The Three Stooges

THE THREE TROUBLEDOERS

Columbia, 1946.  Directed by Edward Bernds.  Camera:  George F. Kelley.  With Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Christine McIntyre, Dick Curtis, Hank Bell, Steve Clark, Bud Fine, Joe Garcio, Slim Gaut, Si Jenks, Ethan Laidlaw, Elmo Lincoln, George Morrell, Victor Travis, Blackie Whiteford.

It's the Old West again, and as the Stooges arrive in Dead Man's Gulch, a guy sits before the town sign, crossing off the population sign each time gunfire rings out.  The town count has gone from 216 to 199 when they enter, and The Stooges discover that six sheriffs in five months have been killed by Badlands Blackie and his gang.

He's kidnapped the father of a beautiful woman, and Blackie tells her that her dad will die unless she marries him.  Curly, who also woos the lass, becomes a sheriff after she pledges she'll marry him if he can make Blackie fade to black.

Cut to the finale, where The Stooges have freed her father, only to find he'd rather die than let her marry Curly.  Curly hands him a stick of dynamite, and The Stooges run away before it goes off.  A rather uninspired episode.

The Three Stooges
An Illustrated History,
by Michael Fleming
Broadway Books 1999