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Triple Crossed (1959)

metaldams · 24 · 12925

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Offline metaldams

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/188
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052319/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YCldhoO5Hf8

Watch TRIPLE CROSSED in the link above

      When watching TRIPLE CROSSED, one question comes to mind - Why?  What is the point of this film?  OK, at the time, to move product on a cheap budget, we all know this and this has been discussed elsewhere ad nauseum.  But as fans today, this hasn't much to offer.  A straight remake of HE COOKED HIS GOOSE, this is an ideal money saver for the Columbia shorts department since the Stooges had so many separate scenes, it was very easy to replace Shemp with Joe and mostly leave Larry and Moe's old scenes in tact.  In the latter's case, in this 15:50 short, new footage of Moe does not appear until roughly the 12:50 mark!  Connie Cezan does a Joe Palma for Mary Ainslee as well, though Ms. Ainslee was still very much with us in 1957 when this was filmed.

      The original HE COOKED HIS GOOSE is an interesting experimental film I'm glad they made once but really don't need to see made again, except here, it's made again.  Minor new scenes are Joe and the turkey, Joe and the frog sandwich, and Joe winking about being a playboy in the end.  OK stuff, but nothing major, and not enough to justify why I would watch this again.  Sorry guys, don't have more to add this week about this product, and product is 100% the correct word, no art whatsoever.

      Next week, our 190 short journey ends.  I still can't believe it.

2/10

- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

Well, we're almost to the end of the line--and what a ride it has been. I'm going to try & not waste too much time on this one. The thing I found most egregious about this short is that we have a living, breathing 3rd stooge to work with & there are still many instances where we can hear and see Shemp.

I guess no one working on these shorts at the time, truly did give a damn anymore...

0 out of 10 pokes...
Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline Paul Pain

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We have to give a little credit... Joe's turkey scene with Angela Stevens is pretty good.  The rest is pretty much... worthless.  Total lack of effort from all involved in this.

This short can... BURN IN HELLTM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1/10 [poke]
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Offline Percy Pomeroy

Ditto to what's been written above. The only entertaining thing is observing how Cezan is switched for Ainslee.

Is the most unlikely romantic pairing in Stooge history between Besser and Angela Stevens? Then, to top it off, Joe is unemployed and has no money. Yeesh.

Joe can be so pathetic, maybe that's why as a kid I was never a fan. Even when he shows a little backbone by ripping Larry's collars and lapels, he ends apologizing to Larry afterwards.

At the conclusion, when an enraged Joe throws a punch, true to form, it's limp wristed. But then Angela Steven's punch wasn't exactly a haymaker either.

1/10. Blatant rip-off.

Edit: just watched He Cooked His Goose. Removed my comment about mismatched woman's shoes.


Offline Percy Pomeroy


Connie Cezan does a Joe Palma for Mary Ainslee as well, though Ms. Ainslee was still very much with us in 1957 when this was filmed.


Maybe Ainslee moved away. The Larry Mondello character on Leave It To Beaver was written off the show because the child actor's father moved the family to the East Coast so he, the father, could accept a better job.


Offline Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum

Now we're down to the last two Stooges shorts released, both of which are close remakes of shorts from better times. One has to wonder why these particular shorts were saved for last, long after the Stooges had been canned from Columbia. Maybe Columbia wasn't initially sure they'd even actually release all the shorts filmed by the Stooges, and a couple of the weaker entries were held until they'd decided to?
 
TRIPLE CROSSED is a remake of HE COOKED HIS GOOSE that adds little to the original; there is about as much new footage here as one would find in a Fake Shemp short. As such, TRIPLE is more pointless than anything.
 
Some things that put this short in the "Stooges Hall of Shame" along with the Fake Shemps:
- Shemp himself is glimpsed a few times (although one has to really pay attention to spot him).
- We get Connie Cezan unconvincingly playing the part of "Fake Mary," with back turned and face obscured.
- Moe doesn't show up in any new footage until just a few minutes before the end, and even then he doesn't appear in much of it.
- When Moe fires up the chimney (in old footage) where Joe is supposed to be (per new footage), we hear Shemp's yell from the original short. Clearly no one cared about getting things right at this point. (Of course, maybe they didn't dub in a Joe yell in post-production because the Stooges were long gone by the time there was any post-production.)
 
The new footage featuring Joe generally doesn't make the best use of him. His introductory scene with Angela Stevens isn't bad ("hit it with my car"), but it seems a bit out of place. The previous scene has Larry accusing Joe of being a "playboy," but when we first see Joe he basically looks like Elmer Fudd getting ready to hunt "wabbits."
 
Joe's scene in Larry's office is pretty good; the hanky gag is amusing, and it's interesting to see Joe dishing out some abuse to Larry here (as well as later on).
 
Joe's underwear modeling and his acting like Santa are also amusing in their own right (especially when he's unmasked, I mean unbearded, by Moe: "Merry Christmas. Merry- Merr- MeMeMeMe-"), but Shemp's corresponding bits in the original were funnier.
 
The best new part of the short, by far, is Moe and Larry's exchange at the end. ("I can't say philanderer!")
 
Joe doesn't take a lot of abuse here, especially with the Stooges' usual trio dynamic being absent; he just gets punched accidentally by Moe. He also accidentally hits himself in the chin with his suitcase when he opens it.
 
Atypically, this is one case where a latter-day Stooges remake arguably has a better title than the original.
"Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day." -- Samuel Goldwyn


Offline Percy Pomeroy


The best new part of the short, by far, is Moe and Larry's exchange at the end. ("I can't say philanderer!")
 

I agree. I'll admit that I had mentally checked out by then. I had to go back and watch it again.


Offline Curly Van Dyke

Yes, a pretty lame short,but I'm an Angela Stevens fan so I enjoyed her new scenes.
Shemp's yell and the "fake" Mary are good for a couple of chuckles.
Joe was much funnier when teamed with JIm Hawthorne.


Offline Lefty

This is probably the worst of the non-horse Joe shows.  Where's Cedric the clam when you need him?


Offline stoogerascalfan62

Can't help but agree with Paul Pain. Should burn for being IMO the WORST Stooge short ever! This is one to avoid like the plague.


Offline BeatleShemp

I think what makes this remake funny to me is the VERY IDEA that Joe would be considered a playboy. That's worth a chuckle or none right there. His scene in the kitchen was pretty funny though. I was able to make out Shemp under the rug as well as in the Santa suit in this short, not to mention his yell. In essence, we get four Stooges in this short. What a wasted day filming.

2 out of 10 pokes for me.


Offline Dr. Hugo Gansamacher

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The idea of beautiful Angela Stevens wanting to marry gargoyle Shemp was funny. The idea of her wanting to marry the repulsive little girly-man Joe is just sickening.


Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz

Angela and Joe is a very, very strange pairing indeed, but the worst has GOT to be Christine and Moe in the one in the upholstery shop ( I have neither the time nor the inclination to look up the title of that major crap-fest, I've got shit to do ) where she has to actually read the line " you might not be much to look at, but baby, I go for you..."  Are you fucking kidding me?  Christine and Moe?  With Christine as the active wooer?  Dreamboat Christine coming on to dumpy old, smelly old Moe?  I'm projectile vomiting as I type, and believe me that's difficult, just remembering it.


Offline Kopfy2013

I will give this a 2.  There were other shorts worse, but barely....


Offline stoogerascalfan62

I'm surprised the Columbia Stooges era didn't end with this instead of Sappy Bullfighters.


Offline Woe-ee-Woe-Woe80

A vomitous, worthless remake of the not so good "He Cooked His Goose", I don't understand the need for them to remake "He Cooked His Goose" with this short when I've never liked "Goose" much to begin with, this short is even worse than "Sweet And Hot" and nearly as bad as "Horsing Around", I'm just glad most Besser shorts aren't this band (most of them are IMO watchable), plus the ending was even worse than the ending of "Goose".

I give this short a 1/10


Offline Tony Bensley

YIKES!  This reconstructed remake sure is a mess!

In my opinion, TRIPLE CROSSED isn't quite as bad as HORSING AROUND (1957), but it's pretty darn close!

At least some of Shemp's brief appearances were quite noticeable to me, including his yell from within the fireplace, and the brief appearance of one of his forearms.  However, the most glaring instance of all comes at about the 14:12 mark of the film, when dressed like Santa Claus, Shemp's "bearded" face, and much of his left side is quite visible from behind the door in the old HE COOKED HIS GOOSE (1952) footage!

Out of 10, TRIPLE CROSSED gets 3 Triple Crossed Buns, and I'm being a bit generous!

CHEERS!  [3stooges]



Offline metaldams

YIKES!  This reconstructed remake sure is a mess!

In my opinion, TRIPLE CROSSED isn't quite as bad as HORSING AROUND (1957), but it's pretty darn close!

At least some of Shemp's brief appearances were quite noticeable to me, including his yell from within the fireplace, and the brief appearance of one of his forearms.  However, the most glaring instance of all comes at about the 14:12 mark of the film, when dressed like Santa Claus, Shemp's "bearded" face, and much of his left side is quite visible from behind the door in the old HE COOKED HIS GOOSE (1952) footage!

Out of 10, TRIPLE CROSSED gets 3 Triple Crossed Buns, and I'm being a bit generous!

CHEERS!  [3stooges]

There may be as much old Shemp footage as new Moe footage in this Besser film.  God almighty, my head aches just trying to remember this thing.

I gotta say, it's sad Angela Stevens wasn't with the Stooges during better times.  Extremely beautiful and she seemed to have good comic timing and talent as well.  I just saw her recently in CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN as the housewife.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Tony Bensley

Maybe Ainslee moved away. The Larry Mondello character on Leave It To Beaver was written off the show because the child actor's father moved the family to the East Coast so he, the father, could accept a better job.
Not much is said in Mary Ainslee's online bios, but HE COOKED HIS GOOSE (1952), from which her stock footage for this short was drawn, appears to have been her final cinematic appearance, barring her 2 Three Stooges stock footage specials.  Mary died in New York City in the early '90s, but whether or not her relocating there at some point was due to a parent or spouse (none are listed in her wiki/imdb bios!) accepting a better job, is apparently unknown. ;)

CHEERS!  [3stooges]


Offline stooge_o_phile

Joe and the frog sandwich...

That gag was not bad - the only thing I liked about this one.

I seem to remember seeing Curly doIng this bit in an earlier short when I was a kid but I haven’t been able to find it. Maybe my memory is playing me a trick?


Offline Dr. Mabuse

By 1957, Jules wasn't even trying anymore. The less said, the better.

1/10


Offline Woe-ee-Woe-Woe80

By 1957, Jules wasn't even trying anymore. The less said, the better.

1/10

IMO it's even worse than "Horsing Around" and "Sweet And Hot", I thought there were some good Besser films towards the end of his run such as "Oil's Well That Ends Well" and "Flying Saucer Daffy"


Offline Freddie Sanborn

By 1957, Jules wasn't even trying anymore. The less said, the better.

1/10
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Offline Daddy Dewdrop

Coming in at #183 on my countdown is this stock footage-fest Besser short.  The original ("He Cooked His Goose") was no great shakes as it was, but this one is even worse.  The new Besser scenes are just kinda there.  Overall, just a bland effort.

#183. Triple Crossed