Tricky Dicks (1953) starring the Three Stooges – Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard
Tricky Dicks is a short film starring the Three Stooges that parodies TV and movie police shows, and does so in a very funny short film. The entire short film takes place inside of a police station, where the Stooges are all working as police officers – Sergeant Moe, and detectives Larry and Shemp.
It’s a fast-paced short film, with lots of verbal humor, as well as the trademark Three Stooges slapstick. The basic plot has the Three Stooges charged by their police chief, B. A. Copper, to solve a murder. They begin interrogating various individuals, including “Chopper” whose confession to the murders goes unheeded by the Stooges. Also a wonderfully funny Italian organ grinder played by Benny Rubin, who flees the police department upon hearing of a murder …. But leaving his monkey behind. The monkey seems to have it in for Shemp, until the actual murderer arrives, and starts shooting up the police station. Until he’s stopped by … the monkey with Shemp’s gun! The short film ends with a very Looney Tunes moment as Shemp, having been shot, doesn’t need a doctor — he needs a plumber.
Tricky Dicks is a very funny Shemp-era Three Stooges short, and recommended. I rate it 3.5 clowns out of 5. Tricky Dicks is available on DVD as part of The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 7: 1952-1954.
Funny movie quotes from Tricky Dicks
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): Detective Bureau, Sgt. Moe speakin’! Yes, Collins? [ pause ] You say you don’t know what to do about a woman being annoyed by a man with a wooden leg by the name of Smith?! [pause] Well, find out the name of his other leg! [hangs up phone] I have to do everything around here!
Larry (Larry Fine): You know my sister was engaged with a wooden-legged guy.
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): Yeah?
Larry (Larry Fine): She broke it off.
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): The engagement?
Larry (Larry Fine): No, the leg.
Slick Chick
Shemp (Shemp Howard): Where were you born?
Slick Chick (Connie Cezon): In bed. I wanted to be near my mother.
Larry (Larry Fine): Hey babe, you forgot something!
[she slaps him in the face]
Larry (Larry Fine): That’s what you forgot!
[Repeated line]
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): I have to do everything around here!
[Shemp is banging his head on the desk as part as his ‘thinking’ method]
Shemp (Shemp Howard): I’ve got it!
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): What?
Shemp (Shemp Howard): A terrific headache.
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): Quiet, everyone! Genius at work!
Chopper
Larry (Larry Fine): Are you guilty?
Chopper (Phil Arnold): I am the culprit of this heinous crime.
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): Not gonna talk, eh?
Chopper (Phil Arnold): I reiterate …
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): Not in here you don’t!
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): [answering phone] Hello?! Yeah?! Detective bureau, Sgt. Moe speakin!! [pause] Oh, wait a minute, Clancy! [sits down behind a desk] Go ahead! [pause] You say there’s a dead horse on Ticonderoga Street?! [picks up a pencil and begins to write ] How do you spell ‘Ticonderoga’? [pause] Oh, you don’t know, either? Well, drag him over to First Street!
Larry (Larry Fine): That’s evidence!
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): Did you right it down?
Larry (Larry Fine): [pockets full of pens] No, I couldn’t find a pencil. [Moe hits him]
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): [to Shemp] Did you?
Shemp (Shemp Howard): No. [Moe hits him]
Shemp and Larry: Did you?
Sergeant Moe (Moe Howard): [slaps Shemp and Larry] No!
Shemp (Shemp Howard): Release that guy who stole eleven bottles of whiskey. I know he’s guilty, but the DA said we can’t make a case out of eleven bottles.
Shemp (Shemp Howard): [after hitting Moe with a baseball bat] Moe! I meant to hit the other monkey.
Cast of characters
- Shemp Howard … Shemp
- Larry Fine … Larry
- Moe Howard … Sgt. Moe
- Benny Rubin (Space Ship Sappy) … Antonio Zucchini Salami Gorgonzola dePizza
- Connie Cezon (Rusty Romeos) … Slick Chick
- Ferris Taylor … Chief of Detectives B.A. Copper
- Phil Arnold (The Ghost Talks) … Chopper
- Murray Alper (The Maltese Falcon) … The Thrill Killer
- Suzanne Ridgway (From Hell It Came) … Mail Clerk
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