THE OUTLAWS IS COMING! (1965, U.S.)

The Outlaws is Coming!

(aka THE THREE STOOGES MEET THE GUNSLINGERS)
(1965, U.S.) 88 minutes
Columbia Pictures Corporation / Normandy Productions
Screenplay: Norman Maurer, Elwood Ullman
Music: Paul Dunlap
Cinematography: Irving Lippman
Produced by Norman Maurer
Directed by Norman Maurer

With: Moe Howard (Moe), Larry Fine (Larry), Joe deRita (Curley-Joe), Adam West (Kenneth Cabot), Nancy Kovack (Annie Oakley), Mort Mills (Trigger Mortis), Don Lamond (Rance Roden), Rex Holman (Sunstroke Kid), Emil Sitka (Mr. Abernathy/Witch Doctor/Cavalry Colonel), Henry Gibson (Charlie Horse), Murray Alper (Chief Crazy Horse), Tiny Brauer (Bartender), Sidney Marion (Hammond), Jeffrey Scott (Kid), Marilyn Fox (First Girl), Audrey Betz (Fat Squaw), Lloyd Kino ("a Japanese Beatle")*, Joe Bolton (Rob Dalton), Bill Camfield (Wyatt Earp), Hal Fryar (Johnny Ringo), Johnny Ginger (Billy the Kid), Wayne Mack (Jesse James), Ed T. McDonnell (Bat Masterson), Bruce Sedley.... Cole Younger, Paul Shannon (Wild Bill Hickok), Sally Starr (Belle Starr), Paul Frees (Narrator/The Magic Talking Mirror, uncredited)

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The story opens in Casper, Wyoming, in the spring of 1871. Rance Rodin, a western mobster, is taking over the town and "every racket known to man and the devil" by having his two henchmen, Trigger Mortis (Mort Mills, best remembered as the highway patrolman who temporarily detains Marian Crane in Hitchkock's thriller PSYCHO), and The Sunstroke Kid (Rex Holman) use force to gain protection monies from the populace.

But Rodin wants to do more than take over business in Casper. He wants to control the entire country by killing off the Buffalo herds, which will cause an Indian uprising, as well as kill off the calvery and most of the white race. This would allow the villain to reign supreme over the American government.

Rodin orders his gang of gunslingers to "go home and get busy! Open war on the buffalo! And if anybody tries to stop us, then they're idiots. Dead Idiots!"

The scene shifts to the Boston, Massachusetts headquarters of "The National Society For The Protection Of American Wildlife" (a parody of The ASPCA), where the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry & Curly Joe De Rita) work as photographers and undercover investigators.

The boys have been assigned to take a photo of "Elvis the skunk" for the magazine's cover. The skunk, however, is giving them problems. He simply doesn't want to come out of his cage. It doesn't help matters much that "Curly Joe" accidentally hits Moe in the face with his ink roller and bumps Moe, which sends the team's leader into the presses; he gets the front page of the magazine printed on his gruff puss.

After further altercations, "Curly Joe" decides to play his all-purpose hunting horn as a means of creating a skunk call to lure Elvis out of the cage and onto the scene. After a few loud false starts, the funny fat Stooge finds the right notes to play the call.

Meanwhile, Otis Abernathy, the society's director, feels that drastic measures must be taken to prevent the buffalo slaughters from creating a war with the indians and destroying the herds. He sends his young editor and top investigator, Ken Cabot (Adam West, a year before he would go on to play Batman) to learn about the buffalo's destruction.

Distracted by the conversation that their bosses are having, Moe, Larry and Curly Joe place a large ammount of flash powder on the camera tray. Before you can say "Light'r Up!", the camera explodes like a bomb and the entire office is ruined.

Having had enough of their incompetence, Abnernathy orders Cabot to fire the trio. Cabot dismisses the incident as an accident, but the angry director will have none of it. However, he allows Cabot to "take them out west with you if you wish, but don't bring them back!"

The Stooges realize that they must go with their editor to solve the mystery of the buffalo killings, in order to redeem themselves. Cabot and the boys travel via buckboard to Casper, where they find out that Rance Rodin and his gang are behind the buffalo slaughter.

The villains are even selling guns and ammo to the indians, to encourage the deadly massacre. With the help of sharp shooter Annie Oakley (Nancy Kovack, best remembered as the girl spy in Dean Martin's "The Silencers" and the grieving widow in "Marooned") and some super-glue, our heroes prevent Rodin's gang from killing Cabot in a tragic duel.

The trio and Cabot reform the indians, and their leader, Chief Battle Horse (Murray Alper) and his son, Chief Charley Horse, (played by a pre-"Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" Henry Gibson), by having Curly Joe play a Buffalo call on his hunting horn, which brings back the herds.

The boys manage to take a picture of Rodin and Mortis selling weapons to the tribes, prior to the camera getting wrecked again (another mishap with flash powder!).

Invited to use a misplaced calvery chuck wagon as their means of returing home to Casper. Our heroes ride back only to find out that that they're being attacked by the villains in their armour-plated battle wagon. Rodin and Trigger are shooting at the troup with a built-in machine gun and cannon. They also find our to their horror that poor Annie Oakley is Rodin's prisoner!

The Stooges save the day once again, by throwing pies at their pursuers and using a meat grinder and some loaded gun belts as a makeshift machine gun. They totally destroy the fiends' battle wagon. Cabot takes Rodin and Mortis to a hill, where he beats them into surrendering.

The film ends with the outlaws calling in the US Calvery. The Army Officer (played by Emil Sitka) arrests the villians. The outlaws are reformed, the indians get their buffalo herds back and Annie and Cabot get married.

Finally, Curly Joe remarks "Just like in the old western movies, fellas! We get to ride off into the sunset!" However, a sudden cloudburst spoils the happy ending. Moe snarls to Curley Joe, "You hadda go open your big fat mouth!"

***

During the making of THE OUTLAWS IS COMING!, some buffalos were killed in an accident. Moe was able to use the meat for a buffalo barbeque that was held at his home in the Hollywood Hills following completion of the movie. (This info is from Moe Feinberg's bio on his brother, "Larry Fine: The Stooge In The Middle")

Home-movie footage exists of the wrap party/buffalo barbeque, as well as footage of the Stooges welcoming the nine Kid-TV hosts at L.A. International Airport.

I've read about the public appearances that the Stooges did with Officer Joe Bolton during the release of "The Outlaws Is Coming" in the winter of 1965.

The film was a hit with the Saturday Matinee crowd, and it was a wonderful way for the beloved team to end their illustrious movie career.

Originally, the film was to be titled "The Three Stooges Meet The Gunslingers". However, during a business meeting with the execs at Columbia Pictures, NYC, producer Norman Maurer stopped by the Universal screening room, which was in the same building on Park Ave. He happened to see a trailer for Hitchcock's "The Birds". The trailer stated, "The Birds Are Coming! The Birds Are Coming!" Maurer watched the trailer and thought, "Why not title our film 'The Outlaws Is Coming'? Much funnier!" (This info is from "The Three Stooges Scrapbook", by Joan Howard Maurer and the Lenburg Brothers.)

Also, there was going to be a tenth outlaw in the movie. Clarence (Harry) Fender, a former vaudeville/radio/tv/stage and nightclub entertainer, who was then hosting a local St. Louis, Mo. kids tv wraparound show, "The Captain 11 Show" on KPLR TV Ch. 11 in St.Louis, was going to appear in the movie as Doc Holiday. For reasons unknown to this day, Fender never appeared in "The Outlaws Is Coming". (Fender's "Captain 11", an old showboat skipper, should not be confused with the Twin Cities, MN version of "The Captain 11 Show" that was hosted by future TV game show host Jim Lange, or the Souix Falls, SD's version of "The Captain 11 Show" that was hosted by TV weatherman David Dedtrich.)

Harold ("Tiny") Brauer (who played villains in many the Three Stooges shorts, played the Bartender at Rodin's "Short Horn Saloon". Brauer engaged Larry in a parody of a popular TV commercial of the day: "I notice that you're wearing a Colt. I happen to handle the line out here, and I'd just like to ask, how do you compare our guns to the (Blank Blanks)?" Larry replies, "Oh, swell. I get four or five shots with my Colt, whereas with the (Blank Blanks), I only get two!"

Outside of a brief cameo in the filmed live-action intros to the first "New Three Stooges" TV cartoons, this was Brauer's last appearance with the team. Brauer passed away in 1991.

* The Internet Movie Database lists Lloyd Kino as "Japanese Moe", when in fact he plays "a Japanese Beatle". In the film, Kino enters the scene in Casper, playing and singing "Three Blind Mice" on his guitar, sporting a Beatles haircut and a Nehru jacket. He bumps into Moe, and gives a glowering scowl. Kino walks off, and Moe replies, "a Japanese Beatle?!?"

THE OUTLAWS IS COMING was released in the winter of 1965.

***

Paul Frees (the voice of Boris Badinov and Captain Peachfuzz on "Rocky & Bullwinkle") did the opening narration. Frees was also the voice of Jesse James' Magic Mirror in the film.

Long-time Stooge character actor Emil Sitka played three roles: Otis Abernathy, a Native-American medicine man, and the U.S. Calvery officer.

Ellwood Ullman, who had written and directed many of the Three Stooges' shorts during the 1930's and 40's, wrote the script for "The Outlaws Is Coming!", as well as the script for "The Three Stooges Go Around The World In A Daze".

The nine outlaws in THE OUTLAWS IS COMING were all played by popular local Kid-TV hosts of the day:

Sally Starr, host of WFIL-TV, Channel 6, Philadelphia, PA's "Popeye Theater", played Belle Starr.

Paul Shannon, host of WTAE-TV, Channel 4, Pittsburgh, PA's "Adventuretime!", played Wild Bill Hickok.

Johnny Ginger, host of WXYZ-TV, Channel 7, Detroit, MI's "Curtain Time Theater!", "Action Adventure Theater", "The Johnny Ginger Show", played Billy The Kid.

Hal Fryar, host of WFBM-TV, Channel 6, Indiannapolis, IN's "Harlow Hickenlooper Show", played Johnny Ringo.

Bill Camfield, host of KTVT-TV, Channel 11's "Slam Bang Theater!", played Wyatt Earp.

Ed T. McDonell, host of WNAC-TV, Channel 7, Boston, MA's "Major Mudd Show", played Bat Masterson.

Wayne Mack, host of WDSU-TV, Channel 8, New Orleans, LA's "the Great McNut Show" and "The McNut House!", played Jesse James.

Bruce Sedley, host of KRON-TV, Channel 4, San Fransico, CA's "the Skipper Sedley Show" and KTUV-TV, Channel 2, San Francisco, CA's "Sir Bruce Sedley Show", played Cole Younger.

"Officer" Joe Bolton, host of WPIX-TV, Channel 11, NYC's "Clubhouse Gang!", "The Three Stooges Funhouse!", "The Dick Tracy Show", "The Mighty Hercules Show", "The Three Stooges Show", "The Felix The Cat Show" and "The Little Rascals Show", played Rob Dalton.

Of these nine host/performers, only Starr, Sedley, Fryar and Ginger are still alive.

- Kevin S. Butler

Video/DVD availability: VHS/DVD (Columbia Home Video)

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