Cactus Makes Perfect (1942) User Reviews

It's A Wise Child That Knows Its Mother

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 23 April 2010]

The only problem I have with Cactus Makes Perfect is that Monte Collins leaves it too soon. Collins an actor in drag does the best Curly imitation around as he plays Ma Stooge sending her boys off into the big city to seek fame and fortune with Curly's gold finder invention.

This gold finder is some weird contraption that Curly swears will find gold in any direction it is shot in. Armed with this device that Rube Goldberg would have rejected, Moe, Larry, and Curly set off to prospect in the desert.

Naturally some equally dumb people think this thing has possibilities and in truth Curly does find some gold, nice and already minted. And like Bette Davis in The Bride Came COD, the Stooges do get involved with some cactus, hence the title.

Very nice short subject, but I do so wish Ma Stooge came back before it was over.

momma more than gold

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 17 January 2020]

Larry, Curly, and Moe are lazy bums still living with their mother. Curly has a crazy gold finder invention and the boys go to the city to sell it. They buy a gold claim off a con man on the street. They head out west and can only finds cans with their gold finder. Curly stumbles upon a lost mine.

The gold mine is fine. The cactus is fine. The gold coins don't make sense. All of that is functional but I prefer the mother much more. It would have interesting to have her hit the boys non-stop for fifteen minutes. It's weirdly funny to have a female Curly.

One of the best

[Jim-500 · 8/10 · 15 October 2009]

This is an extremely entertaining short from the start... almost to the finish. The pace is brisk and the jokes and typical stooge mayhem abundant.

The only thing rotten about it is the ending. A stick of dynamite explodes and knocks the guys on their backs. Cue music and fade.

C'mon, guys--couldn't you come up with a better ending than that? Especially for such an otherwise great flick? It's one beef I have with so many of the stooge shows--for some reason the writers often could not come up with a satisfying ending. The boys get blown up. Or they get shot at. Or they simply run away. Take your pick--but they always leave the story behind.

"Lost Mine Finders Keepers"

[slymusic · 22 September 2009]

"Cactus Makes Perfect" is a catchy title for a wonderful Three Stooges short. Curly invents a gold collar button retriever (don't ask!), and the boys head out west to make their fortune.

Quite a few highlights in this short. Monty Collins, a co-writer for this film, is hilarious as the Stooges' mom. The boys sleep in a revolving bed. There is an amazing shot of the Stooges hopping aboard a taxi as it passes by at a fairly brisk speed. Curly attaches himself to his last arrow and shoots it in the air; after hilariously flying with the arrow and screaming, he gets his head stuck in the entrance to the Lost Mine, and Moe & Larry are not helpful in trying to free him. When Curly gets stabbed in the posterior with cactus pricks, Moe pries them out one by one while Larry merely snips them off with scissors; Moe tells Larry, "Hey! You're leaving the ends in him!", and Larry answers, "Well, they don't show." There is mayhem as usual when the Stooges use picks and shovels to dig for gold.

If you're a Stooge fan, then you gotta see "Cactus Makes Perfect". You can find it on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which has been releasing collections of the Stooge shorts in chronological order.

Prospecting For Gold

[StrictlyConfidential · 6/10 · 29 June 2021]

"Cactus Makes Perfect" was originally released back in 1942.

Anyway - As the story goes - Gold prospectors Larry, Moe, and Curly head West to make their fortunes with Curly's new invention. But a couple of claim jumpers get hopping mad at the intruders.

Incomprehensible and utterly impractical.

[wbhickok · 10/10 · 26 June 2001]

Although to pick an absolute favorite Stooge short would be near impossible, this one ranks near the top. As the trio are gold prospectors this time around who stumble upon a lost mine. Monty Collins (who co-wrote the screenplay) is hilarious as 'Ma' Stooge. Fans of the group will not be dissapointed.

Ma Stooge: (sobbing) "Goodbye boys, here's five dollars.

Curly: Thanks!

Ma Stooge: (angrily) You would take it! (SMACK!!)

Stooges finally showing us her "mother"

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 29 November 2017]

"Cactus Makes Perfect" is a 17-minute black-and-white short film from 1942 and all these information (including the name) already tell you what this is, don't they? If not, a look at the cast list should be enough to understand that here we have another Three Stooges short. You don't even need to read the names of the three, but seeing the name of director Del Lord, who worked with them so many times or the names of the supporting cast whose most known works are other Stooges works is enough already. By the way, this has really many writers it seems. It is from 1942, so it has its 75th anniversary this year, a round birthday, and despite being from the days of WWII, it is a non-political Stooges work. Instead, it tries to use the popularity of the western genre to its favor, a genre people loved back then, but that you don't see too often with the Stooges. Not surprisingly though because mixing western with comedy is a big challenge and also because Jews in western is a pretty unusual connection. I am sure many people back then did not want to see that. According to IMDb, this is one of the rare Stooges short films that was not remade later on or edited into another film. Curly is clearly the star here, maybe around the peak of its popularity and you can see how the comedy all centered around him if you compare his material to the other two's, especially Larry. Nonetheless, the slapstick routine that all Stooges films have in common did not convince me here either and honestly I cannot forgive them for the equally uninteresting story. This never tries to deliver anywhere else outside the comedy genre and even there, it comes pretty short. The title is also really bad, desperately going for plays on words that have virtually nothing to do with the film at all. The mother part early on was tolerable, but only stood out because everything afterward was so weak and forgettable. Don't watch.

Good Laughs From Standard Stooges Material

[Snow Leopard · 28 June 2001]

"Cactus Makes Perfect" gets some good laughs from some of the Stooges' standard material. When Curly comes up with a crackpot invention that is supposed to find gold, the trio heads out west to find a mine. It starts off a little slowly, except for some good moments with 'Ma Stooge' (played by Monte Collins) as she tries to motivate her boys, but then gets quite funny. Most of the laughs come from standard Stooges material, but their timing here is very good. Stooges fans won't be disappointed by this one.

Good comedy in The Stooge genre.

[oscar-35 · 13 December 2012]

*Spoiler/plot- Cactus Makes Perfect, 1942. Curly's new electronic gold finder device take the boys out West to be gold prospectors.

*Special Stars- The Three Stooges: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard. Monty Collins, Vernon Dent, Ernie Adams.

*Theme- Finding gold is only half the problem.

*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W, Columbia Pictures, film short, WW2 era. Ma Stooge is Mony Collins in 'drag'.

*Emotion- A rather crazy film with the exciting acting of Curly Howard, and nicely comedy 'balanced' by the rest of the film's scenes and actors. The old time physical effects shots with Curly riding along with his gold finding arrow are classic. Good comedy in The Stooge genre.

Not Memorable, Except For 'Ma Stooge'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 24 February 2008]

This Three Stooges short isn't one of the more memorable ones, except it has the boys' mom in it. Who remembers what Curly, Larry and Moe's mom looked like? Not me, and I've seen this a few times over a 50-year period.

Actually, the answer is Monty Collins, an ugly guy in drag who plays "Ma Stooge." She/he looks more like "Ma Barker!" Outside of her-him, it's a lot of standard Stooge slapstick with the boys hitting each other and a ton of sound effects. Early on the trio squeezes into a tiny bathroom and Moe shaves Curly with a straight razor, which will make you wince a few times!

Vernon Dent, a regular in the series, plays a prospector with a beard. You may not recognize him, but his voice told me who it was.

Ma Stooge Kicks the Boys Out

[Michael_Elliott · 24 June 2012]

Cactus Makes Perfect (1942)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Lesser short from The Three Stooges has the boys finally moving out of their mother's house. With Curly's gold finder in hand, the trio buy a gold mine out West and head there to make their riches. CACTUS MAKES PERFECT is middle ground Stooges at best as for the most part it's pretty forgettable, although there are a few funny jokes to be had. Still, I think this short is going to appeal to fans more than just your casual viewer and if you're new to the trio then it's probably best that you start somewhere else. I think the best jokes come towards the end when the Stooges find themselves at the bottom of the mine looking for the gold. This here leads to some pretty good violence with the boys constantly hitting one another with the tools and the final showdown in the vault contain a few laughs as well. The first part of the short is pretty hit and miss but the sequence with the Stooges in front of the mirror trying to get ready at the same time worked well. Ma Stooge was actually the highlight and especially some of her mannerisms, which of course got passed down to her boys.