Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Veteran western star George O'Brien teamed up with The Three Stooges in director Edward Bernds' "Gold Raiders" as an insurance agent determined to thwart a gang of trigger-happy bandits from hijacking gold shipments. The Stooges play second string to George as he tries to flush out the polecats preying on mine operators shipping their ore to Red Mesa. Not only did this 55-minute, black & white, comedy oater constitute O'Brien's last starring role, but it was the first and only time that Shemp Howard showed up for a Stooges' feature film. Primarily, Moe, Larry, and Shemp are con artists masquerading as itinerant peddlers who wind up working alongside O'Brien. Along the way, George and the Stooges get their spurs tangled up with elderly Doc Mason and his granddaughter Laura. Poor old Doc is an alcoholic sawbones who accidentally collaborates with the chief villain Taggart (Lyle Talbot) when he loses a piece of paper with O'Brien's strategy to dupe the outlaws. "Gold Raiders" amounts to a standard-issue, B-movie, horse opera, with the virtuous O'Brien battling it out with the wicked Taggart while the Stooges supply the kind of comic relief sidekicks ordinarily would in their service to the star. Fuzzy Knight makes a brief appearance as a pusillanimous town sheriff. The incomparable Clem Bevans is both believable and sympathetic as the whiskey besotted oldster. As Doc Mason, he creates chaos without realizing what he is doing until half-way through the action. If you enjoy formulaic B-movie sagebrushers with knock-down drag out fights, galloping horse chases, and shoot'em ups, this western should entertain you. The shenanigans of the Stooges and the complex Elwood Ullman and William Lively screenplay make this one tolerable enough to take.

Considering that this film does not have Curly, it automatically loses a couple points. However, much as I dislike Shemp films compared to the Curly ones, they are still miles and miles ahead of the later (ugghh) films with the annoying Joe Besser or the insipid Joe DeRita.The movie is unusual due to its format. Instead of the usual 20 minute running time, this one comes in at a little under one hour--B-movie length. Now in later years, longer films would be the norm. But her in 1951, it was definitely an anomaly. In this film, the same bad pattern develops that plagued the full-length the Stooges made late in their careers. Instead of being THE show, they are there more as supporting characters. Here, aging cowboy star George O'Brien (playing, of all people a guy named "George O'Brien"!) is an insurance agent out West to protect shipments of ore from bandits. Insanely, he hires the Stooges to help him protect the shipments.As for the Stooges, to a degree they pretty much do as you'd expect--lots of slapping and eye-gouging and the like. Unfortunately, though, it's like they are guests in another person's film. There is no crazy plot or the usual level of zaniness to the film--making GOLD RAIDERS an amazingly muted film. In fact, it's less like a Three Stooges film and more like a typical B-Western--something O'Brien might have done without the Stooges. Sadly, the craziness I'd hoped would be there wasn't.You know, I'd sure love to know why this film was made. After years and years of two-reel comedies, this film just seems to come from out of no where. Also, I'd love to know how in the final shootout in the bad that so many shots were fired but so few people got hurt!!

GOLD RAIDERS (1951)A dull western/comedy feature with the Three Stooges (including Shemp Howard at this point, who I've always enjoyed as the "third Stooge") doing their usual schtick, and directed by the normally dependable Edward Bernds, who also did some of their funniest classic shorts -- so one has to wonder, just what went wrong this time? The most probable answer is that what worked pretty good as a 15-minute two-reeler comes up as too much for a 55-minute feature film. Unlike so many of their classic short subjects, GOLD RAIDERS is not worth revisiting.*1/2 out of ****

The Three Stooges save the day when the gold must go through in this amusing Western that will tickle the funny bone of any Three Stooges fan. Clem Bevans is hilarious as an old man with a few problems of his own. The film would have gained more had the Stooges been given a larger role. Director Ed Bernds was given a tiny budget and about one week to knock this picture out. Nevertheless, worth the price of admission for the Stooge in you.