Punch Drunks
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| Punch Drunks | |
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 Punch Drunks title card |
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| Directed by | Lou Breslow |
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Moe Howard Larry Fine Jerry Howard (story) Jack Cluett (screen play) |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Chuck Callahan William Irving Jack "Tiny" Lipson Dorothy Granger Al Hill Billy Bletcher Arthur Houseman Larry McCrath George Gray A.R. Heysel Dorothy Vernon |
| Cinematography | Henry Freulich |
| Editing by | Robert Carlisle |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  July 13, 1934 |
| Running time | 17' 29" |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Woman Haters |
| Followed by | Men in Black |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Punch Drunks is the second short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.
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[edit] Plot
Moe finds that Curly Howard can be a boxing star when Larry plays "Pop Goes the Weasel" on the violin. When he hears the tune, Curly blacks out and goes crazy, uttering his classic "Woo-woo-woo-woo!" cry (already firmly established by the time this film was made) and knocking out a group of people. Instantly Moe knows that Curly would be a good fighter. So the three join together and create a team. Curly succeeds as a fighter with several knockouts, leading to the world championship fight. But things go awry when, at the first round of the fight, the champion boxer hits Curly and falls out of the ring onto Larry, breaking the violin in the process. Larry leaves the fight-venue and searches outside for anything playing "Pop Goes the Weasel," while Curly is being battered by the boxer.
Larry encounters a "cathedral" style radio playing the tune, brings it to the stadium and positions it at the ring, agitating Curly in the process. But then, the tune ends and the radio host begins chatting up a story. In frustration, Moe smashes the radio over Larry's head, and Larry is forced to go out again to find another source, with poor Curly being battered again. Larry finally finds one, an advertising sound truck. He drives the truck fast until he smashes the entrance of the stadium. The tune agitates Curly who knocks out the champion boxer. At the end, everyone congratulates Curly for the deed, but as the truck begins to play "that 'Weasel' tune again" (as Moe refers to it), Curly goes into his agitated "Woo-woo-woo-woo!" act again, knocks out Larry and Moe and advances comically menacingly toward the camera as the film irises out.
[edit] Production and significance
The script for Punch Drunks was written by the Stooges themselves, their only on-screen writing credit for the Columbia shorts—as Jerry Howard, Larry Fine, and Moe Howard. According to Moe, the initial treatment of the script was originated by Moe; on its strength, the studio decided to produce the Stooges' next film sooner than scheduled.[1]
In 2002, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
[edit] Notes
- This film was originally called A Symphony of Punches but was changed before its release. The title Punch Drunks comes from the expression "punch drunk," referring to any fighter who has been hit so many times he is unsteady on his feet.[2]
- A colorized version of this film was released in 2004. It was part of the DVD collection entitled "Goofs on the Loose."
- The short is notable as being one of the very few in which the Stooges are not an established trio at the beginning of the film, but rather meet up through happenstance.
- Jerry Howard's natural voice was rather lower than the high-pitched voice he effected for his "Curly" character. Early in this film, his voice is not so high-pitched as in later films.
- Early in this, the Stooges' second film, Curly also utters his eventually oft-used comment, "I'm a victim of soycumstance!" (circumstance).
- The "Pop Goes the Weasel" gag was later reused by the Stooges (with Curly-Joe DeRita) in their 1963 feature film The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze.
- The short ends with the playing of the song "Pop Goes The Weasel", which would become the opening theme for the short Pop Goes the Easel, as well as its closing, and sounding like the same recording used in this film.
- The world championship is between Killer Kilduff and K.O. Stradivarius. The fight lasts four rounds. There is a running gag with a kid throwing pieces of hard candy at the timekeeper's bell to make it ring; the timekeeper gets suspicious and even sticks his tongue out a time or two at the kid.
- This is the first of several Stooge shorts in which a normally passive Curly sees, hears, or smells something that triggers a violent reaction in him.
- The "Boxing" option in the Three Stooges video game was based on this short.
- This was also the first of nine shorts that featured Larry Fine playing his violin.
- In the stock crowd footage used for the boxing scenes, two men in the audience can be seen "flipping the bird" by holding up their middle fingers. This happens relatively early on in the match.
- During the fight, when Larry is seen running down the street, Moe's voice can be heard in the distance saying, "Run! All the way!" This happens twice in the film.
- Larry's running down the street is sped up for comic effect, with post-production sounds of rapid footsteps added. His frantic driving of the van, with its speakers booming out "Pop Goes the Weasel" (the same recording as on the radio earlier), is also sped up.
- The title music uses a unique jazzy 'big band' 30's melody. The first part was also used as part of the score from their musical short Woman Haters . The second part was later used in the succeeding Men In Black short.
[edit] Quotes
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- Moe (giving his lunch order): "Four slices of burnt toast and a rotten egg."
- Curly: "Burnt toast and a rotten egg?"
- Moe: "Yeah."
- Curly: "What do you want that for?"
- Moe: "I got a tapeworm and it's good enough for him."
- Curly: "I'm a victim of circumstance!" ('soycumstance') - recurring line
- Moe (looking at Larry and Curly): "From now on, we're a corporation!"
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- Woman (sitting in a car that's stuck in the ditch): "I'm in a terrible dilemma."
- Moe (thinking that's the car's model): "Yeah, I don't care much for these foreign cars, either."
- Woman: "No, you don't understand. I'm stuck."
- Moe: "On me? That's funny, that's what they all tell me!"
- Woman: "I mean in the ditch!"
- Moe: "The ditch... *nervous laugh* Yeah..."
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- Moe: "Give me a hand."
- Curly (extending hands): "Which one?"
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- Moe (seeing Curley's shaking leg): "What's the matter? You nervous, toots?"
- Curly (scared, pointing to his leg): "No, only in that leg."
- Moe: "Get back in there or I'll tear your tonsils out!" - recurring line
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Howard, Moe (1977, rev. 1979). Moe Howard and the Three Stooges. Citadel Press, 73. ISBN 0806507233.
- ^ Solomon, Jon (2002). The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion. Comedy III Productions, Inc, 45. ISBN 0971186804.
[edit] Further reading
- The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [1](Citadel Press, 1994).
- The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming [2](Broadway Publishing, 2002).
- One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [3], (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).
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