Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959)

After having a batch of their old short films with Curly Howard released to TV in the late 1950s, the Three Stooges were back in demand and Columbia Pictures finally gave Moe Howard and Larry Fine the opportunity they always wanted for all the years they were making shorts--the chance to star in feature length films.Joining Moe & Larry as the new 3rd stooge was show-business veteran Joe Derita, nicknamed Curly-Joe--presumably because of his somewhat physical resemblance to Curly Howard.And the thing you might notice with this new stooge lineup is that these are not the stooges of old back when they were in their prime with Curly and Shemp. In fact, these stooges are old & maybe with old age came a softer approach. Whether or not that's a good thing is a matter of personal taste, I suppose--although I would point out the problem with the majority of the Derita era was the softer approach & how the stooges seemed to have gotten pegged during this point in their careers as being just "Children's entertainers."Definitely, the cutesy talking unicorn angle of this movie seemed expressly aimed at pleasing the younger kids in the crowd--although if you're like me, you know that when the stooges were in their prime, their act with Curly and Shemp was hardly cute and whimsical. Indeed, during those days, a little petty larceny by the stooges was considered a good thing.Who knows what the stooges could have done if they had been given the chance to make features during the 1930s, 40s, or 50s, but "Have Rocket" was not exactly the greatest vehicle they made, but it does have its moments.5 stars

The planet Venus is populated by energy…that and a lonely robot. Make energy, a lonely robot and a tarantula which shoots fire out of its fangs. Oh, don't forget a squeaky voiced unicorn whom the Three Stooges rescue when they discover it caught with its horn caught in a rock. How the boys get to Venus is pretty forgettable, but unfortunately, it takes them forever to get there. They are good hearted, however, determined to help kind-hearted scientist Anna-Lisa invent a fuel which will get the rocket tipped upside down outside their shack upside right and prevent her boss (Jerome Cowan) from firing her. In the process, they pop popcorn, discover that sugar makes a great fuel (especially when Moe drinks the fuel by mistake, thinking it's coffee), and turn the plumbing business back fifty years in an effort to find the key to the spaceship which fell down a drain. Kids of the late 1950's might have found this funny, but this wouldn't cure the A.D.D. of today's youth who would find this instantly idiotic. Robert Colbert, the hero of "The Time Tunnel" and the original patriarch of "The Young and the Restless", is pretty much wasted as a fellow scientist in love with the pretty Anna-Lisa, basically standing back observing the goings-on of the foolish Three Stooges whose comedy even 30 years after their first appearances together is violent and dated, especially when presented to a young audience. An attempt to bring slapstick in with three robot versions of the boys coming down to earth after harassing the shrunken ones on Venus just falls flat. Then, there's a fight started at a lavish social gathering to honor the returned stooges, crowned heroes, in the film's ridiculous finale. Joe DeRita is a poor substitute for the late Curly, and the title song is weak as well. Stick with the shorts. At least they are over within 20 minutes.

"Have Rocket--Will Travel" is my favorite Three Stooges feature film. After years and years of making two-reelers at Columbia, the boys were finally given their shot in features, even if Moe and Larry were well past middle age. With a fantastically witty music score, this picture is, for the most part, quite entertaining and lively. I must, however, agree with one particular Stooge author who wrote that the only time the picture drags is when the Stooges land on Venus, particularly when they meet the talking electrical energy device, which shrinks them and locks them in a cage. Fortunately, as this same author pointed out, the pace picks up rapidly again once the Stooges leave Venus and return to Earth.Here are some of the highlights from this excellent comedy (don't read any further until after you watch the film). While on board the rocket ship, Larry accidentally sticks his finger in an electrical socket, shocking not only himself but also Moe and Curly-Joe as they try to grab hold of him. While searching for a key that slipped down a drain, Curly-Joe performs a variation of Curly's classic maze-of-pipes bit from the short "A Plumbing We Will Go" (1940). Evil robot Stooges chase the real Stooges in a corridor with six doors. The Stooges apply shovels and picks to dig their way into the rocket in order to rescue a monkey, and while they're inside, they just cannot seem to prevent the rocket from falling over a cliff. And finally, the dance sequence at the society party is wonderful not only for Larry's losing his shoe and jostling with dancing couples to retrieve it but also for Curly-Joe's spring-on-the-trousers gag (reminiscent of the classic Stooge short "Hoi Polloi" [1935])."Have Rocket--Will Travel" was a huge moneymaker for Columbia Pictures, and no wonder. It succeeds in entertaining and providing a number of good laughs. Supporting actor Jerome Cowan, playing the head of the space center and a marvelous foil for the janitorial Stooges, manages to get a few laughs as well. It is also a nice touch to hear the boys sing, not only during the opening credits but also during the Stooges' stroll with the talking unicorn while on Venus.

It seems by this point that the Stooges seemed apologetic about their work. There was once a time when the Three Stooges could hit each other all they wanted without fear, but by 1959, when they were re-discovered by kiddies on TV, they had to tone down the violence a little. `Have Rocket, Will Travel', their first feature, has less slaps and eye pokes than their average two-reeler, thus resulting in less laughs. The Three Stooges play…The Three Stooges, and this time they're janitors at NASA. A pretty scientist (Anna Lisa) is about to be fired because her attempts to send a spaceship to Jupiter have been unsuccessful. To help her, the Stooges figure out what was wrong, but accidentally send the rocket while they're still in it. They land on Jupiter find a talking Unicorn, and get into some trouble with an evil computer that makes evil mechanic clones of them. Will they survive? The problem with `Have Rocket, Will Travel' is that it's talking down to a juvenile audience and trying to please the kiddies instead of being funny. What we're left with is Three nice Stooges and a talking Unicorn, which is so silly that it's virtually indescribable. And what about the Jupiter scenes? They appear to have been hastily filmed in a national park hoping the audience wouldn't notice the obvious flaws. `Have Rocket, Will Travel' is certainly likable, and it has one or two enjoyable musical numbers, but it just doesn't have the primitive humour and the laughs of their shorts from the 30s and 40s. However, it did spawn a Three Stooges feature film series that included `Snow White and the Three Stooges', `The Three Stooges in Orbit', and `The Outlaws is Coming!'