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The Outlaws is Coming
USA 1965
produced by Norman Maurer for Normandy/Columbia
directed by Norman Maurer
starring the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Joe DeRita), Adam West, Nancy Kovack, Mort Mills, Don Lamond, Rex Holman, Emil Sitka, Henry Gibson, Murray Alper, Tiny Brauer, Joe Bolton, Bill Camfield, Hal Fryar, Johnny Ginger, Wayne Mack, Ed T. McDonnell, Bruce Sedley, Paul Shannon, Sally Starr
story by Norman Maurer, screenplay by Elwood Ullman, music by Paul Dunlap
Three Stooges, Annie Oakley, and in cameos: Jesse James, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickock, Belle Starr, Johnny Ringo, Billy the Kid
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Out West in Wyoming, baddie Rance Roden (Don Lamond) wants to trick the
Native Americans into revolt by first seeing to it that their buffaloes
are killed, then selling them weapons to overrun the Cavalry, and once
that is achieved he wants to take control of the country - of course
without figuring how he would overpower the Native Americans once they've
defeated pretty much the white men in their territory, but that's besides
the point. What's to the point is, that back in Boston, the Wildlife
Preservation Journal gets wind that all the buffaloes are killed out West,
so they send their best reporter, Cabot (Adam West), to the town where
Roden has his headquarters, and a trio of photographers (the Stooges,
Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Joe DeRita) along with him. Thing is, Cabot is a
city person, totally not cut out for the rough territory the West can be,
and Roden, once he notices Cabot's less than a tough guy, and sees to it
that he's even made the new sheriff in town, just for a laugh. That soon
backfires a bit, as Cabot soon starts printing pamphlets condemning the
useless killing of buffaloes, so Roden gives his right-hand man Trigger
Mortis (Mort Mills) permission to kill him. However, Roden's on-again
off-again girlfriend Annie Oakley (Nancy Kovack) has somehow fallen for
Cabot, and she (by secretly doing his shooting) and the Stooges (by
tomfoolery that turns out to be ingenuity) save him from repeated attempts
on his life, without him even noticing. This all culminates in Roden
inviting the whole US's nine worst outlaws, Jesse James (Wayne Mack),
Wyatt Earp (Bill Camfield), Wild Bill Hickock (Paul Shannon), Belle Starr
(Sally Starr), Johnny Ringo (Hal Fryar), Rob Dalton (Joe Bolton) of the Dalton
Gang, Billy the Kid (Johnny Ginger), Bat Masterson (Ed T.
McDonnell), and Cole Younger (Bruce Sedley) of the James-Younger Gang, to
his town just to shoot Cabot dead - but the stooges glue the the gunmen's
guns to their holsters, making them unusable, and Anne Oakley takes care
of Belle Starr in a catfight. But to actually get the Cavalry involved,
Cabot and the Stooges need proof that Roden was trading weapons to the
Natives - so they try to photograph the deal but get captured instead and
made ready to be executed ... when Joe remembers his special flute that
can call buffaloes. And an instrument like this is enough to turn the
tides for the buffalo-starved Natives ... Now by 1965, the Three
Stooges were definitely past their prime, and their
slapstick-centered humour has lost most of its freshness, and thus their
later films are not among their better ones - and The Outlaws is Coming
was their second to last feature film. And that all out of the way, this
actually isn't too bad a movie - sure, it's a rather simplistic and
unassuming comedy, but at least some of the jokes actually hit their mark,
and since the direction is genre savvy, the parodistic elements do mostly work. That of course
still isn't enough to make a great movie, but circa 90 minutes that don't
feel too wasted - especially when seen through a nostalgic lense.
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