Whoops, I'm an Indian!

Larry, Moe, and Curly are petty crooks in Lobo City in the old west. They go on the run as fugitives from the law. They have a $333.33 bounty wanted "Dead or in Bad Shape". They go fishing and then get pursued by lawmen. The guys break into a cabin and pretend to be Indians. When the real cabin owner shows up, he is angry. His wife had ran away with an Indian. The boys escape and continue with their Indian disguise. A cross-dressing Curly gets married.

This certainly wouldn't fly today. Times have changed. It's not the most inappropriate, but it is still funny. This is early official "The Three Stooges" directed by Del Lord. I actually find the fishing the most fun. It is simple Stooges comedy and I like its simplicity. I also like a cross-dressing Curly. Cross-dressing is always fun. I truly love a bald Curly trying to be demure.

This is another Stooges short with a Western setting, which has some nice backwoods scenery but is otherwise routine. Here, the boys are swindlers run out of town by the customers of a saloon; they subsequently have to fend for themselves, where we get a good gag which has Curly trying to procure food by going underwater and shooting at the fish! Eventually, they reach a log-cabin – the property of one of their 'victims' and whose wife has been abducted by Indians; coincidentally, The Stooges disguise themselves as Native Americans which, of course, incurs the trapper's wrath (and also gives the film its title!). At the finale, our heroes are back in town – believing their Indian disguise will fool the locals – but, on the run once again soon after, they unwittingly lock themselves up in jail!

The big debate is how many more times were the Stooges victims of circumstances as compared to playing crooks??? In this case, yes, they're cheatin' gamblers in the Old West who have no choice but to high-tail it outta' town. A lynch mob, headed by tough hombre Pierre (Bud Jamison) is out to string 'em up!

This is where it gets creative, thanks to writer Clyde Bruckman. Moe, Larry and Curly hide out in the wilderness at an Indian reservation. Very clever manuever, and the wardrobe folks deserve credit. They borrowed from the studio's western unit, applied some fakeup makeup and Curly is back in drag! This time playing an outrageous Squaw. By this stage in the game, Curly could dress up as about anyone and make us laugh out loud. Except Pierre. Bud Jamison seeks his REVENGE. A super role for Bud, the ultimate Stooge foil, much like Vernon Dent.

Veteran silent actor Robert Mackenzie plays the sheriff, often in westerns and film classics. Another winner directed by Del Lord, definitely inspiration for Stooge westerns yet to come.

Always on dvd via Columbia, generally decades, 30s, 40s, and 50s releases. Some box sets have themes. All remastered.

Thanks to METV for running the Stooges Saturdays, perfect weekend entertainment.

Whoops I'm an Indian (1936)

** (out of 4)

Lazy short from The Three Stooges has them wanted by the law so they dress as Indians but then run into a man whose wife left him for one. The jokes here are pretty standard and routine and there really weren't any laugh at loud moments. The fishing scene is probably the highlight but even this wasn't that funny.

Now available on Columbia's 2-disc set, which features over 20 shorts, all digitally remastered and looking better than ever. If you're a fan of the Stooges then this is a must own.

In September 1936's "Whoops, I'm an Indian!" the politically correct crowd has labeled this as the threesome's most offensive short. The Stooges go back in time to the Old West as dishonest gamblers. Woodsman Pierre (Bud Jamison) catches on to their cheating ways, and vows to teach them a lesson. Running away from the law, the Stooges unknowingly seek shelter in Pierre's cabin, and disguise themselves as Native Americans. Their costumes create quite a bit of confusion when Pierre returns and sees the three Indians in his cabin.

The title was based on a popular Fanny Brice song at the time, "I'm an Indian," from the 1918 hit play 'Why Worry?' The tune was reprised in her part-talkie 1928 film 'My Man.' In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was a connection between America's natives and the newly-arrived Jewish population to the United States, who both were trying to preserve their traditions of their vanishing cultural state. The ties between the two were prominent in many early film comedies, and the Stooges contributed to this body of work. As Ethnomusicologist Mark Slobin wrote, "The comic side of the Indian-Jewish connection is a vein richly worked throughout the history of Jewish-American and mainstream entertainment, down through Hollywood films of the 1970s such as 'Blazing Saddles' and 'The Frisco Kid.'