Spies and Guys

Before Joe Besser became the guy who replaced Shemp as the third Stooge, Besser made a string of comedy shorts for Columbia...the same studio which made the Three Stooges shorts. His solo shorts were mostly very poor...and "Spies and Guys" ranks among the worst.

The story finds Jugonutzland at war with Staravania*. They must be desperate, as they draft the over-aged, over-fed and overly stupid Joe! Most of the film consists of the sergeant trying to make a soldier out of Joe and the final portion consists of a spy mission where a sexy lieutenant insists on taking Joe with her. It's a suicide mission but sadly they manage to escape.

Not much in the way of laughs and a plot that is too reminiscent of a Three Stooges short.

By the way, in "Aim, Fire, Scoot", Joe is drafted to fight for Starvania though here he is fighting for their enemy.

This Joe Besser short is typical Columbia comedy stuff. Joe gets paired with veteran Murray Alper and a nameless contract player to form a low-grade 3 Stooges. Joe is a little easier to take here than in his Stooges shorts, but still obnoxious. The slim plot has soldier Joe and lovely lieutenant Angela Stevens going on a secret mission fighting enemy troops. All the old tired army gags are trotted out with Alper the butt of most of them. Columbia stalwart Emil Sitka appears as the enemy officer. The highlight is when Angela removes her cape to reveal her shapely figure and distract the firing squad! She was one of the prettiest of the Columbia starlets and sure cuts a great figure here! The Joe Besser series was pretty lame, but guys catch this one for some prime 50s Hubba-Hubba!