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Rusty Romeos (1957)

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Offline metaldams

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/180
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050916/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SNcpFFzt9OM

Watch RUSTY ROMEOS in the link above

      Some of you are going to disagree, and so be it, but I think this is a good short.  A remake of CORNY CASANOVAS, a film I consider to be a classic, so one advantage RUSTY ROMEOS has is the source material is very good.  Unlike GUNS A POPPIN, the writers did not include any lame new scenes.  If anything, the new ending is interesting in this one.

      Of course, Joe is not Shemp, but he is good.  There is a part where Joe tries to stop Moe from admonishing slapstick, but Moe slaps him on the head anyway, a very welcome change!  There is a part where Larry stops Moe from admonishing Joe and Larry gets the brunt of the slapstick instead.  Would have been nice to see Moe give it to them both, but so things aren't perfect.  Still, I don't have a problem with Joe Besser the comedian and really do believe his era would have been better had there been better scripts.  This, an older script, he handles himself quite well.  The line about Besser not being able to hold his tongue because it's slippery was one of the biggest Joe laughs I ever got.  Shemp is most missed when Larry does the shadow boxing routine with Moe.  You guys think Moe is bad when he impersonates Curly?  This is worse.  Poor Larry, what effect were they doing to get him to do that?  His movements weren't natural.

      The old to new footage can be slightly jarring.  Larry's hair is frizzier in the new footage.  Connie Cezan is about 10 lbs. heavier in the new footage (not a knock on her beauty, just an observation).  So yeah, some stock footage here.  The ending is one of the naughtier Stooge endings, with a bent over Connie Cezan, thumb tacks shot in her glutius maximus, being spanked by Joe with a rifle.  Joe's character seemed to thrive on getting the upper hand.  This could be a detriment when dealing with Moe, but here, this at least makes an interesting ending.

8/10

- Doug Sarnecky


Offline luke795

Shemp has a cameo.  His picture can be seen for a second in the old footage.


Offline Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum

My assessment is somewhat different from Metaldams'...

The original, CORNY CASANOVAS, was a good old-fashioned Stooges short with lots of violent slapstick. So this milder version is inevitably going to suffer some in comparison. Still, as Besser remakes go, it's not bad. In my opinion, RUSTY may be the best Besser short that's a direct remake (i.e., as opposed to just incorporating some old footage in a new plot).

So it's kind of ironic that Joe himself is not as good here as he could be. Sure, he has some good moments – polishing his head; distractedly putting ketchup on his pancakes (and eating them anyway) while staring into space; and "I can't, it's too slippery!" He even adds some energy to parts that Shemp originally did rather blandly – "bicycle-focals" (although the way Shemp said it was worded better), fighting with Larry over the gun, and "income tacks."

But here, more than in any other short so far (except for HOOFS), he comes off as the "sheltered Stooge." I rarely think "come on, Moe, hit him!" when watching Besser shorts, but with this one I think that more than once. Sure, he gets a smack on the head, a fist to the forehead (in a quick one-two with Larry), and a flower pot on his noggin. But the first smack should have been a hit with a hammer, doggone it! And Moe letting him fend that off with a "no!" is really lame.

Joe also falls short here in an area that's usually a strength for him: looking funny. He doesn't look funny with the "bicycle-focals" on, getting the flower pot on the head, or in that picture he gives the girl.

Ah, yes, that picture. Shemp's picture in the original was both funny and believable. Joe's is neither; it's so bad that one wouldn't expect even a Stooge to be dumb enough to frame it and give it to someone.

Other observations:
- In this short Joe heavily uses the "belly bump" as his main way of expressing anger, and it suits him fairly well. The limp-wristed Joe slap isn't seen at all.
- I've never been sure whether Joe's "cough sideways" is funny or not, but having him say it twice (with a cut in between) makes it less funny and comes off like an editing goof.
- Is it just me, or does a line like Larry's "jokes at a time like this" seem a little out of place in a Stooges short? I think it would have been better left out. The third Stooge is supposed to be making a comment like "income tacks" because he's dumb, not because he's joking.

Overall, RUSTY incorporates the old footage smoothly – with, of course, the glaring (and unintentionally hilarious) exception of having Shemp's picture clearly visible for a long two seconds! Really, how hard would it have been to edit that part better?

The new footage at the beginning, while lacking the heavy slapstick of the original, still gives us some amusing stuff. The oddly shaped pancakes are a nice touch, as is the idea of the girl having given each of the boys a different name for herself.

Atypically for this era, this short even has a title that wouldn't have been out of place in better Stooges times.

The ending, with Joe's revenge on the "three-timing Jezebel," isn't quite as funny as the ending of CORNY, but it does make for a good variation on the overall plot. Bringing the tack gun back in at the end – thus tying together the two halves of the short – actually shows a bit of thought.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2016, 10:59:38 AM by Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum »
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Offline Shemp_Diesel

Well, this is another Joe short like last week's that I have not seen in years and I plan on keeping it that way. I remember it being pretty terrible--especially when compared to the original masterpiece.

Like most of these Joe remakes, comparing the new variations on the old just pales--particularly when you think about Moe crushing Shemp in the original, then going soft on Besser.

Other posters have mentioned too, Shemp's photo--just another example of how no one gave a damn anymore & they were cranking these shorts out just to fill a quota.

2 out of 10 pokes....
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Offline Paul Pain

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Required reading: CORNY CASANOVAS thread

Connie Cezan at least gets hers here... UGH!

6/10
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Offline Percy Pomeroy

Compare Rusty Romeos to Corny Casanovas and you appreciate what a special talent Samuel "Shemp" Horwitz was.  Nothing particularly wrong with Besser's performance but it's workmanlike. Shemp takes the same material to another level. I know that I'm stating the obvious but that's the first thing that came into my mind.

I have to disagree with Metal regarding the new scenes. I thought they were blah. Larry's cooking scene was too over the top to be funny. The opening scene in bed, the freshening up scene and breakfast scene were tedious. An earlier thread asked for Jewish references. It looked to me that the last pancake that Larry served to Moe was shaped like the Star of David. Also, that Moe knew that a pancake was shaped like a delta and then referenced Phi Sigma Delta seemed a wee bit out of character.

Larry takes off only one vest as compared to multiple vests in Corny Casanovas, making a marginal joke less effective.

Moe takes one too many shots to the head with the coal shovel. At some point for me it crossed the line from funny to cruel.

The ending was very un-Stoogelike. The end of Corny Casanovas was more in the spirit of the Stooges as well as femme fatale movies.

Have we seen the last of Joe's whiny punches?

My grade is 5/10.


Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz

Didn't like Corny Casanovas, don't like this on for exactly the same reasons, oddly enough.  My penetrating comments can be seen at the Casanova site.


Offline Percy Pomeroy

Chief, I read your comments regarding Corny Casanovas and I am in agreement. Particularly regarding the bit with the bellows which I found to be gross.


Offline Lefty

Naturally, Corny Casanovas was better than Rusty Romeos except for the ending.  More often than not, villains like Kenneth MacDonald (new-old pictures of him here:  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531810/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1), Phil Van Zandt, and Stanley Blystone ended up on the losing side.  But Rusty Romeos was the only one where Connie Cezan got her comeuppance.  Now of course had Shemp drilled her with the tacks and the gun, and Rusty Romeos had not been made at all, that would have been perfect.  No wonder that pussycat was so upset -- having to see pictures of both Shemp and Joe.   [cry]


Offline Dr. Hugo Gansamacher

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Well, this is another Joe short like last week's that I have not seen in years and I plan on keeping it that way. I remember it being pretty terrible--especially when compared to the original masterpiece.

Like most of these Joe remakes, comparing the new variations on the old just pales--particularly when you think about Moe crushing Shemp in the original, then going soft on Besser.

Other posters have mentioned too, Shemp's photo--just another example of how no one gave a damn anymore & they were cranking these shorts out just to fill a quota.

2 out of 10 pokes....

I watched it for you and I can report that your recollections, and your judgment, are entirely correct.


Offline Kopfy2013


Offline Tony Bensley

Of all things, I found the different Jackets on old footage/new footage Moe during the opening reel rather jarring.  Plus, we don't see the rip in the jacket in the older footage.

I didn't notice the photo of Shemp in the old footage during the second reel.  That definitely should have been spotted!  Much of this short also seemed more like a Larry and Joe show, especially during the second half.  Also, as all of the main players (Apart from Shemp, of course!) were available for the new footage, along with the sets, why didn't they just shoot everything from scratch, instead of doing so much patchwork quilting of old and new footage?  OK, I know the answer, but still!

Still, RUSTY ROMEOS was for me, much better than the stinking pile, aka HORSING AROUND (1957), and Connie Cezan's character getting her just desserts with the tacks in her rear was, in my opinion, a nice way to end this short!  I give this one 5/10.

CHEERS!  [3stooges]


Offline Daddy Dewdrop

Yet another Besser remake, but this one is not bad.  Some good dialogue and slapstick, with the tack scene a highlight.  I rank "Corny Casanovas" as one of my favorite Shemp shorts, so I was pleasantly surprised that this one didn't totally stink.

#171. Rusty Romeos