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Columbia Pictures presents The Three Stooges: Merry Mavericks, starring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard - includes Cactus Makes Perfect - Out West - Vagabond Loafers - Dopey Dicks - Punchy Cowpunchers - Merry Mavericks - DVD video

The Three Stooges: Merry Mavericks gives a 98 minutes of six Three Stooges classics, dealing with the Three Stooges in an American Wild West setting. The six short films are "Cactus Makes Perfect" (1943), the only short featuring Curly, as well as "Out West" (1947), "Vagabond Loafers" (1949), "Dopey Dicks" (1950), "Punchy Cowpunchers" (1950), and "Merry Mavericks" (1951)

Many of these are true Three Stooges classic shorts, with "Out West" and "Vagabond Loafers" standing out. "Dopey Dicks" is also quite good, and somewhat of a rarity, making the DVD an even better value.

I rate it 4 clowns - recommended.

Three Stooges: Merry Mavericks DVD features

The 98-minute DVD contains these shorts:

"Cactus Makes Perfect" (1943): The only Curly short film in this collection. After becoming convinced by their mother to leave home, Moe, Larry and Curly are swindled into buying a worthless gold mine. With the help of Curly's misbehaving gold-detecting device, the Three Stooges strike it rich, and then have to defend their gold from would-be thieves. A very funny Stooges short.

"Out West" (1947)
"Out West" (1947): Moe, Larry and Shemp travel to the American Old West for the sake of healing Shemp's leg. Once there, they discover that a band of outlaws has locked up The Arizona Kid, and plan to force his girlfriend, Nell (played by Christine McIntire, working with Shemp for the first time) to marry the leader of the outlaws. The Stooges manage to defeat the scaliwags, only to have the U.S. Cavalry ride up afterwards and take the credit.

"Vagabond Loafers" (1949)
"Vagabond Loafers" (1949): Moe, Larry and Shemp are plumbers, called on an emergency to the house of a wealthy woman, played by Christine McIntyre. Since a party is ongoing, the Three Stooges need to work quietly, rewiring the electrical system and the plumbing, without disrupting the guests. You can imagine how the party turns out. This is a remake of the Curly short film "A Plumbing We Will Go," with Shemp out-doing his younger brother by imprisoning himself within a maze of pipes. A good film, better even than the original.

"Dopey Dicks" (1950)
"Dopey Dicks" (1950): Moe, Larry and Shemp are clueless detectives who set out to rescue a girl (played by Christine McIntyre) from a mad scientist. The scientist is building a robot, that only needs a human head to be functional. Avoiding the danger by not losing their heads, the four escape, in a car driven by the headless robots.

"Punchy Cowpunchers" (1950)
"Punchy Cowpunchers" (1950): The Three Stooges are sent out west to capture the Killer Dillons gang. A very funny short, with a very large supporting cast, including Stooge regulars Vernon Dent, Emil Sitka and Christine McIntyre.

"Merry Mavericks" (1951)
"Merry Mavericks" (1951): A remake of "Phony Express". Set in the American Old West, the Three Stooges are mistaken for lawmen, and manage to actually capture a gang of crooks. Moe, Larry and Shemp are then given the assignment of guarding money in an old house, reputed to be haunted by the ghost of an Indian Chief. The crooks escape (jailer played by Emil Sitka), and use sheets to disguise themselves as ghosts in order to scare off the Stooges. Shemp, however, turns the table on them by disguising himself as the Indian Chief.