Blunder Boys

BLUNDER BOYS was a pretty good short considering it was Shemp's last completed film. The rest of his films were: HUSBANDS BEWARE, CREEPS, FLAGPOLE JITTERS, & FOR CRIMIN' OUT LOUD. Sadly, four of his shorts were shot with a double after he died in 1955. But BLUNDER BOYS isn't too bad for being Shemp's last completed film.

*** out of 5 stars.

Halliday (Moe Howard), Tarraday (Larry Fine), and various Days (Shemp Howard) are cops in a parody of Dragnet. They recount their days in the Army, the police academy, and during a particular case to track master criminal The Eel.

Shemp would die soon after this. I'm not sure if the Stooges did more spoofs. They did a fine job with this one. I wonder if they could have gone on a whole rift with the new TV shows. Moe does a nice deadpan narration. Shemp's Days bit is stupid fun. At the end of the Days, that's all that is required. It's stupid fun.

And all-original to boot. Who knew that the boys still had it in them, what with the glut of recycles they were usually churning out during this period. Anyway, this is a hilarious Dragnet send up & Moe does a great deadpan of Sergeant Friday.

Moe narrates the story of how the boys went from the army to going to detective school to being given their first assignment of trying to catch the slippery Eel. When the boys fail to get that slippery crook, it's back to manual labor.

I just love how Shemp comes up with various Holiday names & the scenes with Alma Matter (the beautiful Angela Stevens) and her father are my favorite. You guys prepare for 81-C....

"Blunder Boys" happens to be a parody of an old Crime Drama " Dragnet" Moe makes a good dead-pan narration of LAPD detective Joe Friday, as played by the Late Jack Webb. Webb was the driving force of Universal-Based Mark VII Limited Productions (The logo that featured the hammer and chisel, and #7 which is etched in stone-in roman numerals. Moe was Halliday, Larry was Tarraday, and Shemp played various characters that ends in day (St. Patrick's Day, Groundhog Day, New Year's Day, Christmas Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day). There were good detectives, but The Boys ended up on the streets-somebody HAS to do the dirty work around here. A great stooge short. See it in its entirety commercial-free, NOT on Spike. BTW: what's the 81-C? A double-eye poke in which Moe gave to BOTH Larry and Shemp. Don't Try This or ANY other pain-crunching methods at home.

This film is probably one of the many spoofs of the then new Dragnet TV series,aside from Stan Freberg's comedy recordings! Moe's narration is as dead on as Jack Webb's voice overs! I like how Shemp keeps altering his "day" names:St.Patrick's Day, Independance Day,etc.