Topic: ROCKIN' IN THE ROCKIES Vs. HAVE ROCKET, WILL TRAVEL

[metaldams]

Since the RARE TREASURES set was just released and both of these features are on it, I think a poll and discussion over which of these two is the better feature would be worth it.  Please vote in the poll and also give your reason why one film is better than the other.  I'll chip in my opinion in a bit.

[xraffle]

Wow, that's a tough one because both are bad in their own way. I'll need to think about this for a while before voting.

[falsealarms]

Since the RARE TREASURES set was just released and both of these features are on it, I think a poll and discussion over which of these two is the better feature would be worth it.  Please vote in the poll and also give your reason why one film is better than the other.  I'll chip in my opinion in a bit.

For me, this isn't even close. HAVE ROCKET is clearly the superior film. ROCKIN suffers from the ill-conceived idea of splitting the Stooges and also was made during Curly's decline. HAVE ROCKET is 75 minutes of mostly fun stuff (we can do without the talking unicorn). It feels a lot more like a Stooges film than ROCKIN ever did. There's several great scenes in HAVE ROCKET, like the party scene, the scene where they concoct the fuel, and the flooded basement scene. On a grading level, ROCKIN is a C/C- film and HAVE ROCKET would get a B from me.

[xraffle]

The thing is, I would give both films a C-. Larry and Moe's older age and Curly-Joe's lack of effort really show throughout the film. And the talking unicorn was definitely a no-no. "Rockin' In The Rockies" is also pretty bad. Not only do the stooges not get enough screen time, but Curly's failing health really shows. And the fact that they made Moe a straight man really made the film even worse. And a short 70 minute film like this shouldn't be filled with that many musical numbers. I might give the edge to "Have Rocket," but it hurts giving Curly-Joe more credit since Curly is far more talented, even during his failing health. But I'll think about it. I'll place my vote tomorrow after I sleep on it.

I, personally, think the stooges had great potential in regards to starring in movies. Yes, their shorts are good, but it would've been nice if they made a few good movies with Curly and Shemp in addition to their shorts. The problem is they weren't given the proper chance.

[ProfessorStooge]

The reason why I thought Have Rocket, Will Travel fared better was it that it felt like your average Stooge film. While Rockin' In the Rockies gave the Stooges top billing, it had a different atmosphere due to one Stooge being cast as a separate character. When that happens, the film goes in a different direction. Larry Fine once said that comedy always comes in threes and I agree with that.

[JazzBill]

I have to go with Have Rocket even though it isn't my favorite either. I like Around the World in a Daze and Meet Hercules better than Have Rocket. I don't care for Rockin in the Rockies much at all.

[locoboymakesgood]

I first saw Rockin' in the Rockies back in the mid-90s. We had a VHS recording off of some TV station but it was one of those rarities that was never on, so it was a big deal. I didn't care for it then and rewatching it now my opinion hasn't changed. It's not a Three Stooges movie, to me, even though they're billed as the stars. I feel it was poorly executed since them working against eachother never really works well (except in maybe Cuckoo on a Choo Choo).

The only DeRita film I like is Meets Hercules but Have Rocket is the best of the others. It's a fun watch once in a blue moon but I couldn't watch it more than once a year.

[archiezappa]

I agree that there's no comparison.  "Have Rocket, Will Travel" is, by far, the better of the two films.  I can base this on one very simple thing:  It's funnier.  There are many funny moments in it.  The Stooges work best as comedians.

"Rockin' In The Rockies," while very interesting in many different respects, is just too much of a departure from typical Stooges fare. 

Basically, "Have Rocket, Will Travel" gives the audience what it wants, while "Rockin' In The Rockies" just, simply, fails to deliver.

[Signor Spumoni]

I gave the single vote for "Rockin' In the Rockies."  I prefer to see the original film trio rather than the trio with Joe DeRita, even when Curly is ill.  Also, much of the music in RIR is good.  Now, I hate the fact that The Stooges are only incidental actors in RIR despite their billing.  I dislike "Have Rocket Will Travel: so much that I couldn't vote for it.  Joe DeRita is a continual irritant for me.

[xraffle]

After thinking this through, I will have to give my vote to HAVE ROCKET.

[metaldams]

I gave my vote to HAVE ROCKET as well, and truthfully, I thought the opinions would be more split because ROCKIES is a Curly film and ROCKET a Derita.  Still, third stooge aside, ROCKET is a legit Stooge film, and even the romantic subplot, while kept brief, has dialogue so cheesy one can't help but be entertained.  ROCKIES is a generic programmer made all the more disappointing that it's the closest we get to a true feature with Curly, yet Curly is sick and Moe's separated from the team, ruining the chemistry.  Derita may not be a great solo performer, but he at least blended in well to the Stooge formula.

[shemps#1]

The audience wants a good, funny third Stooge and Rocket fails to get off the launch pad in that regard. Derita is nothing more than a gelatinous stand-in. If there were a "None of the Above" option I'd vote there because neither movie is anything near "good".

[Honey Bear]

Rockin' In The Rockies

If 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 Travel

I'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.   

[xraffle]

Derita is nothing more than a gelatinous stand-in.

LOL, I can't disagree with you on that. Occasionally, I watch the DeRita flicks because since I watched the 190 shorts soooo many times, I need a little break and would like to watch something stooge-related that I haven't seen so many times. I really try very hard to like DeRita, but just can't. I mean, the guy just doesn't do anything. He had absolutely nothing to offer. It's just so obvious that the only reason he was hired was because he was fat and was willing to shave his head and look like Curly. Other than that, I see no other reason why he was picked as a third stooge. I was surprised he lasted with the group until they retired.

It's a shame too because DeRita fits in with Moe and Larry a lot better than Besser. Besser had the talent, but he just didn't fit in. And that wasn't Besser's fault. That's just the way it was. But with DeRita, it was his fault. He put in zero effort. Had he tried, he would've been a fine third stooge. But he was just some actor that just showed up for work only to get a paycheck. Nothing more. He didn't have any passion for the role and it really shows in his performance.

[Bum]

Couldn't agree more! The DeRita films are "new" to me every time I watch them because I watch them so infrequently [maybe each one about every ten years....or even less often]. I just watched "Have Rocket" the other day and there was SOME stuff that I vaguely remembered, but most of it was unfamiliar to me. I don't even think that Curly or Shemp could have totally saved those movies... they're just BAD cinema! And not even GOOD bad cinema, just BAD bad cinema! And Joe DeRita's presence just makes a bad situation even worse.

Give me a sick Curly, a fake Shemp, or a Besser short any day!!!

[pipboytaylor]

I voted for "Have Rocket, Will Travel." It does deliver what you expect and it is more of a true Stooges film. Rocket isn't great but it is nice to watch on occasion. "Rockin'" only makes me think of O why O why did they make such a film. As others have stated, all you get really is Two Stooges. Why Moe? Why? I do enjoy a few scenes in the film but sitting through those hokey musical numbers just bores me to tears. Maybe a better feature matchup would be "Rockin' In The Rockies" VS "Gold Raiders"? Similar.

[xraffle]

Maybe a better feature matchup would be "Rockin' In The Rockies" VS "Gold Raiders"? Similar.

That's easy! GOLD RAIDERS, no question about it. I actually enjoyed that movie.

[falsealarms]

We need a Stooge feature film tournament.... the DeRitas, RAIDERS, ROCKIN, RHYTHM, BARON, MYRT, SWING PARADE.....

[metaldams]

We need a Stooge feature film tournament.... the DeRitas, RAIDERS, ROCKIN, RHYTHM, BARON, MYRT, SWING PARADE.....

You actually gave me an idea, and it's much easier than doing a tournament.

[pipboytaylor]

That's easy! GOLD RAIDERS, no question about it. I actually enjoyed that movie.

Maybe GOLD RAIDERS is better. I've seen them both at least twice but they both are lacking. Neither are the ideal Stooge film. With RAIDERS, when the Stooges are not on screen it just goes flat and uninteresting. Seems like I recall one good little stretch where they are absent on screen for several minutes. I probably actually like SWING PARADE better than both. At least the storyline is somewhat interesting. Bring on the tournament!, ha!

[xraffle]

Yeah, but the stooges were absent far more often in ROCKIN'. With GOLD RAIDERS, it was only towards the end when they were missing. The first 40 minutes of the movie, the stooges get a lot of screen time. And I think the stooges' performance was a lot better in GOLD RAIDERS too. The stooges were a team and Shemp's performance was very good. In ROCKIN', Moe is separated and Curly's performance was lacking due to his poor health.

But that's just my opinion.

[metaldams]

Yeah, but the stooges were absent far more often in ROCKIN'. With GOLD RAIDERS, it was only towards the end when they were missing. The first 40 minutes of the movie, the stooges get a lot of screen time. And I think the stooges' performance was a lot better in GOLD RAIDERS too. The stooges were a team and Shemp's performance was very good. In ROCKIN', Moe is separated and Curly's performance was lacking due to his poor health.

But that's just my opinion.

It is your opinion, but an opinion I agree with, and for reasons you already stated.

[archiezappa]

"Gold Raiders" is much better than either "Rockin' In The Rockies" or "Have Rocket, Will Travel."  But I do like "Swing Parade" even better than those.  I find it to be very watchable.  It has a good story, good music, and Curly Howard.  The romantic plot of the movie is well-played, with Gale Storm being a fine actress.  She makes it believable.  Not to mention Ed Brophy, who does well as the Stooges' boss.

I have the Legend Films edition of "Swing Parade."  I've seen it in black & white, colorized, and enjoyed the (albiet harsh) commentary from Mike Nelson.

[shemps#1]

That's easy! GOLD RAIDERS, no question about it. I actually enjoyed that movie.

Agreed; Gold Raiders trumps any Derita film.