The Three Stooges – Punch Drunks

Directed by: Lou Breslow
Produced by: Jules White
Written by: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Jerry Howard,Jack Cluett.

Punch Drunks is the second short subject starring American comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

The fight boxing manager Moe is having lunch with several partners, he realizes his shy bartender (curly) goes crazy every time he hears the song “Pop Goes the Weasel.” Moe also notes a violinist (Larry), who happens to play the melody powerful in the restaurant. Seeing $ $ $ on uncontrollable bartender, Moe quickly the two cohorts unsuspecting recruits and prepares them for the world of boxing. Curly handle boxing becomes “KO Stradivarius,” and with Larry in tow playing “Pop Goes the Weasel” in every boxing match, Curly becomes the number one contender for the heavyweight championship.

All goes well until the night of the highly anticipated World Championship match with incredible Kilduff (Al-Hill). Just a few minutes in the first round, the Kilduff plants a left hook to curl, sending the crowd, landing on Larry and crushing his violin. Frantic, Larry sneaks are streets, looking for something that is playing “Pop Goes the Weasel” while Curly was battered by the boxer.

Larry manages to come across trucks a political campaign song blaring from its speakers and races at the track, crashing through a wall. Curly is almost ready to throw in the towel until he hears “Pop Goes the Weasel.” Wobbily boxer comes to his feet with renewed energy, and Kilduff calls in seconds, winning the fight. With the song keeps playing, but also hits Moe and Larry, and then walks toward the camera (the viewer) “woo-woo” threatening in the iris-out.

The production and the importance

The screenplay for “Punch Drunks” was written by the Stooges themselves, their only on-screen writing credit for short-Columbia as Jerry Howard, Larry Fine and Moe Howard. According to Moe, the initial treatment of the script was originated by Moe, in his strength, the studio decided to produce the film with the Stooges’ ahead of schedule.

In 2002, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

Notes

• This film appears briefly in the movie “Daddy Day Care.”
• This film was originally called “a symphony of punches,” but was changed before release. Punch Drunks is the title of “Punch Drunk”, in reference to any fighter who has been beaten so many times that is unstable on his feet.
• A colorized version of the film was released in 2004 as part of the nonsense DVD collection on the loose.
• The film is notable for being one of the few in which the Stooges is a group created at the beginning of the movie, but who meet by chance.
• Jerry Howard natural voice was much more low-pitched voice that has made its “Curly” character.
  This is the first film where Curly calls himself a “victim of circumstance!” (Circumstance) this comment would become a catch-phrases Curly.
• When the Stooges are participating in the first training as a boxer Curly (rowing down the street), Larry is playing a melody on his violin that sounds like “Let’s Fall in Love”, a song sung 23 years later by tiny character (Muriel Landers) in the movie sweet and hot Stooge.
• The “Pop Goes the Weasel” gag was later reused by the Stooges (with Joe Danita) in his 1963 film The Three Stooges go around the world in a dream.
• The short ends with the playing of the song “Pop Goes The Weasel”, which became the opening theme for the short Pop Goes the Easel.
• This is the first of at least four short nuts (including the necks of the horses, shakes, grunts and groans and tassels in the air) in which a passive ripple general sees, hears or smells something that triggers a violent reaction in him.
• The “boxing” in the game of the Three Stooges was based on this short.
• Ripple realizes he is about to fight in Drunks. This Punch was also the first of the nine short listed to play his violin Larry Fine.
  In many images of shares used for the boxing scenes, two men in the audience can see “flip the bird” by holding your middle fingers. This occurs relatively early in the game.
• During the fight, when Larry was seen running down the street, Curry’s voice can be heard in the distance saying, “Run! All the way!” This occurs twice in the film.
• Larry ran down the street is accelerated by comic effect, with post-production sound of quick steps added. His frantic driving the van, with its booming speakers “Pop Goes the Weasel” (same recording as in previous radio), also accelerated.
• The title music uses a single 1930 big band jazz tune called “I Thought I Wanted.” It was composed by Archie Getter who led the last short. The first part was also used in women Haters; the second part was later used in Men in Black.
• Originally, the song “Stars and Stripes Forever” to be used, but the producer did not want to pay royalties, so the song “Pop Goes the Weasel” was selected because it was public.