Goofs and Saddles (1937) starring the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard)
In Goofs and Saddles, the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Curly) are spies for the U.S. Cavalry in the Old West. They’re looking for cattle rustlers, pretend to be card gamblers, and run from their lives!
Review
Goofs and Saddles is a very funny Three Stooges short film, set in the American Old West. In it, the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Curly) are spies for the U.S. Cavalry. They’re sent to investigate cattle rustlers, and meet up with the head of the crooks (Stanley Blystone). To buy time while they wait for the Cavalry to arrive, they engage in an “honest” game of poker with him.
This is the highlight of the film, The Stooges “cleverly” cheat at cards, with Larry trying to tell Curly and Moe what hands the villain has in his hand. “I had four kinks in the back once …”. And then Curly and Moe take off their shoes, and use their feet to pass cards under the table! And the villain’s completely oblivious, of course. Until his confederates carry three corpses out of the saloon under a blanket:
Curly for President T-shirt
Wild Bill Hicup: [noticing] Hey, what happened to those fellas?
Longhorn Pete: Those are three crooks I shot for cheating in a card game.
So Curly folds, despite their having bet everything on that hand. They try to delay some more, but they’re eventually found out, and have to run for their lives! They “borrow” a covered wagon, and the chase is on! Eventually, they run into a shack for cover, but they’re surrounded. However, Curly accidentally turns a meat grinder into a machine gun, turning the tide! The cavalry arrives, and the crooks are arrested. However, there was a cute little monkey in the borrowed wagon, who turns the cranks and shoots the Stooges in the backside with the “machine gun”, ending the short.
Comedy highlights
- Listening to the ground when Larry hears something … And be run over by a horse-drawn cart!
- “Cleverly” disguised as bushes to spy on the cattle rustlers.
- Cattle rustler trying to chop down the bushes for firewood!
- Mule taking a bite out of the bush — and Curly’s pants!
- Moe & Curly cheating at cards – passing cards beneath the table with their feet!
- The “carrier pigeon” they use to send a message to General Muster …. Comes back and lands on Longhorn Pete’s shoulder!
- During the chase scene, Curly throws pots from the wagon they “borrowed” on the road. And the pursuing horses wear them like shoes!
- Improvising a machine gun with bullets and a meat grinder
Cast of characters
- Moe Howard … Wild Bill Hicup
- Curly Howard … Buffalo Bilious
- Larry Fine … Just Plain Bill
- Stanley Blystone (Back from the Front) … Longhorn Pete
- Theodore Lorch (If a Body Meets a Body) … General Muster
Additional Cast
- Hank Bell (Disorder in the Court) … Gang Member
- Bob Burns … Man in Saloon (uncredited)
- Jack Cooper (Three Smart Saps) … Man in Saloon
- Lew Davis (Pop Goes the Easel) … Cheating Poker Player
- George Gray (Higher Than a Kite) … Gang Member
- Ethan Laidlaw (Three Little Pirates) … Tex – Rustler Boss
- Eddie Laughton (Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise) … Bartender
- Ethelreda Leopold (Wee Wee Monsieur) … Saloon Girl
- Sam Lufkin (Playing the Ponies) … Colonel
- Hank Mann (Disorder in the Court) … Lem
- Joe Palma (Fiddlers Three) … Gang Member
- ‘Snub’ Pollard (Phony Express) … Bad guy caught by sash window in shed
- Eve Reynolds (Men in Black) … Saloon Girl with Larry
- Cy Schindell (Sing a Song of Six Pants) … Gang Member
- Tiny Ward (Some More of Samoa) … Dancing Girl’s Boyfriend
- Elaine Waters (Three Little Sew and Sews) … Saloon Girl
- Blackie Whiteford (Slaphappy Sleuths) … Gang Member
Trivia
- “Goofs and Saddles” alludes to the book “Boots and Saddles,” written by Elizabeth Custer, widow of Gen. George Armstrong Custer.
- Film debut of Joe.Palma, later “famous” as Shemp’s stand-in after Shemp’s death.
Editorial review of Goofs and Saddles courtesy of Amazon.com
The stakes are higher than ever when the Stooges ante up to play poker with General Muster’s nemesis, Longhorn Pete.