Shot in the Frontier

The Three Stooges play a triple version of Gary Cooper's role in this "High Noon" parody. In this version, the guy who plays and sings "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" is visible, and he gets his guitar smashed over his head for his efforts (and rightly so). In retaliation, he pulls out a miniature ukulele and continues to grate Moe's nerves. This short is not among the Stooges' best; it's just too silly.

Another Stooge comedy set in the Old West, "Shot in the Frontier" shows the Stooges defending their town and their new wives from mean gunslingers. This film is a carbon copy of basic western plots the Stooges examined in many previous films. However, the film contains a couple of rarities that makes the film worth seeing at least once.

First, the film contains many scenes set outdoors. By the early fifties, most of the Stooges films contained scenes shot entirely inside Columbia sound stages, to save money previously spent on outside location shots. The film is aided by the natural outdoor locales (even if it is on a Columbia back lot!) Second, there is some incidental music in the background of "Shot in the Frontier," a rarity not only for the Stooges but for most Columbia comedy series.

Third, "Shot in the Frontier" contains all-new footage. By the early fifties, to save costs, Columbia and producer Jules White reused extensive footage from earlier Stooge films, shot a few new scenes, and theatrically released the "new" films. "Shot in the Frontier" is all-new and the film is a welcome change from other 1954 Stooge films that reuse old footage.

Unfortunately, the plot is nothing new, and the film gets a little tiresome. Some gags work well (like Larry shooting gum out of a shotgun) but there is the underlying feeling that we've seen it all before. Columbia has never released this film on VHS or DVD. It is worth seeing, if only that it was entirely new footage coupled with outdoor locales. 6 out of 10.

I'm not a big Three Stooges western nut, but this is good fare. The running gag of the old man singing & twanging on his guitar is a good one as is his enthusiastic post-wedding celebration, smacking Moe on the head with a bag of rice.

The short does get muddy in parts, as seemingly all Shemp westerns do. The gunfight with the Noonan boys gets a bit long in the tooth, although Moe & Joe Palma rolling on the ground in fast motion is very funny. Favorite thing from this short is one of the tombstone inscriptions: Momma loved Papa, Papa loved women; Momma caught poppa with 2 girls in swimmin'.

8/10

This short has the most basic plot ever, and the fighting throughout this short drags on and gets tiring after a while. Also, Moe's wrath seems to be extremely limited in this short, another strike against it. The fighting does have funny moments which helps, but not enough.

Grade: D+