Fright Night

The boys are fight managers and their lone boxer is "Chopper" (who looks about 40, and as much a boxer as I am). After some early shenanigans they have Chopper do some sparring with Shemp (who isn't thrilled about doing this). To make matters worse, the pretty "Kitty" comes into the gym, Chopper is smitten and really wants to impress her...and Moe and Larry accidentally tie Shemp's right glove to the ropes.

What comes next is a massacre, but it's pretty funny. Afterward The Chopper leaves with the bimbo dame and hoods come into the gym. They represent "Big Mike" and tell the guys that their man is not going to win the upcoming fight against Gorilla Watson. "Why," they ask. "Because Big Mike said so." Then they leave and the boys don't know what to do. "We have every last cent we own bet on the Chopper," says Larry.

They decide to literally sweeten up their fighter, feeding him pies and cream puffs all day and letting him hang out with Kitty.

A few crazy things happen, the fight is called off and Big Mike and his hoods wind up chasing the Stooges all around a warehouse. In all, a decent episode.....entertaining but no big laughs. Maybe because I've seen these episodes many times for 50 years.

Shemp's appearance was his first in a long time, taking Curly's spot after the latter suffered a stroke, ending his career. I always liked Shemp, but Curly's shoes were impossible to fill.

As good as Shemp is in his short-subject debut with the stooges, it seems to me that the writers and director were going easy on him in that he isn't given much to do. In fact, Moe and Larry don't have much to do, either.

Sure, Shemp has plenty of ring time in the beginning of the flick when he's sparring with Chopper. And he does his hilarious "I've got a little brother this big" bit. But throughout the movie, the action has the stooges merely reacting to what the other characters--Chopper, his girlfriend, and the thugs--are doing, rather than interacting with themselves. For me, it makes for an uninteresting show.

One exception is when Larry unknowingly bangs Moe on the head with a large piece, and then brags about it to him before Moe gets his revenge. This sort of slapstick is woefully missing from Fright Night.

And I always wondered why they named it Fright Night. No ghosts, no goblins, no mysterious houses--just a boxing match!

Larry, Shemp, and Moe are training boxer Chopper Kane for his big upcoming match. He is sparring against Shemp when Kitty Davis walks into the gym. Chopper decides to show off by beating up on Shemp. Later, gangsters demand that the guys get their fighter to throw the match. It's fun to have Shemp getting pummeled. That's all I need from this Three Stooges short. Everything else is gravy.

Well, there's no doubt that Shemp Howard had some large shoes to fill in the wake of Curly, but "Fright Night" in my eyes shows that Shemp was definitely the right man for the job in being the new "3rd stooge."

In fact, Shemp was so good, that it makes me wonder what the rest of the stooges career would have been like had they sought out comedians like Shemp, who had their own style instead of replacing him with guys who fit the Curly mold--short, fat and bald.

Getting back to this short, Shemp must have had a great time filming this one, seeing as how it revolved around his favorite sport of boxing. In fact, I believe Shemp himself said that this was his favorite of all his stooge films.

While "Fright Night" is not exactly perfect, I would say that the Shemp-era stooges got off to a great start and the roll would continue for several shorts after this one, and a few that were all- time classics.

8 stars

This short subject has our three goofballs as fight manager to Dick Wessell known in the ring as Chopper. After a sampling of their training methods which include an unwilling Shemp sparing with Wessell the guys put their hard earned dough om their guy.

Imagine their chagrin when the gamblers tell them tat they have to tell their guy the smart money is on his opponent and people don't live long crossing up smart money. he guys couild lose more than a bankroll.

After trying to reverse their training t all does work out rather nicely in the end. In filmland there is a special province for the 3 Stooges.

At east most of the timer.