The Outlaws Is Coming

The Three Stooges were an act for several decades and over time, the act changed quite a bit depending on who the third Stooge was as well as popular opinions. In the early days, the Stooges were nutty and ultra-violent, as folks in the 1930s-40s loved it and Curly Howard was perfect as the dopiest of the Stooges. However, after his retirement following a stroke, the team changed several times. Curly's older brother, Shemp, took his place and the films the group made were pretty similar to the earlier ones. However, with Shemp's death, the Stooges changed radically. First, Joe Besser came into the group and the shorts they made with him were pretty awful, as Besser managed to be MUCH more annoying than any previous Stooge. After he left the group because he was obviously NOT a good fit, they brought in Joe De Rita, who objected to much of the eye poking and violence of the earlier films. This, combined with parental concerns about their kids imitating the Stooges lead to the group making far less violent films...and, at least for me, far, far less interesting and bland ones as well. So, whether or not you like "The Outlaws is Coming" is highly dependent on what you think of these latter day Stooges.

A reporter (Adam West) is sent from his Boston newspaper to investigate the disappearance of the bison in the west. Well, it turns out some local scumbag and his henchmen are trying to wipe them out in order to foment unrest with the natives...in the hope that the unrest will result in their taking control of these western territories. The Stooges go along for comic relief and Annie Oakley arrives in time to save the reporter from instant death!

The story is only okay. The laughs are few. Overall, it's really a story that seems tailored towards children and not adults...which probably explains why I felt so bored. Now understand,...it's NOT terrible...but it is also only a shallow version of what I and so many others liked about the Stooges. A bit of Curly's nuttiness could have helped this film immensely.

By the way, you might notice that the plot is VERY similar to the Don Knotts film, "The Shakiest Gun in the West", though the Knotts film is far funnier and well worth seeing.

WITH Columbia Pictures' release of most of their backlog of Comedy Shorts from their now defunct and then closing down Short Subjects Department in 1959, a whole new generation of fans, kids that is, was introduced to the work of people like former Silent Screen Mack Sennett Player, Andy Clyde, latter day sound shorts cone by "the Great Stone Face", Buster Keaton and lastly, some guys named Moe, Larry, Curly and Shemp, who were four of the six guys who at one time or another were members of the act called THE 3 STOOGES. (Luckily, they didn't show us any of those latter day ones that ran right about up to the time when they made that Television Release Package that featured Joe Besser.)

NAMES like Jules White, Clyde Bruckman, Felix Adler, Charley Chase (Writer/Directors) and Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Benny Rubin, Christine McIntyre, Simona Boniface, Edward Brends, Emil Sitka Jack "Tiny" Lipson, Casey Colombo, Al Hill and Dorothy Appleby; supporting players parr excellance all!

BUT the greatest beneficiaries (other than us Baby Boomer Generation kids) were the Stooges themselves.

NOT more than a couple of years had elapsed between the time that the last STOOGES Comedy featuring Joe Besser as the third guy had been put in the can (completed) to that day when all of those stations around the country began playing the comedies. In our fair town of Chicago, Illinois, it was the Chicago Tribune's own station of WGN TV, Channel 9 that played the shorts hosted by Bob Bell as old Andy Starr, caretaker of the old Odeon Theatre.

BEFORE the year was out, the 3 Stooges ) now with Joe DeRita as the third numbskull, rechristened "Curly Joe". They had a very successful personal appearance tour and were able to ink a new picture deal with their old home studio, Columbia Pictures Corporation.

INASMUCH as the old Short Subjects Department/Division was now gone; the deal called for the Stooges to now make some starring, kiddie oriented Feature Films. In order to handle the business end of the deal, Moe's Son-in-Law, Norman Maurer became their producer. They formed their own company, Norman Maurer Productions (Later called Normandy Productions).

THEIR first movie, HAVE ROCKET, WILL TRAVEL (Norman Maurer Productions/Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1959) hit the neighborhood shows in the Autumn of that year and was highly successful. Others followed: THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES, THE THREE STOOGES GO AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAZE, SNOW WHITE AND THE 3 STOOGES, THE THREE STOOGES IN ORBIT, THE THREE STOOGES SCRAPBOOK as well as guest starring appearances in 4 FOR Texas and IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD.

AND if you can believe it, the humor was just about the same in these. They consistently borrowed from what seemed to be the best source, their old films. But even steak can get boring if eaten too often. So they set out to make a Stooges feature for the youngster that was a little better and different.

THE resulting movie, THE OUTLAWS IS COMING (Norman Maurer/Columbia, 1965) was not only an excellent outlet for the 3 Stooges own brand of outrageous comedy; but also was original, lampooned the Westerns (that were all over the TV Tube in those Days) and gave an opportunity to have a relatively large guest cast. At the same time it managed to kid the old Horatio Alger/Horace Greeley train of American thoroughly and philosophy.

COSTARRING with the boys was our old friend, Adam West (who the following year would be the hit of the tear on the twice weekly BATMAN TV Series.) Also in the Female Lead, we have Miss Nancy Kovack as Annie Oakley. Miss Nancy would also be featured on the BATMAN Show as the Joker's Gun Mall, Queenie in the first 2 part Joker escapade: "BATMAN IS RILED"/"THE JOKER IS WILD". (We think she may also have had a small, part in the premiere 2 parter, "HI RIDDLE DIDDLE" "SMACK IN THE MIDDLE" as a patron of the new Discothèque.

ALTHOUGH the picture would have figured to change the Stooges Movie format somewhat for the better, the steam was starting to run out on the theatrical releases after about six or so good years. Television still beckoned; but not as the none paid in residuals for the old shorts. They were still in demand as guests and the old careers got a boost with the hybrid of part animated, part live action TV Series of THE NEW 3 STOOGES (Normandy Productions/Cambria Animation, 1965).

BUT that my dear Schultz, is another story! (P.S. See our really neato review, elsewhere in IMDb.com.)

POODLE SCHNITZ!!

Some grown-up dialog -- "Look at all those fighting Indians" (and if you don't get the joke, then you never heard the original story about the Custer memorial) -- far-above-average acting and just generally good production values elevate this Stooges movie.

Of course there is the usual Stooges schtick, without which we would feel terribly bereft, and Joe DeRita shows he is a superb Stooge.

Emil Sitka played three parts! As is mentioned elsewhere, he had been a "Fourth Stooge" for so many pictures, he was slated to become a Third Stooge, to replace the ill Larry Fine, but no movie ever got produced.

That is a shame for him and for us, for us who loved the Stooges, and especially for us who loved him.

Most of the cast members, except for Adam West, were not very well known, but they showed some understated acting ability that proved their talent and demonstrated how good a Stooges movie could be.

The guys were lucky. So many other comics and comedy groups or teams declined, but their last picture might well be their best.

I hope everyone will get a chance to see this, for the sheer fun of it, and for the chance to evaluate the Three Stooges and their work.

This is one of my favorite Three Stooges movies. Plus, Adam West is great in his non-Batman role.

There really isn't much to analyze here. It's just meant to be a fun romp through the old west. And fun it is. Pretty much every gunslinger and bandit from historical westerns makes an appearance, and the climatic gun fight at the end is classic comedy. And of course, there's a great pie fight.

Beginning with a portentous opening narration by Paul Frees, The Three Stooges' big screen swansong plays like a cross between a slapstick silent, 'F-Troop' and 'The Monkees', gleefully dropping the names of the likes of Billy the Kid and Bat Masterson, with a curiously ecologically concerned plot involved the endangered buffalo.

An interesting supporting cast includes Mort ('Psycho') Mills as a menacing heavy with the delightful name Trigger Mortis and Henry ('Laugh-In') Gibson as an injun brave, Sally Starr as Belle Starr, while straight men don't come straighter than Adam West (soon be reunited with feisty Annie Oakley Nancy Kovack on the set of 'Batman'). But the best performance is probably given by Moe's pet skunk Elvis.