Goof on the Roof

This is truly one of my favorite stooge shorts. The premise is one of my favorites: the boys take on tools and other inanimate objects. You know when this happens that nothing will ever go right! The short is one stooge delight after another. The only problem with it is the ending. It's one of the dumbest endings in stooge history and has nothing to do with the rest of the film. It's a shame that such a great short is marred in this way, and that you can't leave it on a note of hilarity. You'd think they could have come up with something much better.

But, all things considered, it's an excellent stooge short and the laughs don't stop.

What can I say? The Stooges are house sitting for their friend and want to make everything "nice" for when he cames back home with his new bride. That's the start for anything to go totally wrong, especially when you put these three characters in charge. In the process of "cleaning up" the house, they just naturally destroy it piece by piece. But the real payoff comes when the new television arrives and they approach the unpacking and set up with their usual "all business" attitude only to end up making things worse. Shemp is basically the "title" character, "goof on the roof" when he makes every attempt to nail the aerial to the chimmney, knocking the bricks for same all to pieces. Then he tries to nail it to the roof, crashing through on down to the other two below and totally smashing the "new" T.V. and then uttering those ever immortal words, "I faw down". Don't miss one!

Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard are caring for a friend's house. The friend is coming home after getting married and he's installing a TV antenna on the roof. The boys decide to install it themselves and use the money to get him a wedding present.

It's a lot of random Three Stooges hijinx. Shemp is just not as funny as Curly. There are some fine Stooges work going on although nothing special. I kept waiting for the roof. When Shemp actually gets up there, it's a little disappointing. I was expecting a slanted roof where the Three Stooges can each slide off. I guess it's too much to build that set, but the comedic potential is infinitely greater. Forget the house. A slanted roof could have been a Stooges classic.

Goof on the roof is a really funny short. It's a reworking of Laurel and Hardy's Hog Wild. I love how when the stooges attempt to set up a t.v. antenna for their pal, Bill, the destruction of the house gets worse. This was the last short that screenwriter Clyde Bruckman worked on with the stooges. He committed suicide January of 1955, which a year and a half after this film was released. Sad, because he was the best that the stooges had and has a lot of credits under his belt. 10 months after Bruckman killed himself, Shemp passed away from a massive heart attack and Columbia and moe and larry had to use stooge foil Joe Palma to fill in for Shemp in his last 4 films. Anyway, if you want to see a good short with Shemp, I recommend Goof on the roof. It is funny!

This has to be one of the best of the Three Stooges shorts that aren't overplayed repeatedly. By 1953, many of their short films were remakes and contained reused footage from earlier shorts. But like a breath of fresh air, this short contains all new footage. The Stooges get maximum laughs out of simple sets and household items. Comic genius ensues when they "only" have things like buckets and dutch doors to use as props. The feather duster gag is the visual highlight of the film! They are trying to set up a new TV and install an antenna on the roof for a friend. With friends like the Stooges, you sure don't need enemies, but you might need a new house!! Enjoy this high point of the Shemp era.