Phony Express

Phony Express (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The setting is the Old West where a small town is being run dry by a group of bandits. Moe, Larry and Curly are wanted for vagrancy but the locals decide to print a story claiming that they're actually great gunfighters so that when they come to town the bad guys might just give up and leave.

There are a few laughs scattered throughout this short but it's certainly not one of the Stooges best films. The entire short appears to have a bunch of small gags but no real big jokes. The film really does seem like a bunch of throwaway gags from other films that were just mixed together here so that a film could be released. The stuff at the start with the Stooges selling the medicine has been done in other shorts but here there's no real pay off. The same is true for the stuff dealing with the gunfighters.

In the Frank Sinatra film Dirty Dingus Magee, Sinatra played a $10.00 reward outlaw. Something similar happens with the 3 Stooges in Phony Express where they've got wanted posters on them, for vagrancy.

But the dopey looking mugs of Moe, Larry, and Curly come in handy as a harried express company agent retouches their wanted poster to say that these three marshals are coming to town to clean things up.

So when the boys arrive in town for real certain things are expected of them. And they deliver them in good Stooge style.

A really good short subject for the firm of Howard, Fine and Howard who have some really good gags in this one. Best is Curly in the stove at the conclusion.

The comedy is exaggerated to good effect here from a spur in the butt of a crook to a board coming up to hit Moe in the jaw. Bang bang,the visual and verbal jokes come fast and furious in this one. Curly was still in pretty good form here--they all were--and I have to rate it an 8. My favorites were the "exterminator" shorts or anything with bugs/rodents,like Curly as a magician--with mice running up his pants. Those were 10s,this,a little lower.

This Curly short features a case of mistaken identity, with the boys mistaken for famous lawmen ..... with the resulting chaos leading to a hilarious conclusion.

Moe ,Larry & Curly take on the bad guys with the inept hilarity that made them a laugh riot on screen. While Curly was not at his best in this one, his genius still shines through. Like other great comedians, he can crack you up with a simple, silent mannerism ( as he does here)

Knuckleheads of all ages will enjoy this western farce.Some of the Stooges later shorts were of varying quality ..... this is one worth watching. Cowboy hi-jinks run amuck !!!

The Red Morgan gang terrorizes the badly named old west town of Peaceful Gulch. Larry, Curly, and Moe are wanted for vagrancy. They get involved with quack medicine. Upon arriving in town, they are unaware that the locals had falsely promoted them as lawmen coming to take on the gang.

It's not always their best material. Curly being a dog is a funny concept but they need to shorten the bit. I don't like that they get the best of the gang by expertly laying out traps. They should get the best of them by incompetence like Curly getting stuck in the drum. Overall, this has some fine moments but this is not their best.