Slaphappy Sleuths (1950) User Reviews

Slicker Than An Oil Slick

[abbazabakyleman-98834 · 8/10 · 11 November 2019]

Another great Shemp-era Stooges short that has them as undercover detectives working as gas station attendants to catch a gang of crooks robbing several of them in the city. A number of great gags are included, most of them courtesy of Emil Sitka as a dim-bulb customer and the famous popcorn sequence. Stanley Blystone is great as the gang leader, as well as Gene Roth in the beginning as the owner of the gas station chain.

stupid-looking

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 14 August 2022]

The Shemp Stooges are hired by the Onion Oil company. A criminal gang keeps robbing their gas stations and they need some "stupid-looking" guys to pose as idiot gas station attendants in the undercover investigation. It's great to start this with stupid-looking to describe the boys. It's an open invitation to be as stupid as they want to be and it doesn't end. I like Emil Sitka playing with the boys. I would like the fight to stay in fast forward speed. It's funnier that way. This is stupid and I like it a lot.

"In Onion, There Is Strength"

[slymusic · 17 September 2005]

"Slaphappy Sleuths," directed by Jules White, is a fairly straightforward comedy about three bumbling detectives (the Stooges) posing as gas station attendants for the Onion Oil Company, whose service stations have been consistent targets for holdups.

Here are the highlights from this short. Upon searching for some paperwork, Onion Oil Company general manager Fuller Grime (Gene Roth) accidentally sits on Shemp's pocketknife. The Stooges wear some catchy ad slogans on their backs, which are fully visible as the boys clean the gas tanks. Character actor Emil Sitka gives an unforgettably dizzy smile when he drives off beeping his horn after his car hood flies into the air and lands on his head. Shemp unknowingly substitutes popcorn for stop-leak. During the fight with the gangsters, the gun moll (Nanette Bordeaux) tries to clobber the Stooges twice, but both attempts backfire. And finally, the crooks somehow mysteriously manage to squeeze their car through their apartment door.

To sum up, "Slaphappy Sleuths" is a good Three Stooges comedy. The plot is very simple, and the gags occur in all the appropriate places. Overall grade: B+.

One of the best Shemp short and Stooges shorts PERIOD!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 15 September 2003]

This is one of the best ones with Shemp and its one of My favorites Stooges shorts! The story is good and the actors Stanley Blystone, Gene Roth, and Emil Sitka were really good and funny! The fight scene with Shemp punching Blystone and the other familiar face is excellent and its similar to the one in Calling All Curs and Crash goes the Hash! This is a great one and its funny every time you watch it!

Not a knock-out

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 19 August 2015]

Even if everybody is unconscious at the end of this 16-minute black-and-white short film. It features the Three Stooges in the formation as Shemp, Larry and Moe. Moe and Shemp were in their early 50s when this was made, Larry in his late 40s. Curly was already out of the picture, but that's not a problem. i always preferred Shemp's more subtle approach anyway. The director is 4-time Academy Award nominee Jules White and the writer is Felix Adler. Both worked on many Stooges films. Most of the cast members have also worked before and after with the Three Stooges, including Joe Palma, who became a Stooge for a short period as well after Shemp's death. In this film here, the stooges help in arresting a bunch of crooks who steal money from gas stations. In order to do so, the Stooges go undercover as gas station attendants. Of course, all kinds of things go wrong. However, I did not think this short film was really funny. Overall, not among their best.