The Three Stooges

A fairly decent made for TV movie, which depicts the beginnings and rise to fame of The Three Stooges. The film concentrates mainly on the behind the scene part of the Stooges lives and career. From their early days with Ted Healy who is portrayed as a somewhat tyrannical figure. The discovery of Larry Fine, the departure of Shemp and the addition of Moes younger brother Curly to the act. Their signing with Columbia Pictures to make the now classic shorts. The sad loss of Curly which led to the return of Shemp to the trio. The lean years before a return to a new generation of fans. The film covers several years and is compressed well for a two-hour movie.

It also shows that behind the zany antics the Stooges were known for it wasn't nearly all fun and games. They were entertainers who paid their dues, encountered ruthless studio bosses and even at times the general public who could confuse what they saw on the screen with reality. After seeing this made for TV picture you'll still laugh when you watch the old Columbia shorts and films the Stooges appeared in. You may however find yourself having a greater appreciation for these entertainers whose profession was comedy and took as much pride in what they did as any other professional in the world of show business.

One of the better biographical TV movies, "The Three Stooges" suffers from the main failing that most such movies do: taking "liberties" with the facts. There are few things more annoying than watching a movie about people you know something about, and seeing an incident or event portrayed as having occurred that you KNOW never happened, or information given as "fact" when you KNOW it is completely wrong, and that happens several times in this film. Overall, though, it was somewhat better than I expected it to be. Paul Ben-Victor was very, very good as Moe. He had Moe's "Stooge" character down pat, and was surprisingly effective with Moe's off-screen character, although he didn't play Moe as quite the savvy businessman he was in real life--most of the Stooges' real money was made in personal appearances, and Moe made certain that some of Larry's and Curly's income was invested for their future, as they were both notoriously loose with their money (Curly on women, Larry on horses). Although the film for some reason shows Moe as living a sort of lower-middle class existence after his career ended, in reality he had made some shrewd investments over the years and by the time the Stooges broke up, he was a very wealthy man.

Michael Chiklis had the most difficult job--Curly has always been everyone's favorite Stooge, and most viewers would be paying a lot more attention to how he played Curly than how the other two actors played their characters. To Chiklis' credit, he acquitted himself extremely well. Curly, like his fellow comics Lou Costello and Oliver Hardy, was quite graceful for a heavyset man--they'd have to be, to do the kind of physical comedy they did--and Chiklis shared that trait, too. He also had Curly's mannerisms and voice patterns down pat, although his voice wasn't quite as high-pitched as Curly's was. Overall, Chiklis did a terrific job.

The one thing that really did surprise me, though, was how badly Columbia Pictures, and especially studio owner Harry Cohn, came across--and deservedly so, given the studio's shabby treatment of the Stooges and how it screwed them out of untold amounts of money. I figured that the filmmakers would pretty much whitewash, or at best just gloss over, Columbia's almost criminal treatment of the comedy team that basically put the studio on the map, but they didn't do that at all, which was refreshing.

If you're a Stooges fan you'll definitely like this movie, and even if you're not, it's a pretty good story of one of the most beloved comedy teams in film history. Check it out.

My father always loved The Three Stooges. He would often pay full price at a matinée just because they were showing one of the Stooges shorts. So you might say that I grew up in a house where Moe Larry and Curley were a revered prescence. I recently got a chance to see this film on the AMC channel and it is a really fascinating biography of the comedy trio that has become one of our cultural icons. After all, when your talking about three stupid people you know, haven't you often said "they are a regular Moe, Larry and Curley". There was an auction a few years back of historical photos and I wanted to share an interesting tidbit. There was a photo of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and one of The Three Stooges. The Stooges photo brought four times the price of the Presidential photo! Paul Ben Victor gives a fine performance as Moe in this film. It begins in the late 1950's after the Stooges were considered "washed up". A young man tries to get him interested in a reunion and Moe rebuffs him at first but eventually warms to the idea. You sense Moe's bitterness at the way the Stooges were treated. Our greatest comedy teams like Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy were allowed to make feature films while the Stooges were just "banished" to short films. I feel that the studio system, most notably Columbia's tyranical President Harry Cohn, were terrible in the way they treated Moe Larry and Curley. They cheated them out of a fortune and it is particularly galling when you think of the outrageous sums of money they pay people like Jim Carrey today. It was only in the 1960's that the Stooges were allowed to make feature films, in one of them, for you trivia lovers, they co-starred with Adam West. Can you imagine that, The Three Stooges Meet Batman! The person who really made this film for me is Michael Chiklis as Curly. The people who know him best as the brutal and corrupt cop on The Shield would get the shock of their life if they could see him as our favorite Stooge. He captures Curley perfectly to the smallest mannerism. The re-enactments in this film of the shorts are taken word per word and it is just amazing. The tragic thing is that Curley and Shemp both died very young, Curley of a stroke and Shemp of a heart attack. Chiklis should have gotten an Emmy for his great job, as they say at one point in the film, Moe may have been the brains of the act BUT Curley was the heart.

Some of the classic Three Stooges routines are lovingly and precisely recreated in this story of the real life Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, and Joe. The sad ups and downs of the master slapstick clowns are well portrayed by the cast.

Getting the timing of the comic bits down was craft enough, but we also get the heart and soul that made these people so enduring as artists. The finale is touching considering the terrible misuse and abuse that they suffered from greedy people seeking to get rich off their work. The final victory belongs to the Stooges who still reign as some of the great comic kings of America.

The Stooges newsgroups were ablaze with postings that blasted the movie before even seeing it.

Paul Ben-Victor did a very nice job as Moe. He was stronger in the Life sections then in the On Screen sections.

Jon Kassir was very good as Shemp.

Michael Chiklis did the best he could with the toughest job; Curly is by far the most famous and sharply defined character of the bunch. Chiklis's main failing is one he really can't help: during the "Take Off Your Hat" scene, he was attempting to look puzzled and frustrated, but his own particular eye-squint came across as angry and mean.

Evan Handler was an absolutely wonderful Larry. As written, he is the most easy-going stooge, and only slightly hen-pecked by a blonde-bombshell of a wife. (Sidenote: Larry really was the only Stooge to have a babe for a wife, on whom he allegedly cheated frequently. *Larry*?!) Handler and Annalise Phillips, who played Mabel Fine, had a wonderful, complex rapport.

And there was a nice rapport between the Stooges. The movie took the usual liberties with time and space, but for the most part it had a very good feel for the Stooges and what they went through to survive in comedy.

Two bits of major criticism:

1. Sloppy Motivation. Upon hearing of Ted Healey's death, Curly snaps, "Healy's not dead." Larry: "He's not dead?" Curly: (indicating Moe, with whom he's been having a tiff) "He's right here." Nobody, upon hearing the news that someone you knew and worked with just died violently, is going to maintain a snit (even if, according to this movie, Curly never worked with Healy, which he did in real life.)

2. Bad Routines. The movie gives the impression that the Stooges, on their own after breaking with Ted Healy, went the Martin & Lewis nightclub route, winging it with no set routine. The Stooges had a complete, set act, which was meticulously timed and rehearsed. They *had* to, or they would have killed each other.