"The Three Stooges" Bio-pic. (TV movie, 2000) (1 Viewer)

[The Drifter]

Recently saw The Three Stooges film (Farrelly Brothers) for the first time, and it reminded me that back in Spring 2000 - there was an interesting looking made for TV bio-pic. about the Stooges, starring Michael Chiklis (among others). I never saw this, but based on the ads it looked like a serious behind the scenes look at these great performers - and was not a comedy.

This TV film was released to DVD back in 2012, for the first time. Haven't seen this yet, but looking forward to watching it at some point soon.

Here's a link with more info.:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Stooges_(2000_film)

 

[rmw650]

I would say it's one of the better Made for TV movies out there and Chiklis was awesome as Curly Howard. Definitely recommend the film.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Recently saw The Three Stooges film (Farrelly Brothers) for the first time, and it reminded me that back in Spring 2000 - there was an interesting looking made for TV bio-pic. about the Stooges, starring Michael Chiklis (among others). I never saw this, but based on the ads it looked like a serious behind the scenes look at these great performers - and was not a comedy.

This TV film was released to DVD back in 2012, for the first time. Haven't seen this yet, but looking forward to watching it at some point soon.

Here's a link with more info.:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Stooges_(2000_film)

There’s supposed to be another 3 Stooges film coming, right?
I enjoyed the first one (after the first act when they are kids at the orphanage- that segment is not great).

 

[bigshot]

Are you talking about the one made by Mel Gibson? God that was horrible. It a low budget melodrama on the Lifetime channel or something like that.

 

[The Drifter]

Are you talking about the one made by Mel Gibson? God that was horrible. It a low budget melodrama on the Lifetime channel or something like that.

Well, it looks like Mel Gibson was involved but it wasn't on Lifetime or any other Cable channel - it was on ABC.

 

[Sky King]

The Mel Gibson version was filled with inaccuracies.
One in particular has Curly having his career ending stroke it in front of the camera, when in reality he had it off camera waiting for his next scene.
Also, I don't ever remember reading about Moe having a courier job for Columbia Pictures after his initial career ended.
This movie had great potential, but fell short IMHO.

 

[bigshot]

It was cheesy... and not in a good way.

 

[The Drifter]

I haven't seen this yet, but the bad reviews here aren't turning me off. I typically like movies/TV shows others hate (and the opposite, i.e. I sometimes hate films/TV shows others like), and the trailer I saw for this TS Bio-pic. intrigued me enough to want to see this. I like the fact that this is a "behind the scenes" look at these iconic performers, and AFAIK it's the only bio pic. that's been made re: the Stooges.

I don't mind minor inaccuracies when watching bio-pics. I've seen a lot of them over the years, and it seems obvious that true events are modified/enhanced/embellished so that the story will work better "on screen".

That all being said, I will reserve judgement until I actually watch the film. So, we'll see.

 

[Sky King]

Jim,

I'm just the opposite.
I don't like a bio pic "Hollywoodized" for the sake of dramatic effect.
Tell it right or don't tell it at all.

 

[The Drifter]

Finally saw this TS bio-pic. - and I thought it was fantastic. Inaccuracies aside, I was extremely impressed. It's definitely one of the better bio-pics I've seen - they really recreated the era very well, right down to the cars, outfits, hairstyles, etc. What I also found interesting about the bio pic. is that it took you "behind the scenes" re: the Stooges' lives, and it's the first (and only, AFAIK) film to do this.

-Superb casting, especially for Larry & Michael Chiklis as Curly - fantastic.

-I did not know The Stooges were in an act with Ted Healy - before they went off on their own. He seemed like a bully, but it was still sad to see him drunkenly come into the nightclub in the later scene (which led to his death).

-All due respect to Shemp, but Curly (Jerome Howard) was a hell of a lot funnier - so, it was too bad that he had the stroke & then couldn't do the act anymore.

-The re-creation of a numerous TS shorts were great, and seemingly very accurate to the source material. Well-done.

-The scene when they were looking for a replacement for Curly & had all of those Curly look-alikes lining up was hilarious - ha ha.

-It was funny when the gang were just starting out in a nightclub, and Curly (in one of his first appearances) was doing a gag where he was pretending to be a prospector; he then came out with the line that went something like, "I came to this club because I heard it was full of gold diggers" - and then, all of these older guys with these much younger dates reassured the women that the Stooges were joking - LOL.

-IMHO the Stooges' humor definitely worked best re: their shorts, not the full-length films. IIRC I saw one of the Stooges movies years ago, and thought it was just OK. Conversely, the shorts were hilarious. And, I think that these are how most people became familiar with the act.

-Great final scene where the Stooges went to Boston for a live performance to a roaring, enthusiastic crowd - showing that they were still viable as a comic act - even after a long hiatus.

-Cool to see Australian actor Joel Edgerton in a important role here as the young studio executive. Edgerton was great as the young Uncle Owen in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the great Australian crime drama The Hard Word (both 2002 films), and many other movies.

Here's some interesting trivia about the Stooges:

https://listverse.com/2017/01/05/10-tragic-facts-about-the-three-stooges/

My only complaint with this tele-film was that it wasn't longer. However, since it was a 2-hour network TV movie & they needed to have commercials, I can see why it only clocked at a little under 1 1/2 hours.

One last comment: Based on this bio-pic, it was obvious that The Stooges were actually getting hurt doing their act at times - especially during the live shows. Though sound effects were added (during the shorts, etc.) & they weren't hitting themselves as hard as it looked/sounded - I suspect this may have resulted in negative long-term health effects, similar to how athletes/boxers end up getting debilitating illnesses as they get older (as a result of their professions).

 

[bigshot]

I don't like a bio pic "Hollywoodized" for the sake of dramatic effect.
Tell it right or don't tell it at all.

I suppose this tells the story reasonably accurately, but it looks cheap and it went on too long for what it was. I kinda liked the new Three Stooges movie because they tried to make it fun and relevant. This one looks old and canned. There are some relatively good Curly recreation scenes, but what's the point? It will never match the original, just be a close second.

I guess I'd rather watch the films themselves unless they can create something with the story. This felt like anecdotal trivia strung together.

 

[Sa5150]

Michael Chiklis played a great Curly .

 

[Mark Y]

In my experience, all biopics have inaccuracies in them -- probably some more than others -- I am not "condoning" that and I don't like it, but they often fictionalize events or combine two or more events together in order to simplify it and keep it moving. There's a lot of this in the Y2K Three Stooges biopic. But I knew the Stooges' history pretty well before I saw it, so while some of it bugged me, I can appreciate the "good parts" for lack of a better word. I guess it's best not to have high expectations going into these things.