The Three Stooges Meet Hercules | |
---|---|
Directed by | Edward Bernds |
Produced by | Norman Maurer |
Written by | Norman Maurer Elwood Ullman |
Starring |
Moe Howard Larry Fine Joe DeRita Vicki Trickett Quinn Redeker George N. Neise Samson Burke Emil Sitka Hal Smith Marlin McKeever Mike McKeever |
Music by | Paul Dunlap |
Cinematography | Scotty Welbourne |
Edited by | Edwin H. Bryant |
Production
company |
Normandy Productions
|
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date
|
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Running time
|
89 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $420,000 |
Box office | $2 million |
The Three Stooges Meet Hercules is the third feature film to star the Three Stooges after their 1959 resurgence in popularity. By this time, the trio consisted of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita (dubbed "Curly Joe"). Released by Columbia Pictures, The Three Stooges Meet Hercules was directed by long-time Stooge director Edward Bernds. This was the most financially successful of the Stooges' feature films.
The Stooges work at Dimsal's Drug Store in Ithaca, New York, where they befriend Schuyler Davis (Quinn Redeker), the owner of the shop next door, who is attempting to build a time machine. With the boys' "help", the machine transports the boys, Schuyler and disaffected girlfriend Diane Quigley (Vicki Trickett) back in time to Ithaca in ancient Greece during the reign of the lecherous King Odius (George N. Neise). The King, after defeating and imprisoning Ulysses because the Stooges are believed to be gods, has a yearning for Diane. Realizing they have disrupted the proper course of history, Schuyler and the boys free Ulysses, after which Odius banishes them to the galleys, where Schuyler builds impressive muscles while constantly rowing.
After an escape and shipwreck, they kill a monster with the help of Joe's sleeping pills and start billing Schuyler as Hercules at a local gladiatorial arena. The real Hercules (Samson Burke) gets wind of their game and confronts them, but after single combat the Stooges convince Hercules to help them rescue Diane in a chariot chase. The time travelers remove Odius and, navigating by observing the progress of military technology, manage to set history straight by dumping him off into the Wild West where a tribe of Native American warriors chase him off into the distance. After that, the travelers return to Dimsal's Drug Store. Dimsal touches the time machine and disappears, but eventually returns with a pillory. The Stooges manage to remove the pillory with an electric tool.