The Yoke's on Me

The Yoke's on Me (1944)

** (out of 4)

After being rejected by the Army and Navy, brothers Moe, Larry and Curly return home where their father makes them by a farm so that they can work. It turns out the farm isn't in the greatest shape but soon some escaped Japanese men meet them.

THE YOKE'S ON ME is one of the lesser Stooges short as there's really not too many funny moments in it. The film starts off on a pretty weak note as there's not a single laugh to be had with the father. From here there are a few minor jokes but there's not a single classic Stooges moment. If I had to pick a highlight it would be the scene dealing with the disappearing jack-o-lanterns. While it could be said there was never an awful short from the boys, this one here is certainly disappointing.

One particular Three Stooges film found itself banned on many syndicated television stations in the late 1970s reasoning it jarred the sensibilities of the Japanese people. The short movie in question was May 1944's "The Yoke's on Me," released at the height of World War Two. Those bothered by the closing segment felt it ridiculed Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated in federal relocation camps in the Western states during the war. The final sequence of the Stooges' 79th Columbia Pictures short film depict escapees from a nearby confinement facility intruding in the trio's recently-purchased farmstead.

One stereotype held by some Americans on the Japanese during the war is they all shared the distinction of having buck teeth. The actors playing the escapees all sport elongated front teeth, further enflaming a number of executives at the TV networks and stations to take the action of blacklisting the episode, a practice which remains to this day. However, "The Yoke's on Me" has been available on videotape and other home media for the public to see. The Jules White-directed and Clyde Bruckman-written script opens with the Stooges ineligible for the draft because of Curly's water on the knee. Spurred on by their parents, played by the acting couple Robert and Eva McKenzie, both stage and movie actors dating back to the silent era, the Stooges buy a farm from an anxious owner waiting to find a sucker to unload his dilapidated homestead. The Stooges elicit bellyful of laughs as they bumble around the farm, discovering the livestock promised in the sale is scant. They did find a domesticated ostrich which provides Curly feathers for his memorable 'fan-dance' routine. And they stumble upon plenty of pumpkins, prompting them to carve several into Halloween Jack-O'-Lanterns. The pumpkins make their way onto the heads of the escapees, causing all sorts of chaos.

I'll never forget the first time when I watch this stooge short when I was like 13 or 14 on TBS and that was the only time that I've ever seen this short on television and unfortunately they didn't play this short on Family Channel or AMC but to say the least, I have this short on tape.

The boys are discharged from the army and their father tells the boys that they'll be working on a farm and they buy the farm for $1000 and their car (which is a piece of junk) and the same thing goes to the farm and the only livestock they got is a bird and a ostrich, there's a funny scene when Curly steps on a loose board and it hits Moe right in the face, later on the guy they bought the farm is stopped by the police to tell them that a bunch of Japs escaped from a relocation center and after the cop is done talking to him, the car wouldn't start and he actually mutters 'b@$!ard' (a cuss word on a 1940's stooge short).

Then the stooges witness an ostrich eating blasting powder and Curly tears up the feathers and starts a fan dance and later on they start cleaning out the pumpkins and the Japs show and they put their heads inside of a pumpkin, SICK!! And the stooges blow up the Japanese with the ostrichs egg which had blasting powder in it.

I don't understand that why people come down really hard on this short, I actually think that this is one of the best stooge shorts of all time, I also can't believe that one viewer stated that he likes the awful Joe Besser short Sweet and Hot (which I believe was their worst short) better than this stooge classic.

I give this short 9/10.

Ma and pa are proud that their sons Larry, Curly, and Moe have joined the armed forces. They are annoyed when their boys return after getting rejected. The boys try to regain their parents' respect by buying a rundown farm and working for the war effort. Some Japs escaped from a relocation center. An ostrich ran away from a circus.

This is a fine Stooges short until the Japs show up. One must remember that this is wartime propaganda. That means belittling the Japanese and even stuffing them with bad teeth. It is ugly. It cannot be ignored even if it is understandable for its times. It colors the whole thing and its off-putting nature sucks out all the fun.

Obviously this is a difficult flick to watch because of the treatment that Japanese-Americans receive at the hands of the writers. That said, it can serve as an historical document, showing just how Americans felt about the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. It's easy now to see--with 21st century eyes--how wrong and unjust the relocation camps were; back then, however, much of the country did not have such clarity.

But even without the racist content, this flick isn't that good anyway. The story meanders--the stooges get kicked out their home by their parents, they buy a house, and then they carve some pumpkins. We see a few assorted gags here and there, but nothing much memorable.

I did detect the first signs of Curly's failing health in this short. His energy is high, but I could hear a few lines in which his voice faltered just a bit and wasn't as strong and precise as normal. (Of course, he may have just been tired.)