Blunder Boys (1955) User Reviews

Stooges Want The Facts, Just The Facts

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 16 May 2010]

One of the better Three Stooges shorts with Shemp is Blunder Boys, a very funny spoof of Dragnet which was in its original run on television and very popular at the time.

Moe narrates the film and its how the Stooges become police detectives in the crisp staccato style of Sergeant Joe Friday. Of course this is the Three Stooges so some liberties are taken with the facts.

There is a brief prologue in which Stooges are shown during World War II fighting a rear guard action, the only kind they know how as Moe informs us. Larry comes into his own in this film with a very funny bit about how he is dazed, but in that condition of stupor wipes out an enemy machine gun nest singlehanded.

The climax of the film involves the boys tangling with a criminal in drag in the person of vaudeville veteran Benny Rubin who must have been on loan from Jack Benny because Rubin was something of a semi-regular on his TV show. Rubin and Shemp have some battle of wits.

Blunder Boys, a very enjoyable short subject that concentrates on only the facts ma'am.

RIP Shemp

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 9 June 2021]

Halliday (Moe Howard), Tarraday (Larry Fine), and various Days (Shemp Howard) are cops in a parody of Dragnet. They recount their days in the Army, the police academy, and during a particular case to track master criminal The Eel.

Shemp would die soon after this. I'm not sure if the Stooges did more spoofs. They did a fine job with this one. I wonder if they could have gone on a whole rift with the new TV shows. Moe does a nice deadpan narration. Shemp's Days bit is stupid fun. At the end of the Days, that's all that is required. It's stupid fun.

Routine 81-C

[angus_dei · 23 November 2001]

This Stooges short is unique. First of all, the Stooges do not go by their real names (Moe, Larry, Shemp), but rather by Dragnet-inspired monikers Farraday, Tarraday, and any of several holidays (for Shemp's character) ranging from St. Patrick's Day to New Year's Day. In one sequence, the Stooges liken themselves to the anatomy of the human hand---Larry is metaphorically the middle finger. The two seconds or so of film where Larry displays his representative digit were blacked out by a Boston television station---Hence Larry was "banned in Boston," although his "gesture" was in no way obscene! The highlight of the film, however, has to be Routine 81-C, which Moe commands Larry and Shemp to prepare for and carry out. Unwillingly, but resignedly, Larry and Shemp do just that---Moe holds out two fingers of each outstretched hand, and Larry and Shemp run into Moe's fingers, thereby giving themselves eye-pokes. I have seen Routine 81-C countless times, and have died laughing every one of them.

Dum De Dumb Dum.... Dum De Dumb Dum Dump.....

[troygood1 · 9/10 · 9 March 2006]

"Blunder Boys" happens to be a parody of an old Crime Drama " Dragnet" Moe makes a good dead-pan narration of LAPD detective Joe Friday, as played by the Late Jack Webb. Webb was the driving force of Universal-Based Mark VII Limited Productions (The logo that featured the hammer and chisel, and #7 which is etched in stone-in roman numerals. Moe was Halliday, Larry was Tarraday, and Shemp played various characters that ends in day (St. Patrick's Day, Groundhog Day, New Year's Day, Christmas Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day). There were good detectives, but The Boys ended up on the streets-somebody HAS to do the dirty work around here. A great stooge short. See it in its entirety commercial-free, NOT on Spike. BTW: what's the 81-C? A double-eye poke in which Moe gave to BOTH Larry and Shemp. Don't Try This or ANY other pain-crunching methods at home.

Different, but not really good

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 24 February 2018]

"Blunder Boys" is another Three Stooges short film by White and Adler and as this one was released back in 1955 briefly before Shemp's death and a while after Curly's, this is certainly among the trio's later career efforts. Despite several aspects in these 16 minutes that don't feel to typical for Stooges works like a recurring joke that spans over the entire film, it is not among their most known. Of course, there are also many familiar components to be found in here such as the approach to (slapstick) comedy, the embarrassingly rushed-in military reference despite this being long after WWII already or the crime component that never shall be taken too seriously. Another thing you don't see too often is the trio in drag and this probably made the last third of the film also the best, but it cannot make up for all the other mediocrity in here. Even the plays on words were fairly weak this time and to me this is normally what I like the most in Stooges films. It's nice to see the three make a work here that is still new and not one of the many unnecessary remakes using archive footage, but this does not mean it was a good watch, just shows that fresh ideas weren't easy to come up with after way over a 100 shorts at that time already. I give it a thumbs-down. Only recommended to Stooges completionists.

Halliday, Tarraday, and Any Day!

[slymusic · 29 October 2007]

During the mid-1950s, most of the Three Stooges shorts took a turn for the worse as they became stock-footage remakes & rehashes of earlier (and better) Stooge shorts, but "Blunder Boys" is quite an exception. A complete original, this short is one of the cleverest entries in the entire Stooge film library. Directed by Jules White, "Blunder Boys" spoofs the famous television show "Dragnet" as detective Moe provides the monotone narration while staring directly at the camera. After a stint in the army, Moe, Larry, and Shemp go to college to study criminology, and once they graduate (with the lowest possible honors, of course), they are assigned their first case: to catch a criminal known as the Eel (Benny Rubin), who masquerades as a woman.

Highlights from "Blunder Boys" include the following. First of all, how could we forget Shemp adopting a series of holiday names after Moe introduces himself as "Halliday" and Larry introduces himself as "Tarraday"? The boys end this short as ditch-diggers, and after some funny tomfoolery with picks & shovels, Moe uses a mallet to whack a rubber stamp on Larry's forehead; the stamp reads "VII 1/2 THE END." The Stooges practice handcuffing each other, but their criminology teacher Alma Matter (Angela Stevens) forgot to give them the key before she left for the day! While inside a ladies' Turkish bath, the Stooges hilariously blow their feminine disguises. And Shemp is equally hilarious as his head goes through the ceiling after a mishap with a mechanical horse.

"Blunder Boys" is a very good Three Stooges short with a couple of oddities. First, familiar Stooges villain Kenneth MacDonald makes his only appearance as a good guy with the boys in this film; he plays police captain F.B. Eye. And second, no matter how unorthodox their methods may be, the Stooges are almost always able to capture criminals effectively, but the Eel is one crook they never manage to corner.

The last classic Shemp short

[holme-1 · 18 November 2001]

This is sadly Shemp's last classic. But this one is in my top 5 favorite Shemp films! Shemp turned in a great performance, and so did Moe and Larry. Their introductions are just too funny! Catch this one on AMC sometime, you won't be disappointed!

Grade: A+

Not bad for Shemp's last completed film.

[crusefamily · 10 September 2001]

BLUNDER BOYS was a pretty good short considering it was Shemp's last completed film. The rest of his films were: HUSBANDS BEWARE, CREEPS, FLAGPOLE JITTERS, & FOR CRIMIN' OUT LOUD. Sadly, four of his shorts were shot with a double after he died in 1955. But BLUNDER BOYS isn't too bad for being Shemp's last completed film.

*** out of 5 stars.

A good parody of Dragnet

[The Baron · 31 July 2002]

This film is probably one of the many spoofs of the then new Dragnet TV series,aside from Stan Freberg's comedy recordings! Moe's narration is as dead on as Jack Webb's voice overs! I like how Shemp keeps altering his "day" names:St.Patrick's Day, Independance Day,etc.