The Three Stooges Meet Hercules

1962 film by Edward Bernds

The Three Stooges Meet Hercules

Directed by| Edward Bernds
Screenplay by| Elwood Ullman
Story by| Norman Maurer
Produced by| Norman Maurer
Starring| Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Joe DeRita
Vicki Trickett
Quinn Redeker
George N. Neise
Samson Burke
Emil Sitka
Hal Smith
Marlin McKeever
Mike McKeever
Cinematography| Scotty Welbourne
Edited by| Edwin H. Bryant
Music by| Paul Dunlap

Production
company

Normandy Productions

Distributed by| Columbia Pictures

Release date

* January 26, 1962 (1962-01-26) (U.S.)

Running time

| 89 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $420,000[1]
Box office| $2 million[1] or $1,175,000 (US/Canada)[2]

The Three Stooges Meet Hercules is a 1962 American comedy fantasy film directed by Edward Bernds. It is the third feature film to star the Three Stooges after their 1959 resurgence in popularity. By this time, the trio consisted of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita (dubbed "Curly Joe"). Released by Columbia Pictures, The Three Stooges Meet Hercules was directed by long-time Stooges director Edward Bernds. It was the most financially successful of the Stooges' feature films.

## Plot[edit]

The Stooges work at Dimsal's Drug Store in Ithaca, New York, where they befriend their eccentric next-door neighbor Schuyler Davis (Quinn Redeker), who is attempting to build a time machine. With the boys' "help", the machine transports the boys, Schuyler and disaffected girlfriend Diane Quigley (Vicki Trickett) back in time to Ithaca in ancient Greece during the reign of the lecherous King Odius (George N. Neise). The King, after defeating and imprisoning Ulysses because the Stooges are believed to be gods, has a yearning for Diane. Realizing they have disrupted the proper course of history, Schuyler and the boys free Ulysses, after which Odius banishes them to the galleys. However, the constant rowing causes Schuyler to become extremely muscular and superhumanly strong, equal to Hercules.

After an escape and shipwreck, they kill a monster Siamese Cyclops with the help of Joe's sleeping pills and start billing Schuyler as Hercules at a local gladiatorial arena. The real Hercules (Samson Burke) gets wind of their game and confronts them, but after single combat, Schuyler convinces Hercules to help them rescue Diane in a chariot chase. The time travelers remove Odius and, navigating by observing the progress of military technology, manage to set history straight by dumping him off into the Wild West where a tribe of American Indian warriors chases him off into the distance. After that, the travelers return to Dimsal's Drug Store. Dimsal touches the time machine and disappears, but eventually returns locked inside a pillory.

## Cast[edit]

* Moe Howard as Moe
* Larry Fine as Larry
* Joe DeRita as Curly Joe
* Quinn Redeker as Schuyler Davis
* Vicki Trickett as Diane Quigley
* George N. Neise as Ralph Dimsal/King Odius
* Samson Burke as Hercules
* Emil Sitka as Shepherd/Refreshment Man
* Hal Smith as King Theseus Of Rhodes
* Marlin McKeever as Ajax (The Siamese Cyclops)
* Mike McKeever as Argo (The Siamese Cyclops)
* John Cliff as Ulysses
* Barbara Hines as Anita
* Terry Huntingdon as Hecuba
* Diana Piper as Helen
* Gregg Martell as Simon
* Gene Roth as harbor captain
* Lewis Charles as Achilles the Heel
* Edward Foster as Freddie the Fence
* Cecil Elliott as matron
* Rusty Wescoatt as Philo, the Horator

## Production notes[edit]

The Three Stooges Meet Hercules was filmed over 13 days on June 6–22, 1961.[3] The film marked the return of director Edward Bernds, who had worked with Stooges during the Shemp Howard era and was recruited to help revive several proven routines from the past. Bernds later commented, "The team wasn't the same. They were older and I had to remind myself to be careful with them. I didn't want them to have a heart attack in the middle of a scene. If they had to run up a flight of stairs, I'd cut to something and jump to them at the top of the stairs."[4] Bernds also commented on working with new third Stooge, Joe DeRita: "[Joe DeRita] wasn't quite the typical Stooge, he wasn't quite as willing to be hurt as Curly was or even Shemp. And Moe was very considerate of him and Joe DeRita was a little temperamental and didn't like to be hurt. Moe took pains to make sure that Joe wasn't hurt the way Larry was, for instance, or the way Shemp used to be. He didn't get slapped as much. We had to use doubles more for Joe DeRita than we did Shemp or Curly."[4]

### Injury[edit]

Larry Fine sustained an injury that landed him in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center when filming a scene that involved climbing aboard a parked chariot. The 300-pound DeRita lost his grip and fell directly on top of Fine, knocking him unconscious. Fine was rushed to the hospital and quickly discharged when deemed fit enough to return to work.[4] It was during Fine's brief hospital stay that he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, which he controlled by resisting foods containing sugar for the remainder of his life (Fine died in January 1975).[5]

## Reception[edit]

Moe Howard expressed his fondness for the film in 1973, stating "Of course Hercules I liked very much. Especially when we were in the slave ship. We had a great special effects team on that."[4]

## See also[edit]

* List of American films of 1962
* List of films featuring Hercules

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b Lenburg, Jeff; Joan Howard Maurer; Greg Lenburg (2012). The Three Stooges Scrapbook, Updated Edition. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press. pp. 326–327. ISBN 978-1-61374-074-3.
2. ^ "Big Rental Pictures of 1962". Variety. 9 Jan 1963. p. 13. Please note these are rentals and not gross figures
3. ^ The Three Stooges Meet Hercules at threestooges.net
4. ^ a b c d Cox, Steve; Jim Terry (2005). One Fine Stooge: Larry Fine's Frizzy Life in Pictures. Nashville, Tennessee: Cumberland House. pp. 126–127, 138. ISBN 978-1-58182-363-9.
5. ^ Lenburg, Jeff; Joan Howard Maurer; Greg Lenburg (1982). The Three Stooges Scrapbook. Citadel Press.

## External links[edit]

* The Three Stooges Meet Hercules at IMDb
* The Three Stooges Meet Hercules at AllMovie
* The Three Stooges Meet Hercules at the TCM Movie Database
* The Three Stooges Meet Hercules at threestooges.net
* The Three Stooges Meet Hercules at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

The Three Stooges filmography

Short films|

* Woman Haters (1934)
* Punch Drunks (1934)
* Men in Black (1934)
* Three Little Pigskins (1934)
* Horses' Collars (1935)
* Restless Knights (1935)
* Pop Goes the Easel (1935)
* Uncivil Warriors (1935)
* Pardon My Scotch (1935)
* Hoi Polloi (1935)
* Three Little Beers (1935)
* Ants in the Pantry (1936)
* Movie Maniacs (1936)
* Half Shot Shooters (1936)
* Disorder in the Court (1936)
* A Pain in the Pullman (1936)
* False Alarms (1936)
* Whoops, I'm an Indian! (1936)
* Slippery Silks (1936)
* Grips, Grunts and Groans (1937)
* Dizzy Doctors (1937)
* 3 Dumb Clucks (1937)
* Back to the Woods (1937)
* Goofs and Saddles (1937)
* Cash and Carry (1937)
* Playing the Ponies (1937)
* The Sitter Downers (1937)
* Termites of 1938 (1938)
* Wee Wee Monsieur (1938)
* Tassels in the Air (1938)
* Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb (1938)
* Violent Is the Word for Curly (1938)
* Three Missing Links (1938)
* Mutts to You (1938)
* Flat Foot Stooges (1938)
* Three Little Sew and Sews (1939)
* We Want Our Mummy (1939)
* A Ducking They Did Go (1939)
* Yes, We Have No Bonanza (1939)
* Saved by the Belle (1939)
* Calling All Curs (1939)
* Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise (1939)
* Three Sappy People (1939)
* You Nazty Spy! (1940)
* Rockin' thru the Rockies (1940)
* A Plumbing We Will Go (1940)
* Nutty but Nice (1940)
* How High Is Up? (1940)
* From Nurse to Worse (1940)
* No Census, No Feeling (1940)
* Cookoo Cavaliers (1940)
* Boobs in Arms (1940)
* So Long Mr. Chumps (1941)
* Dutiful But Dumb (1941)
* All the World's a Stooge (1941)
* I'll Never Heil Again (1941)
* An Ache in Every Stake (1941)
* In the Sweet Pie and Pie (1941)
* Some More of Samoa (1941)
* Loco Boy Makes Good (1942)
* Cactus Makes Perfect (1942)
* What's the Matador? (1942)
* Matri-Phony (1942)
* Three Smart Saps (1942)
* Even as IOU (1942)
* Sock-a-Bye Baby (1942)
* They Stooge to Conga (1943)
* Dizzy Detectives (1943)
* Spook Louder (1943)
* Back from the Front (1943)
* Three Little Twirps (1943)
* Higher Than a Kite (1943)
* I Can Hardly Wait (1943)
* Dizzy Pilots (1943)
* Phony Express (1943)
* A Gem of a Jam (1943)
* Crash Goes the Hash (1944)
* Busy Buddies (1944)
* The Yoke's on Me (1944)
* Idle Roomers (1944)
* Gents Without Cents (1944)
* No Dough Boys (1944)
* Three Pests in a Mess (1945)
* Booby Dupes (1945)
* Idiots Deluxe (1945)
* If a Body Meets a Body (1945)
* Micro-Phonies (1945)
* Beer Barrel Polecats (1946)
* A Bird in the Head (1946)
* Uncivil War Birds (1946)
* The Three Troubledoers (1946)
* Monkey Businessmen (1946)
* Three Loan Wolves (1946)
* G.I. Wanna Home (1946)
* Rhythm and Weep (1946)
* Three Little Pirates (1946)
* Half-Wits Holiday (1947)

Features|

* Soup to Nuts (1930)
* Time Out for Rhythm (1941)
* Rockin' in the Rockies (1945)
* Swing Parade of 1946 (1946)
* Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959)
* Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)
* The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962)
* The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962)
* The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963)
* The Outlaws Is Coming (1965)

Related films|

* Stoogemania (1986)
* The Three Stooges (2000)
* The Three Stooges (2012)

* v
* t
* e

Hercules (Heracles)

* Hercle
* Ercole
* Hercule
* Alcide

Family|

* Zeus (father)
* Alcmene (mother)
* Megara, Omphale, Deianira, and Hebe (wives)
* Heracleidae (children)

Events|

* Creation of Milky Way
* Hercules at the crossroads
* Labours of Hercules
* Hercules in ancient Rome
* Shirt of Nessus

Literature|

| Poems|

* Heracles Papyrus
* Shield of Heracles
* Catalogue of Women
* L'Atlàntida

|

Plays|

* Herakles
* Women of Trachis
* Hercules Furens
* Hercules Oetaeus

Other|

* The Labours of Hercules
* Hercules and the Wagoner

Art|

* Hercules and the lion of Nemea (5th century BCE)
* Hercules of the Forum Boarium (2nd century BCE)
* Lansdowne Heracles (c. 125)
* Statue of Hercules, Dura-Europos (c. 150–256)
* Farnese Hercules (216)
* Hercules slaying Antaeus (c. 1460)
* Hercules and Deianira (c. 1470)
* Hercules and the Hydra (c. 1475)
* Hercules Killing the Stymphalian Birds (1500)
* Hercules and Antaeus (c. 1500–1510)
* The Choice of Hercules (c. 1520–1525)
* Hercules and Antaeus (1531)
* Hercules and Cacus (1534)
* The Origin of the Milky Way (1575–1580)
* The Choice of Hercules (1596)
* Hercules and Omphale (1603)
* Hercules Fighting the Nemean Lion (1634)
* Hercules and the Hydra (1634)
* Hercules Separates Mounts Calpe and Abylla (1634)
* The Death of Hercules (1634)
* Hercules's Dog Discovers Purple Dye (1636)
* The Origin of the Milky Way (1637)
* Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides (1638)
* Landscape with Hercules and Cacus (c. 1660)
* Hercules and Omphale (1732–1734)
* Libertas Americana (1783)
* The Sanctuary of Hercules (1884)
* Hercules the Archer (1909)
* Achelous and Hercules (1947)
* The Twelve Labors of Hercules (1981)
* The Labors of Herakles (2006–2008)
* Hercules and the Erymanthian Boar
* Hercules and the Nemean Lion

Opera|

* Ercole amante (1662)
* Alcide (1693)
* Ercole su'l Termodonte (1723)
* Admeto (1727)
* Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen, BWV 213 (1733)
* Hercules (1744)
* Le nozze d'Ercole e d'Ebe (1747)
* The Choice of Hercules (1750)
* Hercule mourant (1761)
* Le Rouet d'Omphale (1871)
* Déjanire (1911)
* Atlántida (1962)
* Hercules vs. Vampires (2010)

Films|

| Italian series|

* Hercules (1957)
* Hercules Unchained (1959)
* Goliath and the Dragon (1960)
* The Loves of Hercules (1960)
* Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis (1961)
* Hercules in the Haunted World (1961)
* Hercules in the Valley of Woe (1961)
* The Fury of Hercules (1962)
* Hercules, Samson and Ulysses (1963)
* Hercules vs. Moloch (1963)
* Hercules the Invincible (1964)
* Hercules Against Rome (1964)
* Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun (1964)
* The Triumph of Hercules (1964)
* Samson and His Mighty Challenge (1964)
* Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon (1964)
* Hercules and the Princess of Troy (1965)
* Hercules the Avenger (1965)

|

Other European
live-action|

* Herakles (1962)
* Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964)

American films
live-action|

* The Warrior's Husband (1933)
* The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962)
* Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
* Hercules in New York (1970)
* Hercules (1983)
* The Adventures of Hercules (1985)
* Jason and the Argonauts (2000)
* Immortals (2011)
* The Legend of Hercules (2014)
* Hercules (2014)

Animated films|

* Hercules (1995)
* Hercules (1997)
* Hercules: Zero to Hero (1998)
* Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus (1998)

Television|

* The Mighty Hercules
* The Sons of Hercules
* Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961)
* Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules (1962)
* Ulysses Against the Son of Hercules (1962)
* Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995)
* Hercules and the Amazon Women (1994)
* Hercules and the Lost Kingdom (1994)
* Hercules and the Circle of Fire (1994)
* Hercules in the Underworld (1994)
* Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur (1994)
* Hercules: The Animated Series (1998)
* "Hercules and the Arabian Night" (1999)
* Young Hercules (1998)
* Hercules (2005 miniseries)
* Atlantis (2013)

Comics|

* Hercules (Marvel Comics)
* Hercules (DC Comics)
* Hercules (Radical Comics)

Games|

* The Return of Heracles (1983)
* Hercules (1984)
* Disney's Hercules (1997)
* Herc's Adventures (1997)
* Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (2000)
* Heracles Chariot Racing (2007)
* Glory of Heracles (2008)

Other|

* Hercules in popular culture
* Hercules (franchise)
* Hercules (2019 musical)
* Pillars of Hercules
* Maczuga Herkulesa
* Hercules' Club
* Xena: Warrior Princess

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