I'm currently watching something called The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made on Netflix and The Three Stooges In Orbit made the list at #13. This may not be popular opinion but I can't really complain too much or disagree as it is a terrible movie. The VO guy summed it up with this sentence : "obsoletism has never been so obvious".
I have to wonder why he picked "The Three Stooges In Orbit" over the other 4 DeRita flicks. In my opinion, "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules" is easily the worst one. For some reason, I really hate that movie.I haven't seen "Orbit," but I thought "Hercules" was OK -- i.e., on about a par with "Daze" and "Outlaws." "Snow White" was the real stinker for me.
I haven't seen "Orbit," but I thought "Hercules" was OK -- i.e., on about a par with "Daze" and "Outlaws." "Snow White" was the real stinker for me.
Hey, maybe we should have a "rank the DeRita features" thread. I'd start it, but I've only seen 4 of the 6. (I haven't seen the two "space" ones.)
6. Killer Shrews (1959) - Awesome movie! Those little shrew guys at the end are great!
fyi - Sequel just started production (http://www.killershrewsmovie.com/). James Best returns in his original role (his company is producing); his DUKES costars John Schneider and Rick Hurst costar. A friend of mine, David Browning (http://davidbrowningproductions.com/blog/), is also costarring.The original is coming up on TCM on June 17.
fyi - Sequel just started production (http://www.killershrewsmovie.com/). James Best returns in his original role (his company is producing); his DUKES costars John Schneider and Rick Hurst costar. A friend of mine, David Browning (http://davidbrowningproductions.com/blog/), is also costarring.
The original is coming up on TCM on June 17.
3S in Orbit has no business on a list like that. While hardly a masterpiece or prime Stooge material, it's still an entertaining 90 minutes. I prefer it to others like OUTLAWS IS COMING.
My grandma has a VHS copy of Go Around the World in a Daze. I'm thinking about popping it in out of curiosity.Definitely check it out and give it a chance if you haven't seen it. Regardless of the mostly negative comments it seems this thread is getting about the DeRita feature films, a lot of Stooges fans do like them.
If you watch it once and hate it, that's okay too. You don't have to watch it again. But at least give it a chance.
That's a pretty good, well written second opinion Doug. Could I possibly put it up on my blog and attach it to my review?
As a horror and sci-fi fan, the aliens looked totally unconvincing, and those laughable costumes and effects are a reason why a film like this would make a worst list. ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, which came out 14 years earlier, is proof one can have good comedy with convincing looking monsters.
Wow! After almost 4 years as a member on this site, this is the most panning of DeRita I have seen. I do not know what Moe was thinking when he insisted on De Rita for the third spot. His usual good taste in comedy was MIA with that choice. Besser has taken the most shots from my viewpoint on this site, but I believe he was miles ahead of De Rita.
I have to agree with most everyone else – Snow White is easily their worst movie. The Snow White movie rubs salt in its self inflicted wounding of the 3 Stooges reputation. That is, it really irked me in the Snow White Movie where Moe goes out of character and looks at the camera and says something to the effect that they cannot be violent anymore. Unfortunately, that was also saying we cannot be funny anymore.
I agree with Metaldams. I believe Orbit made the 50 Worst List because of the low budget costumes and effects.
What creeped me out about SNOW WHITE AND THE THREE STOOGES the most was when she was lying there dead and the boys had her body on display. They said they could not get rid of her body because she looked too beautiful. Look, I know this is a kid's tale and I'm sure there were innocent intentions behind the line, but I'm not a kid, and that's well, kind of gross. I at least hope they were good embalmers.
Necrophilia? I wouldn't have gotten that form that line.
Wasn't that part of the original Snow White lore? Not the Disney shit but the original story.
I watched that version not too long ago. The glass coffin is there too. And I think the dwarfs' excuse was similar to the Stooges.
Actually, something like that was in the Disney movie,too.
Curly-Joe had a good potential of being funny if only he tried harderBingo. Besser, at least, tried. DeRita didn't. He didn't respect what he was stepping into and considered it beneath him.
Hey, I call foul! A list without Manos: the Hands of Fate is not a worst of list at all!
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.
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.
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.”
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
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 too love the cheap cheesiness of THE GIANT CLAW!
....and how can one forget THE GIANT CLAW, made by Columbia (!) which has the best bad movie monster ever.
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.
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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.
.... 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?)
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"?
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?)
I know Besser said he had to resign from the group because his wife got sick, but I also think part of it might've been due to the fact that he knew that being a stooge wasn't working out.Not trying to put Besser (or DeRita) down, but I've heard several different stories (most supposedly from Besser himself) about why he left the Stooges. The wife taking ill story is the most commonly heard one. Larry (who spoke very kindly of Joe) was once asked if he actually left the act because he wanted to return to solo work. Larry said that it was probably true, as Besser didn't like being a Stooge, didn't like the physical demands, didn't like the money, etc. When asked in the 70's, Joe mentioned that he had to leave the act briefly when he was asked to do a film with Bing Crosby. Moe and Larry promised his spot would still be available when he was finished, but he never heard from them again. In the 80's, Joe apparently mentioned that he made up the "wife taking ill" story because his wife, Ernestine (a.k.a. "Ernie"), was a little overprotective towards her husband's wellbeing, and didn't care for the abuse Moe dished out to his teammates. He said that she pretty much forced him out of the act, and then said very quietly and seriously, "she cost me millions".
Larry (who spoke very kindly of Joe)I find it interesting that Larry and Moe seem to have had such wildly differing opinions of Joe. While Moe really had some harsh words about Joe, I've never heard of a hint of an unkind word about Joe from Larry (or about the other two from Joe). I've heard that Larry even had Joe's picture, along with those of the other Stooges, at his room in the nursing home.
I've read a few fan reviews on some of the "Fake Shemp" shorts on the site, and some mentioned that Moe and Larry suggested that they drop the third Stooge. Can anyone confirm this? Let's face it, things just weren't going to be the same after Shemp's death, with or without a third Stooge. But after seeing some Moe and Larry scenes in some of the aforementioned shorts, I think they could have pulled off a relatively decent two-man comedy act. Considering the material they had to work with by then, it could have played out like a mediocre Curly or Shemp short, or one of the better Besser shorts; not classic, but still somewhat enjoyable. In the DeRita era, Curly Joe was usually just in the background going through the motions anyway.
What are your thoughts?