60 Years Ago, The Three Stooges Made A Bizarre Western Comedy With A Future Batman Star

Like "The Little Rascals" and "Lassie" before them, the Three Stooges were once a regular part of Saturday morning network programming. 

The Three Stooges shorts date back to 1930, with the release of "Soup To Nuts," starring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard. In 1932, Shemp left the act to work on solo material, and he was replaced by his younger brother Jerome Horowitz, aka Curly. The Moe-Larry-Curly lineup became the troupe's best-known, and, beginning in 1934, they began starring in a very long series of short films, starting with "The Woman Haters." The trio proceeded to star in 97 Three Stooges shorts, released through 1947. 

When Curly suffered a stroke in 1946, Shemp returned to the troupe, and the Stooges continued apace. From 1947 to 1955, the Moe-Larry-Shemp lineup starred in 77 additional shorts. Shemp, sadly, passed away in 1955, and he was replaced by Joe Besser, who starred in 16 shorts with Moe and Larry. Besser's stint with the Stooges was brief, however, as he had to leave the group in 1959 because his wife was in ill health. Besser was replaced by Joe DeRita, aka Curly Joe, and the Larry-Moe-Curly-Joe lineup lasted until the troupe finally disbanded in 1970 after Fine suffered a stroke. All told, the Stooges appeared in 190 shorts and headlined 16 movies. And that doesn't account for dozens of cameos and talk show appearances. It's no wonder the that Saturday morning programmers stuffed kiddie TV slots with old Three Stooges shorts in the '60s, '70s, and '80s. There were a lot to go around. 

The final theatrically released feature film to star the Stooges was Norman Maurer's 1965 film "The Outlaws is Coming," a slapstick Western set in 1871. The Stooges served as the comedic sidekicks to an over-the-top hero named Kenneth Cabot. In a casting decision for the ages, Kenneth Cabot was played by future "Batman" star Adam West. 

Although the Stooges had been around since the 1930s, in 1965 they were more popular than ever, mostly because of their proliferation on TV. Indeed, "The Outlaws is Coming" also starred multiple character actors best known for their parts on Western TV shows, including Mort Mills, Rex Holman, and Sally Starr. The rest of the ensemble was rounded out by regular Stooges collaborators like Emil Sitka and Tiny Brauer. The outlaw characters were all played by kiddie-show hosts who became popular showing old Three Stooges shorts on their shows, among them Hal Fryar and Joe Bolton. Nancy Kovack played Annie Oakley, who saw the Adam West character as a potential love interest. 

As one can see from the casting, "The Outlaws" is a spoof of television in general, and of Western tropes in particular, especially as they came to become codified by 1960s television shows. The plot is unimportant hooey, of course. Adam West was the brave hero reporter/editor, Cabot, who came into town to investigate a series of buffalo disappearances. Annie Oakley was there to help with sharpshooting skills, and Cabot ended up becoming sheriff, enlisted to solve the matter. The Stooges played a trio of photographers who tag along for the adventure. By the end of the film, the comically heroic Cabot and the amazing Annie Oakley end up marrying. 

The title, by the way, is a subtle dig at Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film "The Birds." The Stooges were tickled by the film's advertising posters which read, plain as day, "THE BIRDS IS COMING!" The poster for the Stooges' film emphasized that grammatical error by printing "The Outlaws IS Coming," stress on the "IS." 

In a 1994 episode of A&E's "Biography," called "Stooges: The Men Behind the Mayhem," West remembers working on "The Outlaws," and how impressed he was with the Stooges. "What a wonderful experience!" he said. He noted that the Stooges were very serious and quiet off-camera, clearly taking the production very seriously. West did appreciate a moment when Moe Howard riffed on the content of "The Outlaws" with the following gag: 

"I think the funniest little incident of the picture that I remember, the main thrust of the plot was that we were trying to save the buffalo and I was the young lawyer from Boston and we had the same interests and that's how we got together. So we spent the movie trying to save the buffalo. The wrap party at the end of the movie and Moe says, 'Okay, everyone's invited to my place in Bel Air for a buffalo barbecue!' And that sort of typifies these three restless knights."

West said that he wished the invite was genuine, as he would have liked nothing better than to hang out with the Stooges after hours. Sadly, such parties never manifested. 

The following year, West auditioned for and landed the part of Batman in William Dozier's remarkable TV adaptation of the character. The Stooges would only star in one more feature, a 1970 TV movie called "Kook's Tour." It was originally envisioned as a pilot for a new TV show, so the Stooges had no intention of stopping. It was Fine's stroke that brought the comedy to an end. These days, Gen-Xers can still recall watching the Stooges on TV, and likely have fond memories of them. Indeed, Peter and Bobby Farrelly made their own film, "The Three Stooges" in 2012. It's way, way funnier than it has any right to be. A sequel was announced in 2015, but it hasn't been made.