Rusty Romeos

Infobox Film
name = Rusty Romeos


caption =
director = Jules White
writer = Felix Adler|
Jack White
starring = Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Joe Besser
Connie Cezon
cinematography = |
editing = Saul A. Goodkind
producer = Jules White
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = flagicon|USOctober 17, 1957
runtime = 16' 16"
country = USA
language = English
preceded_by = "Horsing Around"
followed_by = "Outer Space Jitters"
amg_id = 1:150187
imdb_id = 0050916

"Rusty Romeos" is the 181st short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The Stooges wake up one bright morning and happily realize that they are about to get married. After breakfast, they start cleaning house. The usual antics occur as the boys make a near shambles of their home.

The trio try to reupholster a davenport, but end up clobbering Moe on several counts. First, Larry attempts to cut the upholstering with a scissor and ends up trimming Moe's sportcoat. Then, to speed things up, they pour the upholstering tacks into a machine gun and aim at the davenport. The rapid fire release works well at first, but Larry and Joe argue over who gets the next round, leading the rifle firing right at Moe's "gluteus maximus". After Larry and Joe quickly remove the tacks, Moe manages to swallow one. After all is said and done, the house is neat and clean.

The Stooges then head their separate ways to marry their sweetheart — unaware they are all engaged to the same girl (Connie Cezon). In rapid succession, Larry, Moe, and then Joe appear at their fiancee's home with engagement rings of varying sizes. When the boys discover their error, a nutty fight ensues. Moe and Larry eventually knock each other cold. Joe, however, realizes that the gold digger is about to make a quick exit, and fires the tack-filled rifle at her buttocks, calling her a "jezebel."

Butt seriously

Director Jules White was known for including many violent jokes revolving around the buttocks. Many other Columbia directors felt this type of humor was crass, and often shied away from it. However, White felt this was the trademark of the Stooges' mayhem. Nothing was too crass or exaggerated to be taken seriously. [Okuda, Ted; Watz, Edward; (1986). "The Columbia Comedy Shorts", pp. 24-26 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 0899501818 ]

Goofs

When Larry is hitting Moe's head with a fireplace shovel, Shemp Howard's portrait can be seen in the background instead of Joe's. This was because Jules White opted not to reshoot this scene, hoping that audiences would focus on the fighting Moe and Larry instead of the portrait. By 1957, Columbia had trimmed the Stooges' budget to such lengths that errors like this were to be expected. [Fleming, Michael (1999). "The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons", p. 286, Broadway Publishing. ISBN: 0767905567]

Notes

"Rusty Romeos" is a reworking of 1952's "Corny Casanovas", using ample stock footage from the original. [Solomon, Jon. (2002) "The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion", p. 497; Comedy III Productions, Inc., ISBN 0971186804]

Quotes

**Larry: "The tacks won't come out!"
**Joe: "They went in. They must be income tax."

References