Product Details

• Actors: Michael Chiklis, Paul Ben-Victor, John Kassir, Evan Handler
• Directors: James Frawley
• Producers: Jim Lemley
• Format: NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: SPE
• DVD Release Date: March 6, 2012
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0074JOVTQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,534 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Based on the recently published book "The Three Stooges: From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons," this MOW dramatizes the rise of the comedy trio to worldwide fame.

This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

This product is expected to play back in DVD Video "play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars It is a dramanization with artistic license May 6, 2012

By Astanax Tahlmarine

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

First off, IMDB is full of factual errors submitted by various people on this "The Three Stooges (TV 2000)" movie, so I will spare repeating most of that here. It is those goofs and my own reading on the subject as to why I feel the creators of this movie showed artistic license. In reading Moe Howard's book, Moe Howard & the Three Stooges, one can glean facts that aren't in the movie, or were changed by the people in charge of the movie for dramatization. This movie was supposedly inspired by the book The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons. The funny thing is that this movie's plot is the Three Stooges as remembered by Moe, so it goes against nature to choose a book not written by Moe himself. For instance, Ted Healy's death in this movie was fiction compared to Moe Howard's fact of how they really found out about Ted Healy. I also felt that the movie was rushed in parts. It was a sigh of relief at some points to keep the plot going.

However the biggest scene change I realized (After not seeing it for 12 years), was Jerome Howard. I watched the movie in 2000, then got my own copy of Moe Howard's autobiography. I read that and had to explain to my wife all the differences between what actually happened and what was changed in the movie. I found myself talking throughout half the movie instead of watching it. So to see Jerome Howard sitting in a wheelchair after his career ending stroke and then a tombstone, the plot developed a big hole after reading what happened to Curly after the stroke. The movie set Curly up to be this man that was very unlucky with the ladies and makes it seem like Curly died from the effects of that one stroke.

In real life, Jerome recovered from his first stroke and had a cameo with his two brothers in the short, "Hold That Lion" with his trademark bowler hat. He finally found a woman who treated him well, married her, and they had a daughter together. I'm paraphrasing here, but Curly mentioned that he finally had a purpose in life as a father. It wasn't long after he suffered a second crippling stroke which finally killed him. One book on The Three Stooges speculate that all the blows to the head to both Curly and Larry by Moe is what attributed to them both having strokes.

Anyway, despite the glaring fact that the men portraying the stooges don't look or sound like them at all (Unlike the Farrelly Brothers' stooges in the 2012 tribute movie), it is a nice dramatization that hasn't been attempted on the stooges that I know of. Granted, it certainly isn't a very factual movie, going against what the man himself Moe Howard recollected, but it is something for the non book readers to get a small glimpse at what life could have been like for the legendary Three Stooges family. At least it shows Larry Fine as a separate family, and not a cousin as some are misled to believe.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 3 Stooges Tv movie June 30, 2012

By Ryan Clark

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I enjoyed this film a lot when it originally aired and still enjoy it to this day. They're may be a few historical inaccuracies (namely stuff about Ted Healy and MGM) but Muppet Movie director James Frawley does a wonderful job recreating the atmosphere of the time periods (1920's-50's) and the cast is superb. The stooges are pitch-perfect, the real stand out's being Michael Chiklis (The Sheild, The Thing from Fantastic Four) as Curly and the Cryptkeeper himself, John Kassir as Shemp. Not only do they perfectly embody the comedic personas, but they bring depth to the characters (or the real people I should say) that you wouldn't expect. The film is also nails all the proper emotional beats and really makes you feel for the plight of the Stooges (it took a very long time for them to gain the respect they deserved.) I'd say it's definitely a must see for die-hard Stooge fans.

As for the product itself, I was a little apprehensive at first at the idea of ordering what is essentially a high end DVD-R, but I was pleasantly surprised in the end. I had no problem getting the dvd to read in my semi old player, and the I was very impressed with the picture quality. You might thing it looks a tad to smoky at times, but the film always looked like that and the dvd is presented in widescreen, which is a big plus because I don't recall that being the case with it's original broadcast. I do wish it had some supplemental features and it is a little weird that the movie starts right up instead of the menu screen, but overall I am very pleased with the product an will continue to purchase from amazon's made to order catalogue.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Bare-bones release May 30, 2012

By Dibbs Martin

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm happy to see this finally get an official dvd release. But, for the price, it's as bare-bones as it gets. No menu, no subtitles. Picture quality and audio are passable however. Maybe we'll see a similar release of "Bud & Lou," in the future?