watching Moe play a serious character with minor comedic tendencies.
Have Rocket, Will TravelI'm a sucker for campy sci-fi and this movie delivers. I saw this movie as a child and thought maybe I had accidentally eaten something dodgy and it was a hallucination. Seeing it now, there's so much dated cornball stuff about the flick but I still have a fondness for it. A list of some of the cheap laughs I got from the film:
- Tone deaf theme song (that's stuck in my head)
- Moe's impromptu striptease
- The hammy, hokey love affair of Dr. Ted Benson and Dr. Ingrid Naarveg
- Freebase rocket fuel
- Bizarre dubbing (Curly's and Shemp's vocalizations from beyond!)
- F minus grade level of special effects
- Curly-Joe squashing the communication device and Moe's frustrated reaction
- Gargantuan tarantula with flaming breath (it also still creeps me out)
- Talking unicorn (too bad they didn't also strap wings unto that poor pony)
- Archaic adversarial automaton
- Stooge bots
- Moe awkwardly minding Dr. Naarveg's "wits" as they dance
- Curly-Joe's battle to get a bite to eat at the celebration
- Larry's face-plant into the French lady's bosom
As with Rusty in
Rockin' In The Rockies, I felt that Ted was a superfluous romantic character. However, Ted was so ridiculously corny in his pursuit of Ingrid that I found him to be an amusing presence.
In summary, I found
Have Rocket, Will Travel to be so bad, it's good--definitely a guilty pleasure.