Goofs and Saddles

Yikes, that subject headline quote what Three Stooges are told in this old TTS short. Imagine, if that was real life; there would still be no life west of the Mississippi!

In this Old West short, the Stooges play "Buffalo Bilous" (Curly), "Wild Bill Hiccup" (Moe) and "Just Plain Bill" (that's Larry for you, always in the middle between the lovable Curly and mean Moe.) Their mission is to get every last cattle rustler and either kill him or bring him in. The rustling has to end! Giving them the orders is "General Muster." Yeah, the writers of the Stooges short films sure loved to be corny went it came to names of people, cities, businesses, you name it.

The main foes for the good-guy cowboys are a group led by "Longhorn Pete (Stanley Blystone) who is one, tough hombre and won't take any baloney from the Buffalo Bilous and his partners.

Some of the things in here classic Three Stooges and guaranteed to have you laughing out loud. A few of the gags I really liked were when the guys pretended to be big bushes, the p.s. on the note to Gen. Muster written by the guys,and about everything involving Curly, from a donkey chewing his butt, to his vest, to his reactions to people at the bar, on and on. He was a hoot, as usual.

A large majority of The Three Stooges' films was set in contemporary times. But once in a while they traveled in the past to inject a bit of history into their short movies.

In July 1937 "Goofs and Saddles," only their second Western after 1935's "Horses' Collars," the Stooges find themselves as scouts for the United States Cavalry assigned by General Muster (Ted Lorch) to arrest a gang of cattle rustlers. Sporting long hair in the opening scenes, the kind Curly had before he was asked to shave it off for the screen, Moe as Wild Bill Hiccup (Hickok), Larry as Just Plain Bill (a popular radio show back in the 1930s), and Curly as Buffalo Billous (Buffalo Bill), use many disguises, including as movable bushes as they go undercover to get as close to the rustlers as they can in an open field. They also pose as gamblers to glean some information from the gang's leader, Longhorn Pete (Stanley Blystone).

"Goofs and Saddles" is known for having the least of amount of slapstick of all the Stooges' films. By one count, there's only eight face slaps and one eye poke. The unusual title is derived from General George Custer widow Elizabeth Custer's book about her husband, 'Boots and Saddles.' The film is famously known for Larry signaling to his two cohorts when they're playing a game of poker, exclaiming as he's overlooking Longhorn Pete's cards, "I've got four kinks in my back," referring to the rustler's four kings he's holding in his hand. This was also actor Joe Palma's film debut. Known as the "Fake Shemp" when he filled in for Shemp Howard when the regular Stooge suddenly died in 1955. Palma worked as a mortician at his parents' funeral home before journeying to Hollywood in 1937 to join Columbia Pictures as an extra and spot actor.

I'm not a fan of Westerns, even parodies of Westerns, so when I finally sat down to watch this one I kinda groaned. That groan only lasted about two seconds, because the genius of the Stooges overwhelmed whatever trepidation I had about the genre.

It's also worth noting that this is now one of my favorite Stooges films because I always especially loved when they did gags with animals. This film includes not one or two or three but four animals key to the story, thus perhaps why I loved it so much, in spite of being averse to Westerns. Highly recommended, even if you hate the genre!

The boys are part of the cavalry and find themselves sent off to put down some rustlers. Of course, they are considered and elite fighting force. They bumble their way along until they are in danger. Of course they seem to come out on top not matter what happens. There is a great battle scene at the end. Much more creative and imaginative than most of these.

Goofs and Saddles (1937)

*** (out of 4)

Spoof of the Old West has The Three Stooges playing Wild Bill Hiccup, Buffalo Bilious and Just Plain Bill as the three are sent out to try and gather information on some cattle rustlers. This here is a pretty good short as it contains a nice amount of laughs as well as some funny physical stuff but I wouldn't necessarily call it a classic. The highlight would have to be a scene where the three dress themselves as trees so that they can spy on the enemy but they end up getting too close and one of the bad guys things he sees a rabbit jump into the bushes. Axe and gun play soon follow. Another nice sequence is a poker game where the Stooges start cheating without knowing the man they're playing with just killed three other men for doing the same thing. The nice shoot out at the end makes for an entertaining way to spend 20-minutes.