''Have Rocket, Will Travel'' is a 1959 American

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

and starring

the Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

, consisting of

Moe Howard Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television ...

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges. Early life Fine was born to a Russian Je ...

and new addition

Joe DeRita Joseph Wardell (July 12, 1909 – July 3, 1993), known professionally as Joe DeRita, was an American actor and comedian, who is best known for his stint as a member of The Three Stooges in the persona of Curly Joe DeRita. Early life DeRita wa ...

("Curly Joe"). The film was produced to capitalize on the Three Stooges' late-1950s resurgence in popularity. The supporting cast features

Anna-Lisa Anna-Lisa (born Anna Lisa Ruud; 30 March 1933 – 21 March 2018) was a Norwegian-born actress who appeared primarily in American films and television series, until she returned to Norway in the early 1970s, where she became a puppeteer. Earl ...

and

Robert Colbert Robert Colbert is an American actor most noted for his leading role portraying Dr. Doug Phillips on the ABC television series ''The Time Tunnel'' and his two appearances as Brent Maverick, a third Maverick brother in the ABC/Warner Brothers ...

Plot

The Stooges are janitors working at a space center who are accidentally blasted to

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

. They encounter a talking

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

, a giant fire-breathing

tarantula Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...

and an alien computer that has destroyed all life on the planet and creates three evil robot duplicates of the Stooges. When the boys return home triumphant, a party is held in their honor that becomes a melee complicated by the arrival of the evil robots. An epilogue shows the Three Stooges riding on a rocket while singing and ends with Moe being hit with cream pies by Larry and Joe.

Cast

- Moe/robot duplicate *

- Larry/robot duplicate *

- Curly Joe/robot duplicate *

- Dr. Ingrid Naarveg *

- Dr. Ted Benson *

Jerome Cowan Jerome Palmer Cowan (October 6, 1897 – January 24, 1972) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Early years Cowan was born in New York City, the son of William Cowan, a confectioner of Scottish descent, and Julia Cowan, née Palm ...

- Mr. Morse * Don Lamond - Venusian robot/reporter/narrator *

Robert Stevenson Robert Stevenson may refer to: * Robert Stevenson (actor and politician) (1915–1975), American actor and politician * Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) (1772–1850), Scottish lighthouse engineer * Robert Stevenson (director) (1905–1986), Engl ...

- Voice of the Thingtz *

Dal McKennon Dallas Raymond McKennon (July 19, 1919 – July 14, 2009), sometimes credited as Dal McKennon, was an American film, television and voice actor, who had a career lasting over 50 years. During World War II he served in the Army Signal Corps and wa ...

- Voice of Uni the Unicorn

Production

''Have Rocket, Will Travel'' was

's inaugural screen appearance with the Stooges. He had replaced

Joe Besser Joe Besser (August 12, 1907 – March 1, 1988) was an American actor, comedian and musician, known for his impish humor and wimpy characters. He is best known for his brief stint as a member of The Three Stooges in movie short subjects of 1957� ...

when Columbia ceased production of the Stooges' shorts series. The title is a play on the title of the popular television show of the time, '' Have Gun, Will Travel''. Filming was completed over 13 days between May 18 and June 1, 1959. Although billed as such, the film was not the first starring feature for the Three Stooges. Their first feature film was ''

Rockin' in the Rockies ''Rockin' in the Rockies'' is a 1945 American musical western feature film starring the Three Stooges (not to be confused with their 1940 short subject '' Rockin' thru the Rockies''). The picture was one of the Stooges' few feature-length film ...

'' (1945), which is also the only feature film with Moe, Larry and Curly. The Three Stooges had also starred in the 1951 film''

Gold Raiders ''Gold Raiders'' is a 1951 comedy Western film starring George O'Brien and The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). The picture was O'Brien's last starring role and the only feature film released during Shemp Howard's 1947� ...

'' with George O'Brien during the

Shemp Howard Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Lithuanian Yiddish, Litvak accent. He is ...

era, and had supporting roles in several 1930s films when they were affiliated with

Ted Healy Ted Healy (born Charles Ernest Lee Nash; October 1, 1896 – December 21, 1937) was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. Though he is chiefly remembered as the creator of The Three Stooges and the style of slapstick comedy th ...

, including ''

Dancing Lady ''Dancing Lady'' is a 1933 American pre-Code musical film starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, and featuring Franchot Tone, Fred Astaire, Robert Benchley, and Ted Healy and His Stooges (who later became The Three Stooges with Curly, Moe a ...

'' with

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

Robert Benchley Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, thro ...

and

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

. The space-travel theme of ''Have Rocket, Will Travel'' was prevalent in the late 1950s. The Stooges had already filmed three shorts for Columbia based on this theme ('' Space Ship Sappy'', ''

Outer Space Jitters ''Outer Space Jitters'' is a 1957 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Joe Besser). It is the 182nd entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring t ...

'' and ''

Flying Saucer Daffy ''Flying Saucer Daffy'' is a 1958 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Joe Besser). It is the 187th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring t ...

''). They would appear in another space-themed comedy feature in 1962, ''

The Three Stooges in Orbit ''The Three Stooges In Orbit'' is a 1962 American comedy science fiction film directed by Edward Bernds. It is the fourth feature film to star the Three Stooges after their 1959 resurgence in popularity. By this time, the trio consisted of Moe Ho ...

''. In the original cut, the Stooges were the only people shown after the rocket-launch scene early in the film, but the studio insisted on a party scene in order to introduce other characters.

Reception

Box office

''Have Rocket, Will Travel'' was released on August 1, 1959 to mixed critical reviews but was a success at the box office. During its first five days of a multiple-theater engagement in Los Angeles, where it was double-billed with ''

The Legend of Tom Dooley ''The Legend of Tom Dooley'' is a 1959 American Western film directed by Ted Post and starring Michael Landon, Jo Morrow, Jack Hogan, Richard Rust, Dee Pollock and Ken Lynch. It was based on the 90-year-old folk song " Tom Dooley", which had been ...

'', the film grossed $127,000 ($ today). The film ultimately grossed over $2.5 million ($ today) for Columbia Pictures against a $380,000 budget ($ today).

Critical response

Moe Howard expressed his dislike for the film in 1973, stating: "Didn't care much for ''Have Rocket, Will Travel''. It was contrived a lot. The pies were dragged in at the tail end and not only that, the unicorn business and all that...ugh."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released as a two-sided 45-rpm single in August 1959 by

Colpix Records Colpix Records was the first recording company for Columbia Pictures–Screen Gems. Colpix got its name from combining Columbia (Col) and Pictures (Pix). CBS, which owned Columbia Records, then sued Columbia Pictures for trademark infringement ov ...

to coincide with the film's release. The Three Stooges sing the film's theme song backed by vocal group the Tinglers. The title song was written by

George Duning George Duning (February 25, 1908 – February 27, 2000) was an American musician and film composer. He was born in Richmond, Indiana, and educated in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where his mentor was Mario Castelnuo ...

and Stanley Styne and arranged by

Dennis Farnon Dennis Farnon (13 August 1923 – 21 May 2019) was a Canadian musical arranger, composer and orchestra conductor. Dennis Farnon was born in 1923 in Toronto, Canada as John Denis Farnon to Robert and Elsie Farnon (née Menzies). He grew up in a m ...

. The record sold well but did not chart highly because Columbia Pictures did not afford it much publicity.

References

External links

* * * *
''Have Rocket, Will Travel'' at threestooges.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Have Rocket, Will Travel The Three Stooges films 1959 films 1950s science fiction comedy films American science fiction comedy films Films directed by David Lowell Rich American black-and-white films Films shot in Los Angeles Columbia Pictures films Films about unicorns Films about extraterrestrial life 1959 comedy films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films