Stoogemania

Stoogemania
Directed by Chuck Workman
Produced by Michael Rosenblatt
James Ruxin
Chuck Workman
Written by Jim Geoghan
Chuck Workman
Starring Josh Mostel
Melanie Chartoff
Sid Caesar
Paul Garner
Mark Holton
Music by Hummie Mann
Distributed by Atlantic Releasing
Release dates
  • 1986 (1986)
Running time
 83 min.
Country United States
Language English

Stoogemania is a 1986 film about a fan of The Three Stooges, directed by Chuck Workman, and starring Josh Mostel. The film experienced a brief theatrical release and was poorly received by critics. It has been out of print since the 1980s, and while released to VHS and Beta in 1986, it has never been released on DVD. In the United Kingdom, the film was released under the title Party Stooge.

Unknown at the time, a young Victoria Jackson, who would later play "Weird Al" Yankovic's girlfriend in the cult classic UHF and become a regular player in Saturday Night Live, played a nurse at the fictional Stooge Hills. Additionally, the local arcade owner is played by Paul "Mousie" Garner, who was one of Ted Healy's stooges and a member of the "New Three Stooges" in the 1970s.

Plot

The film centers on Howard F. Howard (Josh Mostel), a casual Three Stooges fan. He is engaged to his girlfriend (Melanie Chartoff), and life seems to be going well. More recently, he has been starting to see the Stooges wherever he goes. To save his life and his relationship, he seeks the help of a renowned Stooge psychologist (Sid Caesar). Unfortunately for him, this is a very serious epidemic which has apparently swept the nation. The doctor gives him medicine, which unfortunately are the wrong ones and are in fact sleeping pills.

To his dismay, Howard still sees the Stooges everywhere. He ends up going to "Stooge Row", a seedy part of Los Angeles located between the fictional "Shet Up St." and "Nyuk Nyuk Blvd." To combat this, a sanitarium known as Stooge Hills is created. While in an all-Stooge burlesque house, members of Stooge Hills (including James Avery) commit everyone in there to the sanitarium. Over a rigorous program, everyone is deemed cured. During the graduation ceremony, to prove that the Three Stooges are no longer funny, they play a few shorts. However, everyone comes to terms and realize "we love these guys". Howard marries his sweetheart, and the film ends on a happy note.

Production

Stoogemania was made in an attempt to cash in on The Three Stooges' sudden resurgence in popularity during the 1980s, thanks to syndication and Jump N the Saddle Band's hit novelty song, "The Curly Shuffle". The film was not endorsed by Columbia Pictures or the Three Stooges trademark holders. Only four shorts are shown throughout the film, all of which are in the public domain: Sing a Song of Six Pants, Malice in the Palace, Brideless Groom, and Disorder in the Court.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.