Rockin' in the Rockies

Infobox Film
name = Rockin' in the Rockies


caption =
director = Vernon Keays
producer = Colbert Clark
writer = Gail Davenport
Louise Rousseau
J. Benton Cheney
John Grey
starring = Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Mary Beth Hughes
Jay Kirby
Gladys Blake
Jack Clifford
Vernon Dent
Spade Cooley
Ken Trietsch
Paul Trietsch
Charles Ward
Gil Taylor
Jay Kirby
Jack Clifford
Forrest Taylor
Tim Ryan
Cappy Barra Boys
Lew Davis
John Tyrrell
Hal Price
Snub Pollard
Smokey Rogers
Deuce Spriggins
Louis Manley
music =
cinematography = Glen Gano
editing = Paul Borofsky
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = flagicon|US April 17, 1945
runtime = 67' 25"
country = USA
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by = "My Sister Eileen"
followed_by = "Swing Parade of 1946"
amg_id = 1:108206
imdb_id = 0038033

"Rockin' in the Rockies" is a low-budget musical western film starring the Three Stooges. It was one of the Stooges' few feature films made during the run of their more well-known series of short subjects for Columbia Pictures, although the group had appeared in supporting roles in other features. It is the only Stooges feature with the the act's most famous line-up (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard) in starring roles.

Plot

While his cousin Rusty Williams (Jay Kirby) is away at Agricultural College, prospector Shorty (Moe) fills in at Rusty's struggling Reno, Nevada spread as the ranch foreman. He spends his time looking for an angle at the Wagon Wheel Cafe Casino, and hooks up with two vagrants (Larry and Curly) after they accidentally win big at roulette. Along with two stranded New York singers (Mary Beth Hughes, Gladys Blake) and their money, the Stooges and the girls head for the ranch with prospecting plans. Rusty returns home with hope that investor Sam Clemens (Forrest Taylor) will save the ranch's cattle and mining operations, and finds Shorty and the gang's plans interfering. Complicating matters further, inept ranchhands (The Hoosier Hotshots) mistake Clemens for a cattle rustler, and Shorty, Curly and Larry cook up a scheme to get the girls an audition with a vacationing Broadway producer.

Production and reception

"Rockin' in the Rockies" featured musical numbers by Western Swing orchestra of Spade Cooley and the Hoosier Hot Shots. [ [http://www.hoosierhotshots.com/rockinintherockies.html Hoosier Hot Shots in "Rockin' in the Rockies"] ] The Hoosier Hotshots were comedic musicians, but, unlike Spike Jones' orchestra, the Hoosier Hot Shots' country-swing music never hit mainstream playlists and they are relatively unknown today.

Strangely, Moe plays it mostly straight as a non-Stooge character, with Larry and Curly interacting throughout most of the film as a comedy duo. Curly is relatively subdued in this film, as his mannerisms and reactions were starting to slow down by the time "Rockin' in the Rockies" was filmed. Filmed during the same period as the Stooges' film "Idiots Deluxe" (Curly noticeably played trombone in both films), Curly was only a few short weeks away from suffering a minor stroke, one that would hamper his remaining time with the Stooges. In addition, his falsetto voice sounds hoarse at times, and at age 41, he seems more like 51 [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037550/ Internet Movie database observation] ] (see "Three Pests in a Mess", "Booby Dupes" and "Idiots Deluxe" for similar performances by a pre-stroke Curly).

As a result of Moe being cast separate from the team, Larry awkwardly assumes Moe's role as leader of the duo. As author Jon Solomon put it, though the Stooges do give the film "all the energy they can muster...when the writing divides them into a duo and a solo, they lose their comic dynamic."cite book
last = Solomon
first = Jon
authorlink = Jon Solomon
coauthors =
title = "The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion"
publisher = Comedy III Productions, Inc
date = 2002
location =
pages = 316
url = http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Three-Stooges-Filmography-Companion/dp/0971186804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201570359&sr=1-1
doi =
id =
isbn = 0971186804]

Solomon continues:

"Rockin' in the Rockies" ignored many of the ingredients that were making contemporary Stooge short-films so successful. Writers Johnny Grey and J. Benton Cheney, who had barely written for the Stooges before, separated the Stooges and left Moe to act solo, including very few slapstick exchanges, and omitted an effective foil whom the Stooges could abuse or frustrate. At one point, Moe has words with and almost strangles Betty (Gladys Blake)...
**Moe: "Jasper, [the mule] and I are alike in a lot of things."
**Betty: "Only your ears are shorter."
**Moe: "I resemble that last remark!"

...which is exactly the sort of personnel combination in which the Stooges do not succeed. Normally the Stooges either rescue a damsel in distress or are beaten up by tough, ugly, or overweight women. Here, instead of a heroic rescue or a slapstick exchange, Moe has to pull back his hands. Betty has no verbal or physical comeback, but later she gives Moe a kiss. This film may headline the Stooges, but it is not a Stooge film.

Either the writers/director (Vernon Keays) did not understand what the Stooges were all about or they consciously tried to create a new kind of vehicle for them. Characterizing Moe and Curly as wiseguy tricksters fails because the writers were unable to make them either tricky or clever liars. Often in their mid-career feature films the Stooges are called upon to 'do' their old gags and cram as many of them as possible into a few minutes, but here they simply recycle old gags without the kind of improvements "Time Out for Rhythm" achieved, and the dialogue is so limited that although the stag, horse and mule all talk, they actually have very little to say. Larry and Curly speak in uncharacteristically courteous dialogue as they mount the horse, and at one point the creativity is so lacking Moe calls Curly merely, 'You silly so-and-so.'

Even the sound effects are anemic or inappropriate. For the physical gags Curly's ailing health is apparent, and Moe is rarely around to cover for or interact with him. This leaves Larry as the toughie—not his best persona. Larry even has to run the 'when-I-say-go-we-all-point-to-the-right' routine. When Curly and Larry finally mount the horse, when Larry rides on top of Curly, and when Larry uses a sledgehammer on Curly's head, there is a real absence of either franticness or even the basic Stoogeness that makes them elsewhere so successful.

Ultimately, the entertainment in "Rockin' in the Rockies" derives from its wacky and upbeat musical acts."

"Rockin' in the Rockies" was not a success, and the Stooges continued their series of shorts, again with occasional supporting roles in others' feature films. The group eventually achieved some feature film success with a series of full-length pictures made during a television-fueled resurgence after Columbia had ended their series of shorts. Beginning with 1959's "Have Rocket, Will Travel", these later films starred Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe DeRita, who joined the group after the deaths of both Curly and Shemp Howard and the departure of comedian Joe Besser.

Cast

*Moe Howard as Shorty Williams
*Larry Fine as Larry
*Curly Howard as Curly
*Mary Beth Hughes as June McGuire
*Vernon Dent as Stanton
*Spade Cooley as Himself
*Ken Trietsch as Hotshot Ken
*Paul Trietsch as Hotshot Hezzie
*Charles Ward as Hotshot Gabe
*Gil Taylor as Hotshot Gil
*Jay Kirby as Rusty Williams
*Gladys Blake as Betty Vale
*Jack Clifford as Sheriff Zeke
*Forrest Taylor as Sam Clemens
*Tim Ryan as Tom Trove

Notes

The title of this film is often mistaken for the Stooges' 1940 short subject "Rockin' Thru the Rockies".

References