Pardon My Clutch (1948) Poster

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7/10
Shemp Stooges
SnoopyStyle10 April 2020
Shemp is sick. Larry and Moe's skipping advise does not help. The wives are worried. The doctor arrives and finds a bad tooth. After pulling it out, the boys buy the doctor's old car and decide to go camping.

The skipping is funny. The rest is a bit bland and pulled from various standards. The gas station is still fun. It's generally good even if not that inspired.
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Shemp is ailing again. What to do? Go camping!
angus_dei13 March 2007
This is not the most memorable of the Stooges' shorts, but it's still a Stooges' short, and therefore worthy of consideration (and certainly worth watching too). There are some lags, such as when the Stooges set up camp in their living room as a "dry run" for their impending camping trip. Of course, once again Shemp is ailing, so good old Cousin Claud is called onto the scene (the guy's a certified quack, but what the hell?, he works cheap). I have to wonder at the inordinate number of times Shemp had to play an ailing character in these shorts; could it be all the negative karma so generated that caused Shemp's early death in real life? If you believe in stuff like that, you most certainly would have to wonder. By the way, there is one good bit during the "living room camping" scene; it involves Larry shouting to Moe, "Foither! Foither!," and getting a crossbeam shoved into his face for his effort. Claud is annoying as hell, so when he gets stuck at the end of the film (with the Columbus), good feelings ensue. There's also the tiresome "You idiot, I meant skip taking the pills, not skip rope!" gag thrown in, but the service station scene (with the confusion over the ownership of a certain tire) more than makes up for it. The very best of the film occurs at the very end: first you have Shemp saying, "Wait, I'm hungry too!", and then you have Larry saying, "Well, what's wrong with that?". I'm telling you, those precious seconds at the very end are more than worth sitting through the first twenty minutes! And, all seriousness aside, those twenty minutes aren't really all that bad, really they're not! Watch this flick!
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10/10
Good one!
Movie Nuttball29 June 2005
The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

One of My favorite Stooges shorts with Shemp none other than Parden My Clutch! All appearing in this short are Emil Sitka, Stanley Blystone, George Lloyd, Alyn Lockwood, Wanda Perry, Doris Revier! There are so many funny parts here. This is a very hilarious short. There is another similar Three Stooges short like this one called Wam Bam Slam and I recommend both!
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5/10
The ultimate in jalopies
bkoganbing20 December 2020
After getting Shemp well from a toothache where Matt McHugh lends the boys a helping hand, McHugh decides to sell them one old wreck of a car. It's to go camping in the woods and the guys need a vacation, especially Shemp.

The warranty on these vehicle went out with Herbert Hoover in the White House but a lucky break from an insane asylum wouldn't you know it helps them turn the tables on McHugh.

I think they miss the camping trip though.
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"I can take care of Shemp better than any doctor."
slymusic7 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
"Pardon My Clutch" is a mildly amusing Three Stooges short directed by Edward Bernds. Shemp needs plenty of rest and relaxation to quiet his nerves, so the Stooges' friend Claude (Matt McHugh) suggests a camping trip.

Highlights: Character actor Emil Sitka is wonderful at the end of this film portraying an escaped lunatic. Moe attaches a string from Shemp's bad tooth to a doorknob, but he winds up extracting the knob, after which Moe tosses it away and it smacks Claude in the face. The Stooges practice setting up a tent in their house, but they tie it off in some unwise places, and it collapses when a door opens. Shemp is required to "take two pills and skip an hour", but Larry and Moe misinterpret that to mean skipping a rope. More chaos is on the way as the Stooges attempt to replace a flat tire.

"Pardon My Clutch" is not a hilarious Stooge film, but it's still pretty good. I would probably give it a "B+".
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3/10
Not Of The Boys' Best
ccthemovieman-113 January 2011
It's not often I find a Three Stooges short really awful, but this one qualifies.

Basically, much of it is just tormenting Shemp, stupid or mean-spirited stuff more than slapstick. The main guest actor, Matt McHugh as "Claude" was annoying, too, pretending to be a doctor which just added more sadism against poor Shemp.

The only intriguing part was near the end when they kept showing some guy peeping in back of bushes while the boys were packing this old 1930s car, and at the end we find out what he was about, giving the short at least a decent ending.
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4/10
Difficult to excuse
Horst_In_Translation24 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
"Pardon My Clutch" is an American black-and-white sound short film from 1948, so this one has its 70th anniversary this year. It is neither among the earliest nor latest, neither among the most or least known Three Stooges short films and in here we have of course Shemp already on board. Director is Oscar nominee Ed Bernds and the story is by Clyde Bruckman, who like Bernds worked with the trio on several occasions, but he (CB) is more known today for his earlier works with Buster Keaton. As for this one here, at 15.5 minutes it is even shorter than most other Three Stooges short films and the story here is about Moe and Larry trying to help poor sick Shemp and while you could discuss their intentions, their approach is definitely pretty rough. But things are even worse as Shemp's doctor has financial interests on his mind instead of Shemp's recuperation. Overall, I would say this was a pretty generic typical Stooges short. If you like most of their other stuff, you won't mind this one either. I personally found it fairly forgettable though, but then again I am certainly not the greatest Stooges fan out there. It's definitely not good enough to justify the "remake" from 1955. Watch something else instead.
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