Pals and Gals

Wow, and I thought I gave "Hot Ice" a bad review. This one is nearly as bad--if not worse in some ways. Basically--like many of these remakes--Jules White just takes a very good Ed Bernds production & totally mangles it. And, without giving Bernds any directing or writing credit in most cases.

I guess the big plot twist in this one is that Doc Barker supposedly dies after drinking the "Icky May," but thanks to the magic of stock footage, his "corpse" is seated upright a few minutes after, enjoying Nelle's singing (oi vey). Oh yeah, the other big change is that Nelle has 2 sisters that are locked down in the basement.

Speaking of that basement, isn't it amazing how the stooges can go from a basement to jumping out of a second story window, while they were supposedly still in the basement. I guess Jules really didn't give a damn when slapping this one together & just needed an excuse to excise footage from a 1937 Curly classic.

To say this short stinks would be putting it very politely and mildly....

Shemp's leg has gone bad and the doctor recommends going west on vacation for a couple of months. The guys cowboy up and do exactly that. At the Red Dog Saloon, Shemp tells 'Doc' Barker about the vein in his leg, but Doc misunderstands that it's a vein of gold. Nell reveals that Doc had stolen her saloon and locked up her two sisters.

There is plenty of recycling footage. That is the way of bargain Stooges production. I do like the premise with the vein drawing. I would have liked Doc to survive the poisoning and be defeated at the end. He seems to be the big bad. This is relatively fine Stooges western with Shemp.

I always loved it when the Stooges travelled to the wild & wooly west. They were definitely fish outta water when they confronted the owlhoots of the frontier west. Shemp is excellent in this short, one of 17 or so western shorts the Stooges appeared in.

Moe and Larry are as dependable as always, dishing out the slaps, oneliners & eyepokes to the bewildered cowpokes they encounter. Christine was fantastic as Nell and added great support in this one.

They just don't make western comedy like this any more. The knuckleheads made this one memorable. Good script and appropriately hammy performances. Go west, young stooge !!!