Stoogemania

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Stoogemania
Directed by Chuck Workman
Produced by Michael Rosenblatt
James Ruxin
Chuck Workman
Written by Jim Geoghan
Chuck Workman
Starring Josh Mostel
Melanie Chartoff
Sid Caesar
Paul Garner
Music by Hummie Mann
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) June 1986
Running time 83'
Language English
IMDb profile

Stoogemania is a 1986 film about a fan of the Three Stooges. It was directed by Chuck Workman, and starred Josh Mostel. The film experienced an extremely small theatrical release and was poorly received by critics. It has been out of print since the 1980s, and has been released on VHS and Beta. As of February 2007, it hasn't been made available on DVD.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The film centralizes around Howard F. Howard, a casual Three Stooges fan. He's engaged to his girlfriend and life seems to be going well. More recently, he's been starting to see the Stooges wherever he goes. To save his life and his relationship, he seeks the help of a renowned Stooge psychologist (portrayed by Sid Caesar, one of the stars of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, which featured the Stooges in a cameo as firefighters). Unfortunately for him, this is a very serious epidemic which has apparently swept the nation. The doctor gives him medicine, which unfortunately are the wrong ones and are in fact sleeping pills. To his dismay, Howard still sees the Stooges everywhere. He ends up going to "Stooge Row", a seedy part of Los Angeles located between the fictional "Shet Up St." and "Nyuk Nyuk Blvd." To combat this, a sanitarium known as Stooge Hills is created. While in an all-Stooge burlesque house. While there, members of Stooge Hills (including a young James Avery) commit everyone in there to the sanitarium. Over a rigorous program, everyone is deemed cured. During the graduation ceremony, to prove that the Three Stooges are no longer funny, they play a few shorts. However, everyone comes to terms and realize "we love these guys". Howard gets married, and the film ends on a happy note.

[edit] History

During the 1980s, the Three Stooges experienced a sudden resurgence in popularity thanks to syndication and Jump N the Saddle Band's The Curly Shuffle. In an attempt to cash in on the craze, Atlantic (now owned by MGM, in turn owned by Sony now) made a film distributed through Paramount. The film was in no way endorsed by Columbia Pictures, the Three Stooges copyright holders, and so only four shorts are shown throughout the film, from the public domain shorts Sing a Song of Six Pants, Malice in the Palace, Brideless Groom, and Disorder in the Court. This film had an unbelievably low budget, and it shows. During the graduation scene, the head of Stooge Hills is talking about them being cured and being deemed normal for society. However, in a few shots when they pan to the "graduates", the actor playing him can be clearly seen in the audience — with the exception of his gaudy wig. In the United Kingdom, the film was released under the title Party Stooge.

[edit] Triva

[edit] Further reading

  • Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard [1], (Citadel Press, 1977).
  • The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon [2], (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002).
  • The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [3](Citadel Press, 1994).
  • The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming [4](Broadway Publishing, 2002).
  • One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [5], (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).

[edit] External links

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