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| Adam West and the Stooges: DeRitas, Howard and Fine |
In 1871 a group of outlaws want to slaughter the buffalo to send the Indians on the warpath for their own nefarious purposes. Kenneth Cabot (Adam West of Batman) is sent out to Wyoming with three associates (Larry Fine, Moe Howard, and Joe DeRita) to save the Buffalo from extinction. There they run into Annie Oakley (Nancy Kovack of Diary of a Madman), who actually does the shootin' attributed to Kenneth, as well as bad guys Rance Rodan (Don Lamond) and Trigger Mortis (Mort Mills of The Name of the Game is Kill), who make Kenneth the sheriff and the Stooges his deputies -- with the average life expectancy of about a day. The Outlaws is Coming is pretty silly stuff, geared primarily to children despite its violence and gun play, but it does have some inspired moments. There's the bit when the Stooges are forced to drink a Tarantula Fizz (Tiny Brauer is amusing as their bartender), and a clever business when the boys pour glue into the guns and holsters of all of the outlaws as they sleep, hoping to head off their own slaughter. DeRita and Fine make comical drag queens when they accidentally enter the room of some show gals instead of the outlaws. Annie Oakley has a cat fight with Calamity Jane, and Henry Gibson plays an Indian, but he isn't especially funny, no surprise there. Emil Sitka is also not funny as an Indian chief. At 88 minutes the picture is too long.
Verdict: Elvis the skunk is in this too! **.
A little trivia: some of the actors playing the outlaws were hosts of various kids' shows around the country that ran the classic Stooges shorts in the '60s.
ReplyDeleteYes, I spotted one of them in the cast list, but couldn't pick him out in the movie itself.
ReplyDelete(And now I've forgotten which one it was. The Merry Mailman?
If you grew up in NYC, Joe Bolton ("Officer Joe Bolton") might've been the familiar name you spotted.
ReplyDeleteYep -- that's the one! I did grow up in New York and remember ol' Officer Joe.
ReplyDeleteThanks!