Os Três Patetas em Órbita

First of all, let me tell you that I'm a huge stooge fan. I consider them one of the most underrated teams in comedy history, only supported by a huge fan base but not for the critics. The stooges are much more than Moe hitting the others or flying pies. But sadly, the last years of his glorious legacy are far from the rambocious, lunatic and uproarious days with Jerome "Curly" Howard or even with Shemp. And this movie is a clear example. Slow paced humor and only a few good jokes aren't enough for sustain a 90 minutes film. The old stooges try to do their best, but even the scrip doesn't help. The martians are fun to watch, Emil Sitka was always a good companion for the boys, but the overall feel is bittersweet. I prefer them in their legendary Columbia shorts, the kind of stuff that influenced Seinfield's trio Jerry, George and Kramer, and many many others.

To be honest I can't remember a whole lot from this film, but I do remember it being replayed a few times years back in the old UHF days. Whether I'm getting burnt out on reviewing other people's productions, or this was just not that good a film, I don't really know, but one of the few distinct memories I have of this film is the stooges riding the flying submarine absconded by the film's two antagonists.

Ayup, between "It's a Wonderful Life", one of the many bikini films by American International, or a Bob Hope review, the Stooges and various films from the 30s up through the mid 60s would air on television, and "The Three Stooges in Orbit" was one of them.

I didn't laugh a whole lot at this thing, but I was riveted to the antics because it was something different than "Days of our Lives" or any of the other midday drivel that was passed off to many a WASPy housewife during the 70s and 80s.

It's not a stellar production from the Stooges, but it's something to kill time.

Watch at your own risk.

This is one of the weaker things the later Stooges did, and you can mark that down as coming from a lifetime fan of all their two-reel shorts (be they with Curly, Shemp or Joe) as well as their feature films with Curly Joe DeRita. This movie just flat out ain't very funny. Having Moe, Larry and Curly Joe tangle with old professor Emil Sitka and cool-looking Frankensteinian martians (well, they look cool to those of us who grew up loving cheesy monster movies) should have helped make for a sure fire bullseye. Instead, this nonsense is all over the place, hopping from one unfunny bit of business to the next, trying to fill in the running time with all sorts of unrelated junk (including a meaningless relationship for the professor's daughter). This makes their Joe Besser shorts like OUTER SPACE JITTERS and SPACE SHIP SAPPY look positively first-rate. ** out of ****

Rather than retread my own version of the old "Joe Derita as a stooge debate," I'll just say that when you accept the older 60s stooges for what they are, some of these films do get a bit better, after awhile. A point I already knew years ago seeing these for the first time, but sometimes, it's not bad to take a break from the short subjects and pop in a feature.

"Daze," and "Hercules," still make for slighty better fun, but orbit is still a good one. The plot is cornball as hell (obviously) and the martian makeup won't knock your socks off, but maybe Joe himself has his best perfromance as "Curly-Joe."

I have seen live clips of Derita with Moe & Larry where he seems to flex more persona, so maybe this speaks to the format of the actual Columbia films as to whether or not he was restrained or not overly overt as a comedic dynamo like the obvious Curly, or even Shemp.

Not to mention, a few of his Columbia solo efforts were pretty good...

Our three heroes who are in the process of being kicked out by landlady Maudie Prickett answer an advertisement by nutty professor Emil Sitka who is conducting some way out experiments. But he's on the money because Martians have actually infiltrated the professor's household to spy and report on his progress.

This was one zany film and it had a lot of good laughs. The heavily made up Martians who talk in subtitled gibberish and gesture a lot remind me of Khrushchev and his UN temper tantrums.

As for Sitka who gets his share of laughs as well as the Three Stooges he's invented an all purpose land, air and sea vehicle that he gets the Stooges to test drive. Only Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe could pick up an atomic bomb from a desert test site and use it as a carburetor for the vehicle. It does come in handy for the final battle with the Martians.

This one I have to say approaches the short subject type zaniness that the 3 Stooges had in their prime.