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 Corporation,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

Schuyler wears loose baggy clothing in the first part of the picture to hide the muscles he supposedly later acquired.

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Quotes

Curly Joe: My calm down pills!

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Crazy Credits

Filmed in glorious black and white

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Connections

Edited from Half Shot Shooters (1936)

User Reviews

The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) ***

This is one of the best of all the later '60s feature films to star the enduring comedy trio. It succeeds admirably because Moe, Larry and Curly Joe are kept up front of the proceedings and it doesn't hurt at all (except perhaps for them when they get smacked around) that the comedy is consistent and faithful to what we expect from seeing all those old Stooge shorts. Despite their advancing ages, the "boys" hit all their marks perfectly and never do we get the impression that we're dealing with men well into their sixties. The Stooges are pharmacy workers who get a hold of a time traveling device (it doesn't matter how or why) and find themselves in ancient times where they face a lot more than just Hercules. For such a film, the production looked more expensive than it probably was, and I had to smile at the winks to BEN-HUR. *** out of ****