Fling in the Ring (1955) User Reviews

Fling in the Ring (1955) ***

[JoeKarlosi · 7/10 · 18 May 2014]

The Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Shemp) are boxing trainers forced by their boss Big Mike to de-condition their star prize fighter "Chopper", because the boss has bet a load of dough on the big galoot losing the match. This was one of the latter shorts by the aging Stooges which relied on recycled old footage from a previously produced film. In this case, most of the running time is taken from 1947's FRIGHT NIGHT (which had also been Shemp's first comedy with The Stooges). However, the new scenes shot for this re-issue are very funny and for my money make this redo an even better experience than FRIGHT NIGHT! New scenes include: the boss playing practical jokes on the Stooges by having them smoke exploding cigars; Moe's fingers getting jammed in a door (Moe: "I think I broke my eye-poking fingers!" ... Larry: "Good, now you can't poke us in the eyes! > POKE <- Owwww! I hadda open my big mouth!"), and Moe nervously swallowing and choking on a cigar when Big Mike sneaks up behind him. *** out of ****

"I think I broke my eye-poking fingers!"

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 2 March 2014]

I used to watch The Three Stooges as a kid and occasionally catch an episode now and then, so I tuned into this one because of it's boxing theme. I thought it would be a nifty addition to the boxing titles list I have elsewhere on the IMDb. For starters, after having been away from the team for so long, I was actually shocked to see how old Moe, Larry and Shemp were here. OK, Moe and Larry were in their fifties and Shemp was sixty, but gosh, they looked terrible. The slapstick was par for the course I guess, but it wasn't until I read some other reviewers here that I learned this was a remake of an earlier Stooges flick. And as it relates to the title, the story never really got as far as an actual fight, the champ wound up breaking his hand by punching a brick wall! But there's a gym scene in which Shemp tries to spar with contender Chopper Kane (Dick Wessel) and things go awry from the outset as you'd expect. The chase scene in the warehouse viewed from an overhead camera was probably the best creative touch, while the rest of the short stayed true to the name of the Stooges work out location - the Slap-Happy Gym.

Deconditioning the Chopper!

[slymusic · 14 December 2006]

"Fling in the Ring" is a Three Stooges short starring Moe, Larry, & Shemp, and it is a remake, with ample stock footage, of the very first Three Stooges short with Shemp titled "Fright Night" (1947). Edward Bernds directed the original, and Jules White directed the remake with (unfortunately) no screen credit given to Bernds. In this fairly well-executed remake, the Stooges are proprietors of the Slap-Happy Gym, where they train the burly heavyweight boxer Chopper Kane (Richard Wessel). The Stooges' crooked boss Big Mike (Frank Sully) bets $10,000 that Chopper will lose his next fight, so the boys better make sure that their palooka softens up and doesn't train anymore!

The following are my favorite highlights from "Fling in the Ring." After Larry declares that Chopper will "ferblonger" his opponent in the ring (Larry could always be counted on for a Yiddish joke), Big Mike offers cigars to the Stooges; Moe's explodes, Big Mike laughs, Larry's explodes, Big Mike laughs, Big Mike's explodes, the Stooges laugh (new footage). Shemp unwillingly becomes a hilarious sparring partner to Chopper (stock footage). And during the exciting warehouse chase, Moe clobbers a gangster (Cy Schindell) with bricks and hides behind a curtain while using the unconscious gangster as a puppet (stock footage).

"Fling in the Ring" may not be as good as the original "Fright Night," as was the case for a majority of these stock footage remakes the Stooges tackled in the mid-1950s. But at least this particular remake does carry over a fair amount of energy from the original film, and we Stooge fans can be grateful for that.

Fright Night....

[simeon_flake · 3/10 · 28 January 2020]

The original "Fright Night" was something close to a masterpiece, featuring the return of Shemp & a wonderful way to kick off the post Curly era. "Fling," however is pure dreck from 1955 with one day shoots, poor substitutes for the original actors like Tiny Brauer & zero laughs from the new footage.

Watch "Fright Night" and avoid this at all costs.

Very good Three Stooges short!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 29 September 2004]

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

This is one of My favorite Three Stooges shorts! This one is with Shemp! Dick Wessel performs good here as a gentleman and as rugged boxer. Frank Sully was good as the villain. Cy Schindell also was good. Also in this short is Claire Carleton, Heinie Conklin, Joe Palma, Sammy Stein, and Tom Kingston. There is another Three Stooges short with Shemp very similar like this one called Fright Night. I strongly recommend both!

Fake Shemp?

[dweilermg-1 · 2/10 · 26 June 2020]

I'm guessing this remake of Fright Night (1947) was probably a "fake Shemp" short using previous Shemp footage as well as back of the head Shemp stand in following Shemp's 1955 death.