Goofs and Saddles

I'm not a fan of Westerns, even parodies of Westerns, so when I finally sat down to watch this one I kinda groaned. That groan only lasted about two seconds, because the genius of the Stooges overwhelmed whatever trepidation I had about the genre.

It's also worth noting that this is now one of my favorite Stooges films because I always especially loved when they did gags with animals. This film includes not one or two or three but four animals key to the story, thus perhaps why I loved it so much, in spite of being averse to Westerns. Highly recommended, even if you hate the genre!

This is one of the Stooges better efforts and one of their best westerns (apparently Moe didn't like doing westerns, but since they turned out to be very popular with their fans, Columbia overrode Moe's misgivings). Curly is at his peak, and there are some very funny and very clever gags (the boys disguising themselves as bushes to spy on the rustlers' camp, a "rigged" card game they play with the head bad guy, the great Stanley Blystone) and even Larry has more to do than usual, and does it well. The Stooges look like they were actually having fun making this one--Moe's aversion to westerns not withstanding--and it shows. A very good short by the boys.

In one of their funniest shorts Moe, Curly and Larry go west as three of the most intrepid scouts of the frontier respectively Wild Bill Hiccup, Buffalo Bilious, and Just Plain Bill. With the Indian Wars done, the cavalry under General Muster is turning its attention to cattle rustlers and the General sends the boys to deal with him.

With quite a few laughs they do get the job done. Some wonderful bits as a jackass exposes the camouflage cover of three other jackasses. There's an interesting poker game and finally the Three Stooges with their backs to the wall improvise a Gatling gun to some very funny effects.

Moe, Larry, and Curly are really at their top in Goofs And Saddles.

A large majority of The Three Stooges' films was set in contemporary times. But once in a while they traveled in the past to inject a bit of history into their short movies.

In July 1937 "Goofs and Saddles," only their second Western after 1935's "Horses' Collars," the Stooges find themselves as scouts for the United States Cavalry assigned by General Muster (Ted Lorch) to arrest a gang of cattle rustlers. Sporting long hair in the opening scenes, the kind Curly had before he was asked to shave it off for the screen, Moe as Wild Bill Hiccup (Hickok), Larry as Just Plain Bill (a popular radio show back in the 1930s), and Curly as Buffalo Billous (Buffalo Bill), use many disguises, including as movable bushes as they go undercover to get as close to the rustlers as they can in an open field. They also pose as gamblers to glean some information from the gang's leader, Longhorn Pete (Stanley Blystone).

"Goofs and Saddles" is known for having the least of amount of slapstick of all the Stooges' films. By one count, there's only eight face slaps and one eye poke. The unusual title is derived from General George Custer widow Elizabeth Custer's book about her husband, 'Boots and Saddles.' The film is famously known for Larry signaling to his two cohorts when they're playing a game of poker, exclaiming as he's overlooking Longhorn Pete's cards, "I've got four kinks in my back," referring to the rustler's four kings he's holding in his hand. This was also actor Joe Palma's film debut. Known as the "Fake Shemp" when he filled in for Shemp Howard when the regular Stooge suddenly died in 1955. Palma worked as a mortician at his parents' funeral home before journeying to Hollywood in 1937 to join Columbia Pictures as an extra and spot actor.

If you're keeping score, yes, another one of Curly's GREATEST hits. Insanity on wheels.

Wild Bill Hiccup (Moe), Buffalo Billous (Curly) and Just Plain Bill (Larry) are hereby ordered by General Mustar (stone-face Theodore Lorch) to nab every dang cattle rustler they can get their hands on. Shoot and ask questions later!

The Three Bills (way, way out west!) eventually wind up at Longhorn Pete's (Stanley Blystone, of course) saloon. Where the action is! The place is full of no-account rustlers, but first lets have a crooked game of cards? Deuces WILD. A game you have to see. Thanks to Felix Adler's nuttier than nuttier script, Curly is the ultimate GOOF, with or without a saddle. And then there's the matter of a monkey?

The gang saddles up and chases Moe, Larry and Curly to a remote cabin, and it looks like curtains for them, although they have a secret weapon? -- a meat grinder that doubles as a machine gun! Another laugh out loud bit that makes this film a class comedy act.

Many familiar faces from B westerns; Sam Lufkin plays the colonel and Ethan Laidlaw plays the rustler boss. Ethan later moved to tv westerns, appearing in HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL. Look for silent screen comedian Snub Pollard as a baddie. Snub was also in tv westerns, like DEATH VALLEY DAYS, playing old timers.

Famous footnote. Joe Palma made his Stooge debut in this film. Joe later worked as a double for Shemp in the 50s, in scenes he did not complete following his death. That was him in the background shots, looking a lot like Shemp.

By the way, Larry's Just Plain Bill character was a nod to the famous radio soap opera of the same title.

Not to be missed if you're the ultimate Stooge-a-holic. Remastered on Columbia dvd, generally by decades, 30s, 40s and 50s episodes. Big thanks to METV for running these oldies Saturdays.