In The Three Troubledoers, Curly’s made Sheriff, Moe, Larry deputies, & they have to rescue Christine McIntyre’s father from Blackie! If they live long enough …
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The Three Troubledoers (1946) starring the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard)
Set in the old American, West, in The Three Troubledoers, the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, and Curly) are cowpokes coming into town to get new shoes for their mule, Gladys. After they witness a gunfight. And the latest in a long line of sheriffs killed by the villain of the picture. And then an occupant of the town changies the population on the “Welcome to Deadman’s Gulch sign” down), they make their way to the local blacksmith’s shop. There the blacksmith’s daughter (played by Three Stooges regular Christine McIntyre) is weeping …Badlands Blackie (Dick Curtis) has kidnapped her father, and she’ll never see him again unless she agrees to marry Blackie. The Three Stooges try to intervene, but Blackie makes short work of them — until Curly’s gun belt fires by accident, scaring off Blackie, causing the townspeople to think that Curly has beaten Blackie in a gun fight.
Curly for President T-shirt
Sheriff Curly!
The townspeople make Curly the next sheriff, with Moe and Larry as his deputies. Nell breaks the bad news to the boys about the life expectancy for sheriffs and deputies in this town.
Townsman [to another townsman]: Told you he was a brave man.
Shooting practice
A funny variation on the “Aha, Maha” routine follows. Where the near-sighted Curly puts on his glasses for shooting practice. After some quick humor, Curly threatens a practice dummy made to look like Blackie … And it hits him. The real Blackie sneaks in, and after a moment’s confusion, threatens to shoot Curly.
In the meantime, Moe is working on a “secret weapon” (that keeps backfiring throughout the short film), only to be rescued in a comical bit by Larry. Later, Blackie returns to force Nell to marry him. The Stooges overhear this, and intercept the judge on his way to the “marrying chore”, with Curly impersonating him, complete with hte judge’s toupee.
All goes well until Curly gives himself away, but with Nell’s help he manages to escape to a nearby barn, hiding beneath the hay. While Blackie goes to his place at “Skullbone Pass,” where the blackmailed Nell will have to join him later for the marriage. Blackie’s men soon find and capture Curly, chaining him to the wall with a locked horse collar, so Blackie can come back and personally kill him later.
“Rescuing” Curly
Moe and Larry come by first, and after comic attempts at getting Curly out of the collar with a chisel, then a crowbar, and TNT, they try to saw it off — while Curly simply takes it off. The Three Stooges run off to saddle their ride — a bicycle built for three — with Moe bringing his “secret weapon” along. Nell arrives at Blackie’s place, and the wedding starts … But the Three Stooges arrive, just as Nell decides she can’t go through with it. They try Moe’s secret weapon, which misfires again, and while Blackie and his gang chase them into the powder shack (where the gunpowder is kept), the Stooges sneak to the front, having loading dynamite into Moe’s weapon — which still doesn’t work.
In disgust, they throw the weapon down, which fires the dynamite into the shack, blowing the villains to kingdom come; and Nell’s father staggers out of the wreckage. He’s opposed to the wedding of Nell and Curly, and a stick of dynamite thrown at the Stooges ends the short film with them scattering with Curly’s “Woo woo woo!”
The Three Troubledoers is a funny Three Stooges short film, and I recommend it. I rate it 4 clowns out of 5. It is available on DVD as part of The Three Stooges Collection volume 5.
Funny movie quotes from The Three Troubledoers
Moe (Moe Howard): Eat your dust like a man, tenderfooter.
Moe (Moe Howard): Are we mice or men?
Larry and Curly (Curly Howard): Mice!
Moe (Moe Howard): Don’t get personal.
Moe (Moe Howard): While Gladys [their mule] is wetting her whistle, we’ll see about getting her a pair of shoes.
Curly (Curly Howard): She could use a pair of bedroom slippers, too.
Curly (Curly Howard): Now ma’am, you don’t have to worry about Badlands Blackie with Coney Island Curly around!
Moe (Moe Howard): Quiet, mashed potatoes muscles.
Townsman: You’re the new sheriff, pay’s one hundred dollars a month.
Curly (Curly Howard): A hundred dollars a month? I’ll be able to get married!
Townsman [to another townsman]: Told you he was a brave man.
Nell (Christine McIntyre): That makes six sheriffs he’s killed, not counting deputies.
Moe (Moe Howard): Oh, they never count deputies.
Larry (Larry Fine): Hey, we’re deputies!
Moe (Moe Howard): We’re ex-deputies!
Blackie (Dick Curtis): Alright Sheriff, your time has come. I’m gonna count to ten and I’m gonna blast. One, two …
Curly (Curly Howard): Not so fast!
Curly (Curly Howard): Do you take this horse collar for your lawful wedded harness?
Moe (Moe Howard): Were you lookin’ where you was goin’?
Curly (Curly Howard): No, I was goin’ where I was looking!
Nell (Christine McIntyre): I promised this man I’d marry him if he saved your life.
Nell’s father: What, him? I’d rather be dead.
Curly (Curly Howard): [hands him a lit stick of dynamite] Glad to oblige.
Cast of characters
- Curly Howard (Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise) … Curly
- Larry Fine (He Cooked His Goose) … Larry
- Moe Howard (I’m a Monkey’s Uncle) … Moe
- Christine McIntyre (Knutzy Knights) … Nell the Blacksmith
- Dick Curtis (Yes, We Have No Bonanza) … Badlands Blackie
Additional cast
- Hank Bell (Disorder in the Court) … Sheriff (uncredited)
- Steve Clark … Townsman (uncredited)
- Budd Fine (Crime on their Hands) … Townsman (uncredited)
- Joe Garcio (Squareheads of the Round Table) … Bartender (uncredited)
- Slim Gaut (The Tooth Will Out) … Sign Painter (uncredited)
- Si Jenks (Uncivil Warriors) … Justice of the Peace (uncredited)
- Ethan Laidlaw (Goofs and Saddles) … Trigger (uncredited)
- Elmo Lincoln … Nell’s Father (uncredited)
- George Morrell (Phony Express) … Townsman (uncredited)
- Victor Travis (Pest Man Wins) … Judge A. P. Blake (uncredited)
- Blackie Whiteford (Three Hams on Rye) … Quirt (uncredited)