Grips, Grunts and Groans

The last five minutes of this insane Three Stooges story almost puts me in tears laughing, and I've seen it many times. It features Curly as a pro wrestler! Regarding those last few minutes, it's one of those "you have to see it, to believe it" cases. I've never seen Curly go this berserk before, which is saying a lot.

Actually, this Three Stooges classic isn't just pure lunacy at the end: it's crazy and funny from start-to-finish, with a great 1930s look and feel to it. From the opening bums-in-the-railroad car scene, to knocking over a woman's baby carriage to the boxing gym scenes, on and on it goes until the incredibly wild finish.

Included in this story was a theme - used in several Three Stooges films - in which Curly would go bananas by smelling something, or hearing something.....and then he would be unstoppable. This worked to great advantage in the ring, whether it was boxing or wrestling or whatever. In this story, he becomes a wrestler, only "out of soy-cumstance." The real wrestler, a bearded Russian-looking guy named "Bostoff," gets blitzed with a combination of alcoholic drinks and Curly - to save the Stooges butts from the mob boys who have bet on Bostoff - has to take his place.

What happens just kills me. As other reviewers here state, this is a classic Three Stooges, one of the best.

Grips, Grunts and Groans (19370 was another classic short form the team of Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curley Howard. The three lovable losers are traveling hobos who make an unscheduled last stop. A couple of engineers chase the vagrants away. Whilst hiding in the nearest building "The Hangover Gym", the boys are giving a gig as sparing partners for one of their prize fighters. The poor boxing skills with comedic end results amuse a local pro wrestler named Bustoff. He takes an immediate liking to the three and wants them to party with him. That doesn't seem like a good idea considering Bustoff has a big match tonight.

Can the boys keep Bustoff from enjoying himself too much? Will they get their promised sparring partner money? To find out what happens next you'll just have to watch GRIPS, GRUNTS & GROANS. One of their most famous shorts.

Highly recommended.

Grips, Grunts and Groans (1937)

**** (out of 4)

Three Stooges short has the boys finding themselves in a jam so they duck into a wrestling gym where the top guy takes a liking to them. The four go out for drinks but the wrestler gets too drunk and can't enter the ring so Curly has to take his place. Even though Curly doesn't know what he's doing he can still go psycho whenever he smells a certain type of perfume. The storyline is pretty similar to their Pop Goes the Weasel but I won't hold it against this film as it's certainly one of their funniest. There were countless scenes that had tears flowing from my eyes due to laughter and I'm not sure I've ever seen Curly go so crazy. There are countless great scenes here including one where the boys are being chased off a train and eventually run over a baby carriage. Another classic is the getting drunk sequence but there's no doubt the highlight is the final sequence where Curly smells too much perfume and flips out on everyone. This is certainly one of the funniest films out there.

This is the Three Stooges short where they accidentally stumble into wrestling gym and to get money for a meal Curly volunteers to be a sparring partner. The champ Bustoff who trains at the gym happens to be watching nearby and finds the stooges hysterical. So he takes them out for a big meal but the stooges get him drunk and he can't go for his big match. So the Stooges have to dress Curly up as him. But Curly can only fight if Curly smells the perfume Wild Hyacinth and can only be stopped by tickling his feet.

The movie came out in the prime of the Three Stooges the Curly era. Not that Shemp isn't good in his own right it's just that the Stooges lineup is best with Curly in addition to the main stays of Moe and Larry.

Just as information Grips, Grunts and Groan was between those chosen shorts that were on seven volumes DVD release here in Brazil, they are running and hide a wrestling gym, there the owner invites Curly to be a sparring to get 5 dollars, without a penny to buy food they agree, but they were knockout on first punch, however accidentally Curly smell a specific perfume Wild Hyacinth from Bustoff's girlfriend and becomes wild on fight, due it the Boss is willing to pay 100 hundred dollars to the Stooges take care the champion until the night, where he will fight for high money, sadly they didn't get and Bustoff was drunk at night, at arena trying recover the sleeping and drunk champion, Curly once more puts everything to lose, he dropped weights on his head, knockout him for good, then trapped, they decides disguise Curly as Bustoff with a fake bear, he goes to fight, certainly the highlight when he is losing, somehow saves by the wild Hyacinth smell, one the most funniest episode from the classic Stooges's line up!!!

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First watch: 1971 / How many: 4 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.5