Theme Song: This terrible song about how Star Wars and Star Trek are uninteresting and Space Invaders is not erotic enough plays no less than three times in the movie.
Stoogemaniac by Britt Bacon
There’s also this odd Tom Waits-aping song, which plays during the “Stooge Row” scene.
Stooge Row by Gary Tigerman
Interesting Dated References: A movie studio cash-in on the mid-80s “Three Stooges” resurgence.
Best Line: None. Not even if you appreciate the “Three Stooges.”
Social Context: Some of that mid-80s Stooge resurgence can be attributed to the Jump n’ the Saddle Band’s “Curly Shuffle,” a song which became a popular radio hit and earned some play on a then-burgeoning MTV. If you’re too young to remember this song, or were too jaded at the time to care, do yourself a favor and listen. It’s worse than you’d expect.
Summary: Howard F. Howard (Josh Mostel, Windy City, son of Zero) begins by telling us all about his life and how he has been obsessed with The Three Stooges since childhood.
As we follow his day to day, Howard constantly does hilarious things like step in dog poop and get pizza boxes FUCKING CONSTANTLY STUCK TO HIS SHOE. This seriously happens 6 times in the movie.
But then all of a sudden it’s revealed we’re in an alternate reality in which obsession with The Stooges has been diagnosed as Stoogemania. In fact, it’s so pervasive there are commercials to help you recognize symptoms, there’s a street block full of destitute Stoogemaniacs called “Stooge Row,” and even an entire sanitarium dedicated to the treatment of the disease.
Howard eventually ends his engagement, winds up on the streets, and checks himself into the facility. All the while, dozens of public domain Stooges clips stall and pad the action under the guise of “daydreaming.” Eventually he revolts during the graduation ceremony from the facility, which is now apparently a school to help people shed themselves of Stoogemania, and brings all the Stoogemaniacs to his wedding.
Worth Mentioning:
– Do you think getting only +/- 4 hours of sleep for literally a year is slowly killing me?
– Victoria Jackson has a small role as a nurse.
– Mark Holton (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Teen Wolf) plays one of the asylum/school inmates who is obsessed with Curly. 1985 must have been an insane time for Holton, as all three of these movies came out that year.
– If you care about such things, Sid Caesar (The Grease films) was also in the movie playing an annoying doctor.
– Director Chuck Workman edited The Academy Awards for like 20 years.
Poster and Box Art: All things considered, the poster has excellent renderings of the stooges and Mostel.
I can’t find a credit for it listed anywhere, but I’m sure it was someone who was actively doing covers in that time period.
Availability: VHS rips on YouTube, but no official release since the Beta/VHS home video.