Three Dark Horses

We're at the campaign headquarters for "Hammond Egger," who is running for President. Immediately we see two crooked guys - actors who were regular villains on the Adventures Of Superman TV series (Kenneth MacDonald and Ben Weldon). They are the campaign manager "Bill Wick" and his sidekick "Jim Digger." They are scheming to "make that oil grab" and need Egger to be elected. They know three of their delegates "are smelling a rat....and what we need are three (new) delegates who are too dumb to think and who'll do what we tell 'em."

Any guess who they will find? The answer comes quick as the Stooges, janitors in the place, quickly demonstrate how stupid they are in front of Wick and Digger. "If they are half as dumb as they look, I think we've found our men," says Wick.

The Stooges are so inept they make Weldon look smart in comparison. He always played the dumbest crook on Superman. Here, "Jim" gets his toupee "scalped" when Shemp's vacuum cleaner sucks it off his head. They give it back to him with all the dust and other crud from the vacuum bag and then put glue on his head! It's brutal, but it's a funny scene.

Anyway, the boys are offered money to be delegates at the convention and they accept. They then do a two-minute skit, or parody, of conventioneers which, frankly, was stupid.

The rest of it is the boys back in their hotel room later than night, and the goofy things they do to each other while eating, drinking coffee and soaking their tired feet in a tub of hot water. Poor Shemp's "dogs" are barking, and this is the only time I've ever seen that expression put to literal use on screen! It's funny. So are a few clever remarks such as "Hey, won't Wick burn when he......"

The rest of it is so-so, with a strange ending in which the guys look like murderers!

This is one of the funniest and incisive Stooge shorts. The Stooges weren't known for their satiric takes on politics, but this film brilliantly and hilariously skewers politics and their lies. Moe's "convention" speech, written and performed over 70 years ago, could easily be filmed today without changing a word. Moe promises a 2 hour work week (HAHA), and Shemp says that's for him. Moe responds..."you can't believe all that stuff, that's a campaign promise!".

Many Stooge shorts skewered politics from time to time, like their most famous political short, You Natzy Spy. This one isn't as great as that one, but it's pretty darn good anyway.

An amazing little short film, with very little in the way of scenery or sound stages that this was shot on, but to quote Curly "I don't care". The first half is classic stooge mayhem. You know what's coming as soon as Bill Wick utters "What we need are three guys who are too dumb to think and will do what we tell them. Now where will we find such guys". Enter Moe, Larry, Shemp.

The second half of this film is relatively quiet compared to the mayhem caused in Wick's office, yet the film doesn't miss a beat. Love the way Larry overloads his coffee with sugar then pawns it off on Shemp, who adds a few more drops to make it just right. Moe's nomination speech (when our national economy is at stake, and "steak" is 3 dollars a pound), his hilarious exchange with Larry as they clean up confetti, the bird in the turkey, and a nice clobbering of the crooks at the end add up to another grade A comedy.

10/10

So asks Ben Weldon, in the days before he met Superman. Ben's the guy with carpet dirt smeared all over his face and with his toupee, saturated with glue, stuck on top of his head. And the Stooges are stupid? The great Kenneth MacDonald, as "Slick" Bill Wick, lets out a chuckle: he's found his pigeons. But not so fast! The Stooges get wise to Hammond Egger's crooked ways and switch allegiance to Able Lamb Stewer, a byproduct of early cloning experiments carried out with Dolly the Sheep's ancestors (and Stewer's likeness on his campaign posters will bear me out on this). Anyway, Slick Bill is not amused, and extreme violence and mayhem ensues. That's the plot, but as in all Stooges shorts, it's tertiary, not even secondary. The first reel is classic Stooges: they're janitors, and therefore allegoric to the proletariat masses, who, as irony would have it, get screwed by the very politicians they vote into office. But Slick Bill, the campaign manager, needs mindless yes-men to vote as they are told at the upcoming convention. Now, I've already described what happens to Ben Weldon, Slick's assistant. This alone should serve as a warning: do not underestimate the Stooges. Anyway, the second reel of the short starts out in sheer surrealism. The Stooges wreak havoc unto themselves in what can only be described as a political convention of three. I'll just say here that Shemp forever won my heart with his very short "two-hour week" speech, superlative even to Moe's brilliant paean to political bombast. I'll also say that the treatment endured by Slick Bill and Ben Weldon in the Stooges' bathtub is not for the faint of heart. Remember the effect "Psycho" had on shower-takers? Well, I've never again taken a bath since first seeing "Three Dark Horses"! But if you're smart, or politically inclined (mutually exclusive events), this short film is a must-see.

Irony. Sometimes the funniest things are done with minimal resources as in this short. No great staging or special effects, five people in the whole cast including the Stooges themselves, and yet it's not too bad at all. Seems though like it could have been part of something bigger. The sequencing of the first scene on to the second is perfect and so you wish for more but, "That's all there is, there isn't any more." (Quote from L&H'S Sons of the Desert 1933) And that's a pity. Columbia had literally gold in their hands and just would always let it slip through their money grubbing fingers. Irony again. Big shots like Harry Cohn and Louis B. Mayer had all the great comedy talent at their disposal yet in all truth neither guy reportedly had a decent sense of humor. This short is not just some more pokes and gouges by the boys but an actual satire of politics at the time...or any time really, from ancient Rome to now with Clinton, Gore, and Bush. "Hmm! Three guys. That's a coincidence!" Names like Hammond Egger and Able Lamb Stewer, it's too much. Watch this one by all means and laugh at the body politic.