''Merry Mavericks'' is a 1951

short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Edward Bernds Edward Bernds (July 12, 1905May 20, 2000) was an American screenwriter and director, born in Chicago, Illinois. Career While in his junior year in Lake View High School, he and several friends formed a small radio clique and obtained amateur li ...

starring American

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

comedy team

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 ...

(

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

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 ...

). It is the 133rd entry in the series 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 ...

starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

Set in the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

, Peaceful Gulch is not so peaceful as Red Morgan (

Don C. Harvey Don Carlos Harvey (December 12, 1911 – April 23, 1963) was an American television and film actor. Life Born in Council Grove in Morris County in east central Kansas, Harvey began his acting career by performing on radio and in tent shows and ...

) and his roughnecks have run the sheriff out of town. In attempt to bring normalcy back to their little town, some of the sheriff's posse concoct a scheme to trick Morgan and his hombres into thinking that there are three famous marshalls headed into town to bring back law and order. The Stooges, mistaken for the three famous marshalls, are asked to stop Morgan and his men from stealing money in an old house haunted by the ghost of a headless Native American chief (John Merton). The trio soon find that the ghost is none other than one of Morgan's men. Shemp knocks out the henchman and dons the costume for himself. He soon runs into Moe and Larry who have been captured by Morgan. Still disguised, Shemp knocks out everyone in the room with his hatchet and the boys are heroes once again.

Production notes

''Merry Mavericks'' was filmed June 13–16, 1950, but not released until September 1951. It is a partial

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

of ''

Phony Express ''Phony Express'' is a 1943 short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 75th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comed ...

'', using minimal

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

from the original.

References

External links

* * 1951 films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films The Three Stooges film remakes 1950s Western (genre) comedy films Films directed by Edward Bernds Columbia Pictures short films 1951 comedy films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films {{short-comedy-film-stub