Rockin' in the Rockies

I gave this a four purely out of its historical context. It was considered lost for many years until it popped up out of the blue on Showtime in the early nineties.

Moe is the straight man and Larry and Curly act as a duo. Spade Cooley has a couple of numbers. I guess it had something to do with working on a ranch. I'm not quite sure because the plot was so minimal nothing really sticks in my memory. I vaguely remember it being a western musical comedy. Even the Stooge's seem to be going through the motions. Overall there's nothing much really to recommend here.

If you're not a Stooge fan then don't bother. If you are a Stooge fan, then stick with the shorts.

Rockin in the Rockies (1945)

* (out of 4)

Incredibly bad film is certainly the worst thing I've seen The Three stooges in, although it's more like The Two Stooges here. Moe, acting as a solo, cons a bunch of people into looking for gold while some of them also have plans to make it on Broadway. This is an incredibly uneven film that never really seems to know what it wants to do. There's the stuff with Moe playing the con man yet this never goes anywhere and at times it takes a back seat the the Broadway stuff. Then, at times, the film forgets all about the con and centers on the music. I think I laughed a total of two times throughout this film and by the forty-minute mark I was ready to pull my eyes out. The music itself isn't that good so when you mix that with the lack of laughs then you're stuck with a really bad film. Larry and Curly are wasted playing the dumb ones. Now that Columbia has issued The Three Stooges shorts on DVD there's really no reason to pay this film any attention.

After many years of only reading about this, I finally got to check the DVD of this movie from the library-the only feature during Curly Howard's lifetime he got to star (as opposed to supporting other players) in with his brother Moe and Larry Fine-The Three Stooges. Initially, Moe is separate from them (In fact, he plays Shorty while the other two are under their own names) but they get together soon enough. The plot is pretty much a mess so I didn't pay too much attention to that and just enjoyed their antics. Many of the musical acts were also enjoyable like that of the Hoosier Hot Shots-who I previously was familiar with when hearing their recording of "I Like Banannas (Because They Have No Bones)" on an album of Dr. Demento's collection of novelty songs-as well as the Cappy Berra Boys and Spade Cooley-King of Western Swing-and a couple of female singers, Mary Beth Hughes and Gladys Blake. What can I say, as a longtime Stooges fan, I simply couldn't get enough of Rockin' in the Rockies!

The Three Stooges in a feature length western comedy-musical? Perhaps "Rockin' in the Rockies" was meant to combine the Stooges comedy short with the western musical, in a matinée; if so, this was a pleasant way to break up a Saturday afternoon. Jay Kirby (as Rusty) is a handsome young hero; and, Mary Beth Hughes (as the blonde June) and Gladys Blake (as the brunette Betty) are pretty women. The Hoosier Hotshots are a harmonious group; their songs are quite tuneful; however, this is the 1940s, not the 1950s, so the film doesn't exactly "rock". There are a few laughs; but the Stooges' brand of humor is more subdued than usual. The talking horse is also underutilized.

**** Rockin' in the Rockies (4/17/45) Vernon Keays ~ Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Mary Beth Hughes

I saw this film on TCM with a slightly different attitude. I recently viewed a DVD set called "SHOWTIME USA;" this was a compendium of circa 1950 low budget musicals from Lippert Productions. ROCKIES, though a Columbia film, share some of the same musical cast seen in the later Lippert movies (including a subliminal Snub Pollard appearance) and it's the musical element, so snidely dismissed here, that I find the most worthwhile! My God, you have Spade Cooley, the Hoosier Hotshots, the charming Mary Beth Hughes, etc. So even if it's musically not to your taste, it's still a valuable thing to have on film. For Stooge-centrics there's obviously way better Stooge stuff elsewhere, but this film definitely has its own merits.