Grips, Grunts and Groans

Grips, Grunts and Groans (1937)

**** (out of 4)

Three Stooges short has the boys finding themselves in a jam so they duck into a wrestling gym where the top guy takes a liking to them. The four go out for drinks but the wrestler gets too drunk and can't enter the ring so Curly has to take his place. Even though Curly doesn't know what he's doing he can still go psycho whenever he smells a certain type of perfume. The storyline is pretty similar to their Pop Goes the Weasel but I won't hold it against this film as it's certainly one of their funniest. There were countless scenes that had tears flowing from my eyes due to laughter and I'm not sure I've ever seen Curly go so crazy. There are countless great scenes here including one where the boys are being chased off a train and eventually run over a baby carriage. Another classic is the getting drunk sequence but there's no doubt the highlight is the final sequence where Curly smells too much perfume and flips out on everyone. This is certainly one of the funniest films out there.

Grips, Grunts and Groans (19370 was another classic short form the team of Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curley Howard. The three lovable losers are traveling hobos who make an unscheduled last stop. A couple of engineers chase the vagrants away. Whilst hiding in the nearest building "The Hangover Gym", the boys are giving a gig as sparing partners for one of their prize fighters. The poor boxing skills with comedic end results amuse a local pro wrestler named Bustoff. He takes an immediate liking to the three and wants them to party with him. That doesn't seem like a good idea considering Bustoff has a big match tonight.

Can the boys keep Bustoff from enjoying himself too much? Will they get their promised sparring partner money? To find out what happens next you'll just have to watch GRIPS, GRUNTS & GROANS. One of their most famous shorts.

Highly recommended.

This is the Three Stooges short where they accidentally stumble into wrestling gym and to get money for a meal Curly volunteers to be a sparring partner. The champ Bustoff who trains at the gym happens to be watching nearby and finds the stooges hysterical. So he takes them out for a big meal but the stooges get him drunk and he can't go for his big match. So the Stooges have to dress Curly up as him. But Curly can only fight if Curly smells the perfume Wild Hyacinth and can only be stopped by tickling his feet.

The movie came out in the prime of the Three Stooges the Curly era. Not that Shemp isn't good in his own right it's just that the Stooges lineup is best with Curly in addition to the main stays of Moe and Larry.

The Three Stooges were already copying some hilarious sequences from their earlier shorts. But they ingeniously found a way to make these repeats refreshing. In January 1937 "Grips, Grunts and Groans," the trio revisit the theme of Curly going berserk during a contest when something sets him off. In this case, it's the smell of a woman's perfume, specifically Wild Hyacinth, that throws him for a loop. He later finds himself inside a wrestling ring getting mauled by his opponent when Moe comes across a woman in the audience dabbing some Wild Hyacinth on herself. He grabs her bottle and sprinkles the perfume on Curly's face, turning him into a raging physical maniac.

"I used to think 'Bull Durham' was the greatest sports movie ever made," writes reviewer Richard Hanania. "Now I think it just might be the Stooges' 'Grips, Grunts and Groans.' For one thing, even the title smacks of the Stooge aesthetic." The berserk motif was first introduced in 1934's "Punch Drunk," where the song Larry plays on his violin, "Pop Goes the Weasel," makes Curly crazy. Unlike a mouthful of cheese in the earlier short that calms him down, "Grips, Grunts and Groans" shows the tickling of the bottom of Curly's right bare foot settles him. Wrestler Ivan Bustoff (Harrison Greene, who's seen earlier in the Stooges' 1936 "Ants in the Pantry.") is the gangsters' wrestler to face opponent Ironhead (Casey Columbo), and they bet heavily on him. The Stooges become personal friends of Bustoff, who finds the three funny. They become responsible for his behavior before the match, which is challenging since Ivan gets absolutely blotto from drinking liquor on their watch. He passes out, requiring Curly to disguise himself as Bustoff to take his place in the ring. This sets off one of the screen's wildest melees. The film is included in Phil Hall's listing as '10 Notable Wresting Movies From the Golden Age of Hollywood.'

Larry, Curly, and Moe are hobos. They are found hiding in a train and chased into a gym. They are looking for work and the trainer Bustoff hires Curly to be a boxing partner for $5. Bustoff likes the boys so much that he takes them out for dinner. The problem is that he has to stay sober for his wrestling match and the boys are hired to keep him from the drink.

I like Bustoff. As always, Curly is great. The only problem is that any crooked promoter would never hire the boys to do anything. Instead, the boys should know about Bustoff's match and would try to stop his drinking out of the friendship. If they find out that Bustoff's gym is at stake, the boys would still do the same thing. This is generally fun.