The Three Stooges Meet Hercules
The Three Stooges Meet Hercules | |
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Directed by | Edward Bernds |
Written by | Norman Maurer Elwood Ullman |
Produced by | Norman Maurer |
Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Joe DeRita Vicki Trickett Quinn Redeker George N. Neise Samson Burke Emil Sitka Hal Smith Marlin McKeever Mike McKeever |
Cinematography | Scotty Welbourne |
Edited by | Edwin H. Bryant |
Music by | Paul Dunlap |
Production company | Normandy Productions |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $420,000[1] |
Box office | $2 million[1] |
The Three Stooges Meet Hercules is the third feature film to star the Three Stooges after their 1959 resurgence in popularity. By this time, the trio consisted of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita (dubbed "Curly Joe"). Released by Columbia Pictures, The Three Stooges Meet Hercules was directed by long-time Stooge director Edward Bernds. This was the most financially successful of the Stooges' feature films.
Plot
The Stooges work at Dimsal's Drug Store in Ithaca, New York, where they befriend Schuyler Davis (Quinn Redeker), the owner of the shop next door, who is attempting to build a time machine. With the boys' "help", the machine transports the boys, Schuyler and disaffected girlfriend Diane Quigley (Vicki Trickett) back in time to Ithaca in ancient Greece during the reign of the lecherous King Odius (George N. Neise). The King, after defeating and imprisoning Ulysses because the Stooges are believed to be gods, has a yearning for Diane. Realizing they have disrupted the proper course of history, Schuyler and the boys free Ulysses, after which Odius banishes them to the galleys, where Schuyler builds impressive muscles while constantly rowing.
After an escape and shipwreck, they kill a monster with the help of Joe's sleeping pills and start billing Schuyler as Hercules at a local gladiatorial arena. The real Hercules (Samson Burke) gets wind of their game and confronts them, but after single combat the Stooges convince Hercules to help them rescue Diane in a chariot chase. The time travelers remove Odius and, navigating by observing the progress of military technology, manage to set history straight by dumping him off into the Wild West where a tribe of Native American warriors chase him off into the distance. After that, the travelers return to Dimsal's Drug Store. Dimsal touches the time machine and disappears, but eventually returns with a pillory. The Stooges manage to remove the pillory with an electric tool.
Cast
- Moe Howard - Moe
- Larry Fine - Larry
- Joe DeRita - Curly Joe
- Quinn Redeker - Schuyler Davis
- Vicki Trickett - Diane Quigley
- George N. Neise - Ralph Dimsal/King Odius
- Samson Burke - Hercules
- Emil Sitka - Shepherd/Refreshment Man
- Hal Smith - King Theseus Of Rhodes
- Marlin McKeever - Ajax (The Siamese Cyclops)
- Mike McKeever - Argo (The Siamese Cyclops)
- John Cliff - Ulysses
- Barbara Hines - Anita
- Terry Huntingdon - Hecuba
- Diana Piper - Helen
- Gregg Martell - Simon
- Gene Roth - harbor captain
- Lewis Charles - Achilles the Heel
- Edward Foster - Freddie the Fence
- Cecil Elliott - matron
- Rusty Wescoatt - Philo, the horator
See also
References
- ^ a b Howard Maurer, Joan; Jeff Lenburg; Greg Lenburg (2012) [1982]. The Three Stooges Scrapbook. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press. pp. 326–327. ISBN 978-1-61374-074-3.
External links
- 1962 films
- 1960s fantasy films
- 1960s comedy films
- American fantasy-comedy films
- American films
- American black-and-white films
- Columbia Pictures films
- English-language films
- Films based on Greco-Roman mythology
- Time travel films
- The Three Stooges films
- Films directed by Edward Bernds
- American comedy films
- American fantasy films
- Fantasy-comedy films