THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES (1962) (original) (raw)

• Ancient Geography Lessons
  After the time machine lands, Quinn Redeker comments that they must be in the mountains of Eastern Greece. However, if they were supposed to have landed in Ithaca, as the plot implies, Ithaca is nearly the westernmost point in Greece - at least 200 miles west of the mountains of Eastern Greece. Also, shepherd Emil Sitka, told the travelers that he was on the island of Rhodes, & to get back to Ithaca, they have to go 1,200 miles east. However, since Rhodes is just off the coast of Turkey, it would be 1,200 miles west to Ithaca.

• Ancient Pies
  At the end, during the chariot chase, there are two different pie-throwing sequences while moving at high speed. In the first, George Neise is hit with 4 pies & is covered pretty well with goop. But in the next cut immediately after, the first pie of the second sequence hits George with a nearly clean face.

• Change in position
  When Curly Joe and Larry begin pulling the wires off of Moe, Moe has his head tilted up, but in the next shot, his head is suddenly facing straight.

• Forgetting what to say next
  When a lady is supposed to say to the Stooges (who are dressed in drag) "Well, get busy! You know what to do!", she just says "Well...", then there's a long pause as if she forgets the rest of her line, then there's a jump cut in the film and she repeats her line the correct way.

• Larry Spills the Beans
  As soon as the time-travelers arrive in ancient Greece, Larry lets the black-and-white audience know what color the "bad-guys" are wearing when he says, "The war's over, the guys in the green shirts chickened out!"

• Missed hit
  When Odius is supposed to throw wine in Ulysses' face, it's obvious that he misses Ulysses' face.

• Mr. Dimsel's Scribblings
  Mr. Dimsel adds some electrical/mechanical items to Skyler's drawing early in the movie, which later he confesses that he is a "graduate engineer" .. WHY??? WHY would he become a pharmacist after having a graduate degree in engineering???

• Not-in-Sync Pounding
  During the slave-boat rowing sequences, the person in charge of "rhythm-keeping" pounds the drums at times when everyone is NOT stroking ...

• Precision-Guided Munition or Time-Space Paradox?
  On the way back to Ithaca, New York, from Ithaca, Greece, the time machine detoured over the Los Angeles area first. At the end of the film, when Larry drops the bomb from the time machine, the time clock must've shown them passing overhead at around noon, March 18-21, 1936. The bomb Larry dropped in 1962 destroyed the same smokestack as the boys destroyed in 1936 with canon fire, during filming of 'Half-Shot Shooters'.

• Visible Boom
  Larry & Curly Joe come out of the store room with new plates after George Neise yells at everyone to clean up, & Curly Joe drops the plates. When Moe walks over to where Larry & Curly Joe are standing next to each other, you can see the moving shadow of a boom in the upper left corner of the screen, behind Larry, during the entire scene.

• Visible padding
  When Hercules pushes the cell bar back down, causing it to hit Larry in the eye, you can see padding on the bottom of the bar that was used so Larry wouldn't get hurt.

• Wrong side
  When Achilles the Heel and his assistant open a side of their jackets to show their knives, the actor playing the assistant accidentally opens up the wrong side at first.

• Wrongly Placed Sound Effect
  Early in the movie, the boys are working in Mr. Dimsel's drug store. Larry decides to throw a pharmaceutical substance over to Curly-Joe past Moe's head. The scene includes a "head-bonk" sound-effect that clearly is filmed missing Moe's head altogether!

Stooge Mayhem is not available for this episode.

• "Uh-oh, a bald-headed screw. I wish I had a bald-headed screwdriver!"
  (Moe)

• "I'll take the right flank." "I'll take the left flank." "I'll take a tranquilizer!"
  (Moe, Larry & Curly Joe)

• "A super tranquilizer. It's good for headaches?" "Yeah." "Well, here's a super headache!" [bonk!!]
  (Moe & Curly Joe)

• "You were never a success at anything - except stupidity!"
  (Moe)

• "He has got it hooked up all wrong - any idiot can see that." "Well, you oughta know."
  (Moe & Larry)

• "You know, these old Greek things certainly have lovely curves, haven't they?" "These young Greek things ain't bad, either!"
  (Quinn Redeker & Moe)

• "But we're outnumbered." "You're outbrained too, but we have to try anyhow."
  (Curly Joe & Moe)

• "Have you been shipwrecked?" "Nah, we always take a bath with our clothes on. That's how we do our laundry."
  (Emil Sitka & Moe)

• Breaking out of prison
  The Stooges are stuck in prison or they're trying to get a friend out of prison, and they use saws and other tools to try to cut the cell bars so they or their friend can escape (and usually accidentally hit each other with the tools).
  Also used in: 3 DUMB CLUCKS · SAVED BY THE BELLE · OUT WEST · SQUAREHEADS OF THE ROUND TABLE · PALS AND GALS ·

• Bump Against A Wall And Flowerpot Smashes Person On Head
  A Stooge or villain bumps against a wall and a ledge holding a flowerpot breaks. The flowerpot breaks on the person's head, and knocks the person out.
  Also used in: HEAVENLY DAZE · HOKUS POKUS · DOPEY DICKS · SELF MADE MAIDS · CORNY CASANOVAS · UP IN DAISY'S PENTHOUSE · BUBBLE TROUBLE · FLAGPOLE JITTERS · RUSTY ROMEOS ·

• Ducking when about to get hit
  When Moe is about to hit another Stooge, the Stooge ducks and covers his face. Moe then ducks down next to the Stooge and hits him.
  Also used in: POP GOES THE EASEL · FLAT FOOT STOOGES · HALF-WITS HOLIDAY · PEST MAN WINS · SCHEMING SCHEMERS · PIES AND GUYS · JERKS OF ALL TRADES

• Mistaking yelling for singing
  When Larry or the third Stooge yells in fright as he sees something, Moe says "This is no time for singin'!"
  Also used in: A BIRD IN THE HEAD · WHO DONE IT? · HULA-LA-LA · FOR CRIMIN' OUT LOUD ·

• Punching hole through barricaded door
  When the Stooges are barricading a door from an enemy, the enemy punches a hole through the door and hits a Stooge through it.
  Also used in: NUTTY BUT NICE · LOOSE LOOT · BUBBLE TROUBLE ·

• Running through open door
  When somebody is about run into a locked or barricaded door to bust it open, the door is opened at the last second, causing the person to run inside the room and straight into a wall.
  Also used in: ROCKIN' THRU THE ROCKIES · GENTS IN A JAM · THREE DARK HORSES · QUIZ WHIZZ ·

• Stooges in drag
  A Stooge dresses up as a woman, usually to escape enemies that the Stooges are being chased by.
  Also used in: POP GOES THE EASEL · UNCIVIL WARRIORS · MOVIE MANIACS · WHOOPS, I'M AN INDIAN! · WEE WEE MONSIEUR · MUTTS TO YOU · NUTTY BUT NICE · FROM NURSE TO WORSE · ALL THE WORLD'S A STOOGE · MATRI-PHONY · HIGHER THAN A KITE · MICRO-PHONIES · RHYTHM AND WEEP · SELF MADE MAIDS · DON'T THROW THAT KNIFE · BLUNDER BOYS · THE OUTLAWS IS COMING

• Using suspenders as a slingshot
  Also used in: SHOT IN THE FRONTIER ·

No trivia have been logged for this episode.

Re: THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES
Posted 2001-09-17 15:00:00 by Shemp_Diesel
Edited 2016-03-26 23:07:12 by Shemp_Diesel

Had a slight change of heart about this one--now I would put it up there with "Around the World In A Daze" and "Orbit" as the one of the boys best from the 60s. Still not great, but in the "Curly-Joe" era, good is the best you can get.

Starts off pretty good--gets really good when the stooges try & break Ulysees out of jail; anytime the stooges and tools are involved, it's usually a good thing.

The laughs die down a bit after the boys get shipwrecked--as the film focuses more on story--but overall, an entertaining way to kill about 89 minutes.

7 pokes

Reviewer's Rating: (7)

Re: THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES
Posted 2015-11-06 06:48:51 by FourthThird
Edited 2015-11-09 07:37:23 by FourthThird

Curly-Joe Derita may have been a more natural and comfortable fit with Moe and Larry than Joe Besser was, but Besser was a heck of a lot more interesting to watch. What's really sad is that Derita clearly had potential to be funny, with that face and voice of his, but he just didn't seem to try very hard most of the time. Here, as in other places, he seems to be just phoning it in.

As for the actual movie -- well, it's a 1960s Stooges feature; that just about says it all. The worst part to me is the obtrusive cartoon music soundtrack, especially near the beginning. The funniest part is right at the end, when Dimsel comes back from his own little unchronicled adventure!

Re: THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES, THE
Posted 2011-02-09 15:41:24 by diddymuck

No idea the reason for the negative reviews. A lively, hilarious satire of the then-current sword and sandal cult with the boys lending as much extemporaneous materials as they do rehearsed. The galley slave moments were first class, and such noteworthy guest stars as George N. Neise (McKeever and the Colonel), Hal Smith, and stooge alumni Emil Sitka and Gene Roth. "moe's got good rhythm, don't he?"

Re: THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES, THE
Posted 2011-01-20 14:51:30 by cpp

Awful! Capitalizing on resurgent Stooges is one thing, but this was little more than a weak hodge-podge of Homer's Odyssey & the Twelve Labors of Hercules, jammed into 89 minutes. The subtext of the Stooges becoming instant gods, if planned, was clever, to cement their image as comedy gods. If not planned, it was a brilliant stroke of luck.

The Stooges were subdued throughout, & that's a shame, except for a bright spark - a little more life in the nearly comatose Joe DeRita when he became the whip master on the galley. Also, oddly, could Samson Burke have been made to appear any weaker as Hercules – the greatest of Greek heroes – than in this feature?

Emil Sitka deserved better. Perhaps it was a conflicting contract issue, or favors paid to others, butSitka, who had long-since paid his dues, was screwed again with a bit part not worthy of his talents. The silly Cyclops twins had more screen time thanSitka.

Mythology isn't always easy to follow. But, in my opinion, research & production values were shoddy - almost as if the thought was audiences would be too stupid to notice errors. At 900 BC, they appeared to land 300 years too late to hang around with Hercules. Although neither the City, nor Battle, of Troy were mentioned (except shown on a map), this feature seemed disjointed from the time, people, & events, it sought to portray, even considering mythology is a little nebulous. That made it tough to follow. Also, see the 'Goofs'.

The battle sequence as the time machine lands is lame. A few of the extras put some effort into what they were doing, but not many. Even extras in other segments looked lethargic. Weak dialog was painful to hear. Sony's Internet outlet, Crackle, also contributes to the mess. They compare this feature as 'The Three Stooges Meet Back to the Future'. Huh?

This feature may've turned a profit, & may've been liked by some Stooge fans, but it was as badly overrated as it was a poor representation of Elwood Ullman's writing skills. The narrator, arguably, turned in the best performance. Thankfully, this wasn't intended as a historical documentary. Even if it had been, it wasn't worthy of the Stooges.

Re: THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES, THE
Posted 2010-08-21 01:53:29 by Stoogephilia

Like another Bernds' directing Stooges' films, this film has full of story and compared the story with some great Stooges' routines, like "Breaking out of prison" routine and some funny moments, like "Drug Store" scene. In this film, Edward Bernds created Curly-Joe character as a dimwit fat buddy boy, not just Curly immitator like he created Shemp character previously in 1946-1948.

Re: THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES
Posted 2001-04-24 01:07:00 by Ichabod Slipp

Just watched this. The absolute best you can say for Joe DeRita is that he isn't Joe Besser. He'll get hit and he'll participate in slapstick, but he has no personality of his own, although I did catch at least two Curly imitations (you have to watch for them). Now on to the film. The Stooges give decent performances, and do have a few good moments of pure Stoogery (After DeRita drops a stack of dishes, he proudly holds up a cup which survived, and Moe hits him over the head with it) but all in all this film is just an entertaining piece of fluff. It's fun to watch, but the story overwhelms the Stooges a little too much and doesn't let them be as broad or as abusive as they should be. Of course, they were getting older and perhaps were willing to settle for letting personalities sell the act instead of comedically-timed violence. The irony is that Curly Joe didn't HAVE a personality, whereas Curly had it to spare. More complaints: some of the foley effects were *too* cartoony and didn't really match some of the action... and whimsical cartoon music doesn't work with the Stooges at *all*. This was the beginning of the age when the Stooges were a hot kids' commodity. To me it's peculiar to think of them as being targeted solely to kids when I think of some of the slightly risque jokes they would pull in the older shorts. ("Don't mind me, I'm only the plumber!")

Re: THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES
Posted 2001-02-16 17:07:00 by sickdrjoe

Haven't seen this in years, but it was pretty bad the last time I did. De Ritais 300 lbs of nothin'...he's not as teeth-gratingly annoying as Besser, but at least Besser was trying (albeit failing miserably). The ONLY silver lining is that, finally, after years of toiling in Harry Cohn's gulag, they were finally getting paid decent money.