''Rusty Romeos'' is a 1957

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

Jules White Jules White (born Julius Weiss; hu, Weisz Gyula; 17 September 190030 April 1985) was a Hungarian-American film director and producer best known for his short-subject comedies starring The Three Stooges Early years White began working in mo ...

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

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� ...

). It is the 181st 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

The Stooges wake up one bright morning and happily realize that they are about to get married. After breakfast, they start cleaning the house. The usual antics occur as the boys make a near shambles of their home. The trio try to reupholster a

davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality * Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta **District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...

, but end up clobbering Moe on several counts. First, Larry attempts to cut the upholstering with a scissor and ends up trimming Moe's

sport coat A sport coat, also called a sport jacket (or sports coat or sports jacket in American English), is a men's smart casual lounge jacket designed to be worn on its own without matching trousers, traditionally for sporting purposes. Styles, fabrics, ...

. Then, to speed things up, they pour the upholstering tacks into a machine gun and aim at the davenport. The rapid fire release works well at first, but when Moe bends over the davenport to straighten the material, Larry and Joe argue over who gets to fire the next round while each holding onto the rifle It inadvertently fires sending about a dozen of the sharp wayward tacks into Moe's backside which causes him to exclaim, "I'm losing my mind!". After Larry and Joe quickly remove the tacks, Moe manages to swallow one. The Stooges then head their separate ways to marry their sweetheart — unaware they are all engaged to the same girl Mabel (

Connie Cezon Consuelo Lord Cezon (March 28, 1925 – February 26, 2004), known professionally as Connie Cezon, was an American film actress. She made over 30 film and television appearances between 1951 and 1964. Early years Born in Oakland, California, Ce ...

). In rapid succession, Larry, Moe, and then Joe appear at their fiancee's home with engagement rings of varying sizes. When the boys discover their error, a nutty fight ensues. Moe and Larry eventually knock each other cold. However, Joe who had left earlier during the fracas, returns just as the frightened gold digger is about to make a quick exit and tricks her into bending over for some purposely dropped money then quickly moves behind her and fires the tack-filled rifle into Mabel's posterior with stinging accuracy, then begins spanking her with the butt end of the rifle while calling her a "

jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

" as the two timer wails in agony.

Production notes

''Rusty Romeos'' is a

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 1952's ''

Corny Casanovas Corny can refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Corny, Eure, a town in northern France * Corny Lake, Minnesota, United States People * Emmanuel Héré de Corny (1705–1763), French architect * Kuźma Čorny (1900–1944), Byelorussian Soviet poet, wr ...

'', using ample

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. New footage was shot in two days on February 12–13, 1957. Director

was known for including many violent jokes revolving around the buttocks. Many other Columbia directors felt this type of humor was crass, and often shied away from it. However, White felt this was the trademark of the Stooges' mayhem. Nothing was too crass or exaggerated to be taken seriously. When Larry is hitting Moe's head with a fireplace shovel,

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 ...

's portrait can be seen in the background instead of Joe's. This was because Jules White opted not to reshoot this scene, hoping that audiences would focus on the fighting Moe and Larry instead of the portrait.Fleming, Michael (2002)

999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Books * ''999'' (anthology) or ''999: ...

''The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons''. New York: Broadway Publishing. . p. 286

Quotes

**Larry: "The tacks won't come out!" **Joe: "They went in; they must be

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

References

External links

* *
''Rusty Romeos'' at threestooges.net
{{The Three Stooges 1957 films 1957 comedy films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films The Three Stooges film remakes Films directed by Jules White Columbia Pictures short films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films