This weekend a new movie opened with actors portraying characters based on the beloved comedy trio, The Three Stooges. There will be some who venture forth to see it while others will stay away. The film seems particularly targeted at children, and perhaps a positive outcome will be that some of those kids will end up being exposed to and loving the real Stooges’ shorts and features.
Since we’re all about the “classic” here I thought I’d take the opportunity to note that the Stooges hold the distinction of being the classic comedians who participated in the most “horror-comedy” scenarios. Between the innumerable spooky short subjects they made through the years (featuring the core two of Moe Howard and Larry Fine with third Stooges Curly Howard, Shemp Howard and Joe Besser) as well as some feature films (with Curly Joe DeRita as third Stooge) they easily outpaced their closest competitors, Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, the Little Rascals and The Bowery Boys when it came to the number of times they mixed laughs and scares. Add in Shemp’s solo appearances in horror-comedy projects and forays into horror territory on the 3 Stooges cartoon show (with live-action wrap-arounds) starring the DeRita incarnation of the team and the Stooges are the undisputed champs of the genre.
If you’d like to read about the “real” Stooges getting scared silly, just click here for a terrific article that gives a great overview of their horror-comedy films.
You can also access the reviews I’ve previously posted of some Stooges horror-comedy shorts when you click on the titles below:
IDLE ROOMERS
SPOOKS
OUTER SPACE JITTERS
Now enjoy this authorized “minisode” from Crackle, an abridgement of the classic Stooges short, “If a Body Meets a Body,” a semi-remake of “The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case.”
Are you going to see the new Stooges movie? What do you think about the concept of a remake?
ReplyDeleteI probably won't see it, primarily for personal reasons.
ReplyDeleteI have some friends who refuse to see it and some who have seen it that report that they felt the film, while not perfect captured some of the classic feel and resurrected some time-tested gags and routines.
In general, I'm not a huge fan of remakes. Sometimes they click because something new is brought to the project; a re-imagining of some sort or a fresh perspective or energy given to the material (the Bob Hope-Paulette Goddard "Ghost Breakers" certainly improved upon the silent original).
When it comes to replicating "originals" - performers in a new story (as opposed to a biopic) that usually doesn't work for me. Look up the trailer for "The New Adventures of Laurel & Hardy: For Love or Mummy" for example. My attitude is I can watch any film starring the real Laurel & Hardy or Three Stooges or fill-in-the-blank whenever I want on my DVD player and it will always be lightning-in-a-bottle - the true, original geniuses cavorting across my screen.
One thing that I thought was great was how hard and loud most of the adults (35 and up) were laughing! Most of the kids laughed a little, but I really felt they captured alot of the old "magic".
ReplyDeleteI've heard from several friends that really enjoyed it. I still have some personal reasons that I'll be avoiding it, but I hope that it inspires children and adults alike to seek out more of "the real thing."
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