Punch Drunks

This, the 3 Stooges' second short for Columbia, is my all-time favorite. Perhaps it's because it's the only one that they themselves wrote. This was the first film to have the Stooges' famous "cure" for a tapeworm ("Four pieces of burnt toast and a rotten egg."). It also truly showcases Larry's violin-playing ability. The sight of Larry running down the streets looking for something playing "Pop Goes the Weasel" are hilarious. However, there were a bit of dangerous bits that came from this short: The actor playing Killer Kilduff actually bloodied Curley's lip and nose. The man on the truck that Larry takes to play "Weasel" broke his arm when he fell off the truck. Also, I think the ending has been cut, at least in the prints that I've seen. The ones I've seen show at least three or four other men stretched out in the ring with Kilduff at the end of the fight. Yet, no explanation of how they all got there. I'm thinking that PUNCH DRUNKS had a similar ending to the later GRIPS, GRUNTS AND GROANS, but is now cut for some reason. Has anyone ever seen the uncut version of this short? I'd really love to see it that way.

Curly plays a gentle and passive waiter. Who is bullied by a fight promoter(Moe)and his friends. And a strugling musican(Larry) plays Pop Goes the Weasel, and something snaps inside Curly, he becomes a mean fighting machine, and beats up the guys who were bullying him. But when Larry stops playing Pop Goes the Weasel Curly becomes gentle and passive again, and does not remember a thing. Moe sees the next champ in Curly and trains him. With Larry along for the ride. A Stooge classic. The funniest boxing scenes ever. Its Moe larry and Curly at there best.

"Punch Drunks" is a very good Three Stooges' comedy, with a typically silly situation leading to a lot of confusion and laughs. Moe is a struggling boxing manager who is eating lunch when he discovers that his waiter, Curly, transforms into a formidable fighter whenever he hears the song "Pop Goes the Weasel". Curly soon gets the chance to fight the champ. The fight sequence, cross-cut with Larry's frantic attempts to provide the needed musical accompaniment, is filled with laughs, and caps off a very funny short film. All three Stooges get the chance to perform at their best in this one.

This very early Three Stooges effort starts off differently than almost all their others in that the three don't know each other. Moe is a fight manager looking for boxer; Curly is a waiter and Larry a violinist. They all meet at this restaurant and when Larry starts playing "Pop Goes The Weasel," Curly goes nuts and punches everyone's lights out. Moe hires the two so he can get back into the fight game.

One day during some roadside training, they meet up with a pretty dame whose car is stuck in the mud. By playing the "Weasel" song, Curly lifts the car and solves the problem. She drives off as he jumps in the back seat!

The next scenes show newspaper headlines as "K.O. Stradivarius" (our hero Curly) beats all opponents and is now scheduled to fight for the championship.

The last bout is something to see: probably the goofiest fight scenes I've ever seen on film, which includes the great silent comics. Larry Howard ("Curly") was an underrated comic genius and shows it here early on in his career. It's the subtle things he does in this fight that had me laughing out loud.

The amazing thing to me is that Larry finds a man on a Truck with a record player playing Pop Goes The Weasel.The Record never ends and even when Larry crashes the truck through a brick wall the song is still playing at exactly the right spot. And Al Hill was a professional fighter albeit with a career than ended about ten years before this comedy. And Curly was the Butterbean of his generation,on a smaller scale. Look for Maxie Rosenbloom as one of the Fighters that Curly knocks out in the Cafe. And when we watch we love how the little shove that Moe gives Larry ends up with him being about ten feet away,head first in the stream. One of my Favorite Stooge Comedies!