Product Details

• Actors: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Dorothy Appleby, Lynton Brent
• Directors: Jules White
• Writers: Ewart Adamson
• Producers: Jules White
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 28, 1997
• Run Time: 18 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302801273
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,045 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"Cookoo Cavaliers" (1940) and "Booby Dupes" (1943) are respectively the 51st and 84th entries in the Columbia series of Three Stooges shorts. While most of the shorts on these releases are in no particular order, both of these episodes start with the boys in the fish business. In the first, their 30-day-old catches and lack of customers force them to purchase what they think is a saloon down in Cucaracha, Mexico, but it turns out to be a beauty salon. Here one feels a little sorry for the senoritas whose hair is totally destroyed by the Stooges' ineptitude. However, Curly's pantomime (with sound effects) of a bartender is a gem.

"Booby Dupes" begins as a literal remake of the 1932 Laurel and Hardy classic "Towed in a Hole," and perhaps it suffers by comparison. It is business as usual as they try to fix up a craft that is not seaworthy, which they of course manage to sink on their first fishing trip out. Their signaling a plane with a towel that has a paint stain very much like a Japanese flag is merely a contrivance to bring the film to an all-too-common hasty conclusion.

"Busy Buddies" (1944, #78) has them as restaurateurs with Curly as a cook to whom chicken soup means passing boiling water through a hen. A pie delivery does not lead to what one would expect but to their need to earn $100 by Curly's winning a milking contest so they can pay their bills. They lose when the crowd realizes he is milking a fake cow with Larry, Moe, and a huge supply of milk inside. The film ends with the three beating a hasty retreat, this time from the arena. --Frank Behrens

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars three of the best, November 6, 1999

By 

Ryan J. Coco (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three Stooges: Cookoo Cavaliers also includes Booby Dupes and Busy Buddies [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This three stooges video features the shorts,"Cookoo Cavaliers","Booby Dupes," and "Busy Buddies." ( All Curly shorts.) In "Cookoo Cavaliers", the stooges are Larry Hook, Moe Line , and Curly Sinker, fishsalesmen who've been trying to get rid of their fish because the fish smell really bad. So, the stooges decide to get out of the fish business and go into the saloon business. But the stooges' investment broker thinks that they want to buy a beauty salon and sells the stooges an abandoned beauty salon in Mexico, where the stooges create havoc by giving four women horrible facials and horrible haircuts. In "Booby Dupes", the stooges are fish- salesmen again. This time, they decide to catch their own fish and buy their own boat, because they first got their fish from a store and they were selling it off the street in their car and business was really bad. They also want to get rid of the middle man. In "Busy Buddies", Moe and Larry enter Curly in a milking contest at the county fair. The reason why: their breakfast restaurant is about to go out of business so they think this "contest" will help them save their breakfast restaurant from going out of business by winning the prize money. When Moe and Larry take Curly to a pasture to pratice for the contest, Curly doesn't know the difference between a cow and a bull!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tape, October 10, 2001

By 

mike holme (San Ramon, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three Stooges: Cookoo Cavaliers also includes Booby Dupes and Busy Buddies [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Cookoo Cavaliers" - A classic. This short starts out with the stooges having no business with their fish selling so they decide to go into the saloon business and instead get a beauty salon. Then the stooges wreck havoc on their customers' hair which turns out to be hilarious! The best short on this tape.

****

"Booby Dupes" - Not as strong as the last one but still pretty good and funny. This was Del Lord's last effort on a Curly short and it is one of Curly's last shorts when he is in good health. Anyway, the beginning is quite similar to "Cookoo Cavaliers" because the stooges are in the fish business again. This time they decide to catch their own fish after a fiasco with cats and fish. There were many funny scenes, like when the stooges fix the boat, and the fishing part was also pretty good stuff. The only weakness of this one is the "jealous boyfriend" part which strays from the plot and seemed to be time-filler.

***1/2

"Busy Buddies" - Another good short. The cafe scenes are classic. The rest isn't as good, but it was still pretty funny. We actually get to get a glance of what the stooges would be like live since there is an audience that seems so well-dressed for a cow milking contest! The problem here is that Larry only gets 7 lines and doesn't get punished by Moe once! He seemed to be more of a supporting actor than one of the stars.

***1/2

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars BUSY COOKOO DUPES, July 6, 2001

By 

Stooge (Naperville, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three Stooges: Cookoo Cavaliers also includes Booby Dupes and Busy Buddies [VHS] (VHS Tape)

COOKOO CAVALIERS (1940) - A pretty good short. Curly's no-dialogue scene where he's fixing up an imaginary drink is hilarious, and watch out for one scene where it looks like Curly and Moe almost get into a real fight (it's when the Stooges are putting the mud on the lady's face). Afterwards, there's a cut and the boys are going on with the short. Sometimes, I heard the Stooges got into fights behind the scenes whenever something would go wrong.

BOOPY DUPES (1945)- The short opens up basically the same way the previous short does. The boys are fish men with lousy business, so they decide to get more fish by buying their own boat and going fishing themselves. Not a great short, and in fact, it's pretty weak for a Curly short. There's not much plot, and not much funny gags to back it up. The scenes in the second half with the Stooges on their boat are awkward, and look like the Stooges were working with no script. There's tons of flubbed lines, and missed cues. Del Lord's declining directorial efforts from the mid-40's really took it's toll here.

BUSY BUDDIES (1944) - Another weak Del Lord effort from the mid-40's. Although this had some funny scenes, overall, it's not a great short, and weak in several places. The ending especially had no sting.

The first short is solid, but the last two are duds. A weak tape.