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

science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

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 comedy. Six total ...

, consisting of

Moe Howard Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), better known by his stage name Moe Howard, was an American comedian and actor. He is best known as the leader and straight man of the Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion ...

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 4, 1902 – January 24, 1975), better known by his stage name Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges and was often called "The Middle St ...

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 ...

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

Plot

The Stooges are janitors working at a space center. Through a series of mishaps, they accidentally find themselves launched into space and land on Venus. There, they encounter strange creatures, including a talking unicorn and a giant fire-breathing tarantula, as well as an alien computer that has eradicated all life on the planet. The computer creates evil robot duplicates of the Stooges. Eventually, they manage to return to Earth, where they are celebrated as heroes. However, chaos erupts at their welcome-back party when the evil robot duplicates arrive, leading to a comedic melee. At the end the Stooges sing a song about being in space while riding a rocket--and Moe gets hit with cream pies!

Cast

as Moe/robot duplicate *

as Larry/robot duplicate *

as Curly Joe/robot duplicate * Anna-Lisa as Dr. Ingrid Naarveg * Robert Colbert as 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 Pal ...

as Mr. Morse * Don Lamond as Venusian robot/reporter/narrator * Robert Stevenson as Voice of the Thingtz * Dal McKennon as 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 (born Jessel Besser, August 12, 1907 – March 1, 1988) was an American actor and comedian 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 subject ...

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 ''Have Gun – Will Travel'' is an American Westerns on television, Western television series that was produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television and radio from 1957 through 1963. The television version of the series starring Ri ...

''. 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'' (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'' with George O'Brien during the

Shemp Howard Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz; March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955) was an American comedian and actor. He is best known as the third Stooge in The Three Stooges, a role he played when the act began in the early 1920s (1923–1932), while i ...

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 tha ...

, including '' Dancing Lady'' with

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture cont ...

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...

Robert Benchley Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist, newspaper columnist and actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays ...

and

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...

. 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'' and '' Flying Saucer Daffy''). They would appear in another space-themed comedy feature in 1962, '' The Three Stooges in Orbit''. 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 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 o ...

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 and Stanley Styne and arranged by Dennis Farnon. 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 English-language science fiction comedy films Films scored by Mischa Bakaleinikoff