The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962)

Three goofy druggists travel back to Ancient Greece on a milquetoast inventor's time machine.

Director:

Edward Bernds

Writers:

Elwood Ullman (screenplay), Norman Maurer (based on a story by)

Stars:

Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Joe DeRita

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Moe Howard	...	Moe
Larry Fine	...	Larry
Joe DeRita	...	Curly Joe
Vicki Trickett	...	Diane Quigley
Quinn K. Redeker	...	Schuyler Davis (as Quinn Redeker)
George N. Neise	...	Ralph Dimsal / King Odius
Samson Burke	...	Hercules
Marlin McKeever	...	Ajax and Argo, The Siamese Cyclops (as The McKeever Twins)
Mike McKeever	...	Ajax and Argo, The Siamese Cyclops (as The McKeever Twins)
Emil Sitka	...	Shepherd / Refreshment Man
Hal Smith	...	King Theseus Of Rhodes
John Cliff	...	Ulysses
Lewis Charles	...	Achilles The Heel
Barbara Hines	...	Anita
Terry Huntingdon	...	Hecuba

Storyline

Three druggists travel with a Milquetoast inventor, Schuyler, and his girlfriend, Diane, to ancient Greece on a newly invented time machine. There, the evil tyrant, Odius, takes a shine to the woman and has the guys enslaved as galley rowers using the excuse of the three druggists helping a rebel leader, Ulysses, escape. The rigors of the rowing pump Schuyler up into a muscleman with strength comparable to Hercules himself, who is in the employ of Odius. The threesome get the idea of raising money by promoting Schuyler as Hercules for a series of physical contests. Using a combination of his great strength and, a judicious use of a large supply of potent tranquilizers Curly-Joe brought with him, Schuyler is a success. However, this leads to trouble when the real McCoy learns about the imposter.

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Plot Keywords:

greece | hercules | time machine | ancient greece | galley | 

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Taglines:

Full-Length Muscle-Headed Feature Film!

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 February 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

De tre træmænd møder Herkules

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$450,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$4,360,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Normandy Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was such a box-office hit that Columbia offered The Three Stooges' production company, Normandy, a three-picture deal.

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Goofs

In the dungeon, actors' shadows are cast on the matte painting of the corridor.

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Quotes

Simon: [the galley drummer collapses after swallowing some of Curly-Joe's calm-down pills]
Simon: Philo!

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Crazy Credits

Filmed in glorious black and white

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Connections

Featured in Cheezy Fantasy Trailers (2006)

User Reviews

Send in the clowns!

All the Stooges films set in past historical eras intentionally spoof historical genres with anachronisms (ancient Egyptians comment on baseball, a Civil War general makes a reference to a radio show, Medieval knights worry whether Lady Godiva might offend the censors, etc.). But anachronisms are tossed about so gleefully here, you begin to realize that this is what the film is really all about - how movies set in the past pull the wool over the eyes of their innocently romantic audiences with a few spangles, a bit of flash, the inevitable tear-jerk scene, and a good dose of beefcake/cheesecake. In fact, the recipe for this film could make for pretty heavy satire if the Stooges weren't so clearly making a light-hearted (and light-headed) romp of it all.

Those who complain that the boys are looking pretty old in the film pretty much miss the point. An aging clown looks bad when he tries to play it young; but by working one's whiskers into the act, the clown regenerates himself as a new personality. These are not the old Stooges who bounced their way through the madcap shorts of the '30s; but they are a heck of a lot more fun than the Stooges of the '50s, trying to pretend that age had never happened. True, in their later features, they were very dependent on their scripts, which frequently let them down. But here the script is really not bad at all, and the Stooges are having a grand time, and we should, too. Just set your critical mind at rest and enjoy the show.