Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Half Shot Shooters" is an American black-and-white live action short film from 1936, so this one is already over 80 years old and maybe the names of director White and writer Bruckman tell you already that here we have another Three Stooges short film. If not, then the mentions of Howard² and Fine should. This is one of the earlier works from the trio and this of course means Curly is still on board, even if he is not as much in the focus as he is in other works from around the same time. World War 2 was not happening yet, but maybe the many Stooges films about the military show us that times were tough and political crises seemed omnipresent. Interestingly enough in this one here you get a concrete World War I reference early on, something you don't see too often with the gang. At 18.5 minutes, it is one of their longer works if we are only talking about their many many short films. I think Blystone, a very experienced (western) actor, did a really fine job as the main antagonist, especially in the moment when he knows revenge is his. The part early on where the Stooges humiliate him is rather embarrassing to watch. But still, the negative is way more frequent than the positive. The final scene with the cannon is fairly weak and repetitive. The plays on words are okay at times. I wonder if their military superior is the one here who unintentionally taught Moe all his poking stuff etc. Still, this is not among the most known Stooges shorts, admittedly neither among the least known, but in my opinion it shouldn't be. All the mediocrity cannot be tolerated in the face of 2-3 fun moments. I give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

simeon_flake Perhaps one of the more controversial stooge shorts, regardless of who was 3rd stooge. I've seen many take issue with this one--in particular, the character of Sergeant MacGillicuddy played by Stanley Blystone; the argument being that the violence he dishes out on the stooges is too real.I think I can see where those views are coming from--but, I've always looked at MacGillicuddy as being a more extreme version of the already cartoonish stooges. Besides, some of the pain he dishes out on the boys is just plain funny--i.e. the punch that Larry gets after he kisses Blystone on the cheek.And there are just too many funny moments in this short for me not to give it a passing grade--maybe the best of them all being the stooges free-wheeling destruction with the cannon--which leads to another moment that a lot of fans take issue with; the ending with the Sarge blowing the stooges away.Maybe I'm weird, but that scene never fails to crack me up--especially that slo-mo pan to the smoking boots. Overall, "Half-Shot" is one of the best by the stooges during a time period (1936) where they never turned out a bad short.

ccthemovieman-1 This kind of story happened in at least three of The Three Stooges short, and all of them are pretty funny. This wasn't as good as the others until the last five minutes when it takes a strange turn with a big cannon, and then finishes strong.The basic storyline - see if this sounds familiar - is the boys are in the army, are lazy slobs and then get picked on my a gruff sergeant. They are discharged (or the war is over), the boys immediately get revenge on the sergeant when they find out he has no power over them anymore. Later, through a mistake, they re-up into the army and now face that same sergeant, who is out to kill them, at this point.Here, it's 1918 and World War I is raging. We see real footage of soldiers on the battlefield, running and shooting. Then we see the Three Stooges snoring away in a foxhole. The sergeant gives them the business. The same day, it's announced the war is over and on their way out the door, the Stooges really do a number on the Sarge, beating the crap out of him.There are parts of this comedy, I might say, that almost shocked me in that some of it wasn't slapstick, but almost downright meanness and torture. The violence goes past the normal laughs. For example, in one scene the Sargent has the boys put their heads underwater and then fires a pistol in the water, deafening the boys. That is nasty. It reminded of a brutal scene in the film noir, "The Big Combo."Anyway, fast-forward to 1935. It's the Depression and the boys are desperate for work. (They haven't aged a bit, by the way.) Because they are kind of ignorant and never read signs, they wind up re-enlisting....and, of course, the same sergeant is there! What happens afterward is a bit of a surprise. The gag turns out to be something else besides the animosity between the Stooges and the Sarge, but the boys' misuse of a huge cannon during a supposed practice session. The Stooges wind up blowing up houses, chimneys and finally, a ship in our own Navy! Those scenes with the cannon are very funny and ends this comedic short on a high note.

Michael_Elliott Half Shot Shooters (1936) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Seventeen years after the end of WW1, the Three stooges find themselves poor and hungry so they accidentally sign up for the Army to cause more trouble. There are a few gags here that work but most of them miss. One of the best gags has Curley pulling his shoe up and another has the three firing off a canon, which hits their Admirel's boat.Now available on Columbia's 2-disc set, which features over 20 shorts, all digitally remastered and looking better than since they were originally released.