Have Rocket -- Will Travel

I saw this film and was pretty disappointed. No, it's not because of Curly-Joe. I saw other Stooge movies prior to this one with Curly-Joe and he seems alright, better than Besser at the least. Anyway, this film is kinda weak, and seems like something left over from the Besser-era, probably because this is only the first movie they made. But the boys have done a better sci-fi movie, in THE THREE STOOGES IN ORBIT. Curly-Joe also looks like he's having trouble settling into his "Stooge" character, and he has to copy off of Curly's mannerisms quite a few times. This was somewhat fixed a little later on. Anyway, not a terrible movie, but not great either. The Stooges made better.

How well I remember the long lines at the box office for Have Rocket, Will Travel. Harry Cohn may have died a year before, but his successors at Columbia Pictures realized they had a gold mine on their hands when those old Three Stooges shorts were gaining a new generation of fans of which your's truly was one of them at the age of 11. The lines were comparable to those for a new Harry Potter film, I kid you not.

The Three Stooges had their half hour comedy show with Officer Joe Bolton on WPIX Channel 11 in New York and other similar venues throughout the country. So with only two Stooges still on this mortal coil (Joe Besser was never really a Stooge), the search was on to find a third one to fit in with Moe Howard and Larry Fine.

Character actor Curly Joe DeRita was hired to pinch hit for the late Curly Howard. Movie audiences if they had noticed would have also seen him in 1959 as a treacherous hangman in the Gregory Peck western, The Bravados, but here he simply steps in as a kinder, gentler, and somewhat less zany version of Curly.

Looking back, Have Rocket, Will Travel borrows quite liberally from the Abbott&Costello film, Abbott&Costello Go To Mars. The same premise happens, three nincompoops instead of two accidentally get launched into space and head for Venus where they establish interplanetary relations.

The film does not have the Stooge zaniness, there could only be on Curly. But Joe DeRita is not the only problem. Moe and Larry had aged and the physical comedy they did in their younger days, just isn't present any more.

For the kids back then it was satisfying enough, but Have Rocket, Will Travel just doesn't measure up to the Three Stooges in their prime.

The Stooges were Blessed with "New Life" after Their Catalog of Columbia Shorts (20 min) were Shown on TV in the 1950's and Baby Boomer Kids became Three Stooges Fanatics, to the Dismay of Worried Mothers and Nannies across the Nation, Fearing the "Monkey See - Monkey Do" Nature of Children.

There was No Shortage of Outcries and Protests from Parents and Other "Censorship" Types. Eye Poking and other Outrageously Violent Slapstick, like a Saw Across the Skull, was Typical and Routine for a Stooges Short and the Grown-Ups were Appalled.

But that's exactly why Moe, Larry, Curly, and later Shemp, were so Loved by the Youngins. They were like a Real-Life Version of the also Immensely Popular Cartoons, also finding "New Life" on TV. This brings Us to the Late Life Feature Films of "The Three Stooges".

Well Past Their Prime, and with Curly and Shemp Gone, the Stooges were asked to Cash In on Their Popularity and the Boys Needed the Money. So this Enterprising Series of Entertaining, but far from Their Best Work, Feature Films Resulted.

Financially Successful, the Films were Mild, Toned-Down Fluff and Fans went more to Pay Homage to Their TV Friends, and didn't Expect Greatness. It was a Mutual Admiration Event by both "The Three Stooges" and Their Adoring Public.

Overall, this was the First in the Movie Series and has its Moments. Ironically, but maybe not, the Best Stuff in the Film seem to be the Recycled Gags from the Two-Reelers. The other Stuff here is Forced, sometimes Amusing, but it's the Classic Routines that Highlight. Every once and while there is a New Surprisingly Funny Thing, like when Moe says to Larry and Curly Joe..."You're knuckleheads...All three of ya.".

After having a batch of their old short films with Curly Howard released to TV in the late 1950s, the Three Stooges were back in demand and Columbia Pictures finally gave Moe Howard and Larry Fine the opportunity they always wanted for all the years they were making shorts--the chance to star in feature length films.

Joining Moe & Larry as the new 3rd stooge was show-business veteran Joe Derita, nicknamed Curly-Joe--presumably because of his somewhat physical resemblance to Curly Howard.

And the thing you might notice with this new stooge lineup is that these are not the stooges of old back when they were in their prime with Curly and Shemp. In fact, these stooges are old & maybe with old age came a softer approach. Whether or not that's a good thing is a matter of personal taste, I suppose--although I would point out the problem with the majority of the Derita era was the softer approach & how the stooges seemed to have gotten pegged during this point in their careers as being just "Children's entertainers."

Definitely, the cutesy talking unicorn angle of this movie seemed expressly aimed at pleasing the younger kids in the crowd--although if you're like me, you know that when the stooges were in their prime, their act with Curly and Shemp was hardly cute and whimsical. Indeed, during those days, a little petty larceny by the stooges was considered a good thing.

Who knows what the stooges could have done if they had been given the chance to make features during the 1930s, 40s, or 50s, but "Have Rocket" was not exactly the greatest vehicle they made, but it does have its moments.

5 stars

It seems by this point that the Stooges seemed apologetic about their work. There was once a time when the Three Stooges could hit each other all they wanted without fear, but by 1959, when they were re-discovered by kiddies on TV, they had to tone down the violence a little. `Have Rocket, Will Travel', their first feature, has less slaps and eye pokes than their average two-reeler, thus resulting in less laughs. The Three Stooges play…The Three Stooges, and this time they're janitors at NASA. A pretty scientist (Anna Lisa) is about to be fired because her attempts to send a spaceship to Jupiter have been unsuccessful. To help her, the Stooges figure out what was wrong, but accidentally send the rocket while they're still in it. They land on Jupiter find a talking Unicorn, and get into some trouble with an evil computer that makes evil mechanic clones of them. Will they survive? The problem with `Have Rocket, Will Travel' is that it's talking down to a juvenile audience and trying to please the kiddies instead of being funny. What we're left with is Three nice Stooges and a talking Unicorn, which is so silly that it's virtually indescribable. And what about the Jupiter scenes? They appear to have been hastily filmed in a national park hoping the audience wouldn't notice the obvious flaws. `Have Rocket, Will Travel' is certainly likable, and it has one or two enjoyable musical numbers, but it just doesn't have the primitive humour and the laughs of their shorts from the 30s and 40s. However, it did spawn a Three Stooges feature film series that included `Snow White and the Three Stooges', `The Three Stooges in Orbit', and `The Outlaws is Coming!'