Customer Reviews

The Three Stooges - The Outlaws Is Coming

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Did you grow up watching the Three Stooges with Sally Starr? Or Officer Joe Bolton? Were you there for Batmania with Adam West? How about Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In? If the answer is "yes," THE OUTLAWS IS COMING! (1965) is for you.

The Stooges' Curly-Joe era gets a bad rap, but I think it's unfair, as demonstrated by this fun & funny western starrring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Joe DeRita, Adam West (BATMAN), Nancy Kovack, Henry Gibson (LAUGH-IN), Emil Sitka, Don Lamond (Larry's son-in-law), Mort Mills... and a group of children's show hosts from around the US, the same ones we grew up with, as the OUTLAWS! Despite their ages, the Stooges hilariously generate an ample amount of slapstick, director Norm Maurer (Moe's son-in-law) directs in a casual yet narrative style, and veteran Stooge screenwriter Ellwood Ullman delivers clever & topical gags. Henry Gibson spoofs the '60s as a hippie native American. And, one year before he [climbed] to stardom as the Caped Crusader BATMAN, Adam West costars as the film's hero. For adults, it's a nostalgic trip back. For kids, it's a fun comedy. For everyone, it's Stooge entertainment!

As a bonus, Columbia throws in the funny western spoof GOOFS AND SADDLES (1937) starring the original Curly, Curly Howard.

Sure, this movie doesn't compare with the classic Three Stooges shorts, but it has its moments and provides a few laughs along the way. Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe, getting up in years, perform some of the classic chestnuts and a few new routines with reasonable craftsmanship besides a decent supporting cast led by Adam West, Nancy Kovak, frequent stooge co-star, and a bevy of 1950's and 1960's local television hosts. New York and Philadelphia audiences will fondly remember Officer Joe Bolton and Sally Starr respectively who hosted the afternoon Stoogefests on the local TV stations. Emil Sitka, a stooge regular, provides laughs as he takes on multiple roles. Adam West shows a bit of the wry humor that would win him fame as television's "Batman" or more recently as the Mayor of Quahog on Family Guy.

This was the last feature film for the Stooges and they show their age. Many stooge purists will dismiss the film as sub-par - and by objective standards, it ranks well below their best work. The key here is to appreciate the film for what it is: a pleasant 90-some minutes of light entertainment that is just better than some more contemporary films that are repeated endlessly on broadcast or cable channels.

The Outlaws Is Coming is a definite improvement over The Three Stooges Go Around the World In A Daze (1963). Director Norman Maurer finally found his knack in this outrageous, fun-filled adventure as the Stooges confront every western outlaw that you can think of. It is also the team's final feature film and one of their funniest. Don't be fooled by their advanced ages(Moe was 67, Larry 62, and Joe 54). The trio could still pack in alot of funny bits and gags. After thirty years of entertaining audiences, the magic was still there. Screenwriter Elwood Ullman, writer of such classic Shemp shorts as Shivering Sherlocks(1948) and Listen, Judge(1952) wrote the script for this hilarious bonanza.

This one has been a personal favorite of mine ever since I was a kid. "The Outlaws Is Coming" was the Stooges' final starring movie, and its humor anticipates the western satire that was yet to come with later films such as "Blazing Saddles".
Like another Stooge movie classic, "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules", the script doesn't take itself too seriously, not only firing jokes at Westerns, but at musical phenomenoms as well (the Stooges' pet skunk is named "Elvis"; a mop-topped Chinaman with a guitar sings "Three Blind Mice"; and one of the outlaws is named Johnny "Ringo", complete with screaming women right out of Beatlemania!).
Here, we get a pre-Batman Adam West filling the shoes of the typically timid Easterner who can barely hold a gun, much less shoot one. Nancy Kovack provides a counter-contrast to West's character as sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Stooge veteran Emil Sitka is on hand as well, along with a pre-Laugh-In Henry Gibson, who nearly steals the show as the Indian Chief's hip-jive talking son.
My favorite scene in the film is the "big showdown", in which West must face off against a band of legendary gunslingers--who (believe it or not) are made fools of because the Stooges poured super-strong printing glue into their holsters! These "fearless men" struggle ridiculously in the city street as they try to extricate their guns from their hips, with hilarious effect. It's definitely fun to watch, and one of the film's highlights.
As with other Stooge films, this one succeeds as well because it's all done with a satirical wink while giving Moe, Larry & Curly Joe room to do their stuff.
Not a bad film for one of the great comedy acts to ride off into the sunset on!

Despite the expected sterotyping, and the uncomfortable feeling of watching guys in their 60s take pratfalls, Columbia delivered a good Western satire, with excellent comic turns by relative newcomers Adam West and Nancy Kovack.
The film was good enough to engender a sequel or possibly a TV series.
A dependable Stooge writer delivered a funny script (which actually was one or two drafts away from a *very* funny script), loaded with clever anachronism, and the Stooges themsleves do okay; as usual Moe's ad-libs are fine and the team's timing is as good as it is on the bonus short, "Goofs And Saddles", from 1937.
The film moves medium tempo, and along with snappy patter and decent sight gags, has alot of action. I didn't care for the gunplay in the opening credits, but it's 1964, Westerns were huge, and so were the Stooges in reruns and with new features.

Moe Howard,Larry Fine and Joseph Wardell aka Curly Joe DeRita are out west in this film but this is the only occasion for Wardell. You saw Moe and Larry with Moe's brothers Curly and Shemp in earlier(short) films like GOOFS AND SADDLES,YES WE HAVE NO BONANZA,THREE TROUBLEDOERS,PHONY EXPRESS,OUT WEST,MERRY MAVERICKS,PUNCHY COWPUNCHERS,SHOT IN THE FRONTIER and PALS AND GALS. Great support from Adam West(TV's Batman),Nancy Kovack,Henry Gibson(TV's Laugh-In) and longtime Three Stooges supporter Emil Sitka. After this film,the Stooges moved from feature films back to shorts,but they were animated,in color,with brief(color)live action preceding and following each cartoon. The cartoons were produced for about 3 or 4 years and then Fine became terminally ill,suffering a paralyzing stroke in early 1970,five years before his death. This is the last live action film that the Stooges made at Columbia Pictures. This film was preceded by several other features plus the 190 two-reel shorts made between 1934 and '57. I dedicate this item to the memories of Moe(1897-1975),Larry(1902-1975),Wardell(1909-1993) and Sitka(1912-1998).

I was actually surprised at how decent this movie turned out to be. Unlike almost all of the other DeRita features, this one seemed to actually have a half-decent script and a pretty good supporting cast (particularly Adam West, pre-Batman, and the always fantastic Emil Sitka in three different roles), in lieu of the embarrassing childish inane scripts plaguing their other features. While this certainly doesn't merit classic status or rank among their greatest, nor was it made when they were in their creative and physical prime, it's also pretty enjoyable for what it is. There may not have been a lot of funny scenes, but the strong plot makes up for that deficiency. I also liked the unique and creative opening credits, and though the Native Americans were portrayed somewhat stereotypically, at least the scenes with them here, in 1965, are head and shoulders above the racist and offensive way they were being depicted onscreen even like 20 years earlier. They even have one young Native American who has gotten an education at a university, isn't wearing the ceremonial clothes everyone else is, and actually takes one of the bad guys to task for talking to them like they can't understand proper English. That's probably about as enlightened and progressive as one could have hoped for in 1965. However, as good of a supporting cast and script as the movie had, there were some dated jokes, like the conversation about Colts being a spoof on a then-current commercial and a reference to Dr. Kildare. This aspect of the movie hasn't made it age well, just like most movies and tv shows with a lot of topical humor. Also interesting to note is that the outlaws are played by the hosts of Stooges tv programs (marketed of course towards children, their prime audience during this final stage of their career); one of them, Don Lamond, was Larry's son-in-law.

Also included as a bonus is the short 'Goofs and Saddles' (1937). It's halfway-decent, but since it's a Western, it has the typical slow pace and therefore just isn't very funny or interesting. However, it does pick up the pace somewhat in the second half, after they lose those ridiculous wigs and false moustaches (though it was interesting to see Curly with the wig, since it gives one an idea of what he might have looked like before he joined the group and had a full head of long wavy hair). Another downside to these Westerns, besides the slow dull pace and the fact that they were never believable as slow-witted cowboys, is how restrained Moe is. Where's all of the punishment he usually inflicts on his mates, or all of the insults and rebukes? He's just not mean enough in the Westerns!

I would actually recommend this to someone interested in their feature-length films, even though saying one of the DeRita films is above-average still isn't saying that much, considering what most of the rest of them were like. At least this one can be enjoyed by people over the age of ten, and combined with the stronger than usual script and supporting cast, it's one of their few features that can be enjoyed by those of us who aren't nostalgic aging Boomers.

A delightful surprise - must see it again. Caught some of the in-jokes but I'm sure I missed dozens more. Excruciatingly bad puns throughout, each one well set-up. Some of the gags were worthy of Mel Brooks.

Good quality DVD that appears not to be region coded. The normal 3 stooges movie that's a bit silly but still lots of fun and brings back old memories. Good add to my collection.

this one dvd in a 12 dvd set you will need it to complete the set
and it is a very good dvd