Pals and Gals (1954) User Reviews

Stooges do western

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 3 August 2023]

Shemp's leg has gone bad and the doctor recommends going west on vacation for a couple of months. The guys cowboy up and do exactly that. At the Red Dog Saloon, Shemp tells 'Doc' Barker about the vein in his leg, but Doc misunderstands that it's a vein of gold. Nell reveals that Doc had stolen her saloon and locked up her two sisters.

There is plenty of recycling footage. That is the way of bargain Stooges production. I do like the premise with the vein drawing. I would have liked Doc to survive the poisoning and be defeated at the end. He seems to be the big bad. This is relatively fine Stooges western with Shemp.

The Good, the Bad, and Shemp !!!!!!!!

[revdrcac · 5/10 · 2 June 2006]

I always loved it when the Stooges travelled to the wild & wooly west. They were definitely fish outta water when they confronted the owlhoots of the frontier west. Shemp is excellent in this short, one of 17 or so western shorts the Stooges appeared in.

Moe and Larry are as dependable as always, dishing out the slaps, oneliners & eyepokes to the bewildered cowpokes they encounter. Christine was fantastic as Nell and added great support in this one.

They just don't make western comedy like this any more. The knuckleheads made this one memorable. Good script and appropriately hammy performances. Go west, young stooge !!!

Fairly decent but strange

[slymusic · 10 September 2007]

"Pals and Gals" is a Three Stooges Western short starring Moe, Larry, and Shemp. It features considerable stock footage from two earlier Stooge Westerns: "Goofs and Saddles" (1937) and "Out West" (1947). And that's just the beginning of the oddities regarding this remake.

Highlights: Moe and Larry mix an unlikely combination of ingredients for an alcoholic beverage (stock footage from "Out West"). While Moe and Shemp try to free Larry from the jail cell in the basement, the pretty saloon gal Nell (Christine McIntyre) diverts the outlaws' attention by singing "There's a Last Rose of Summer" (again, stock footage from "Out West"). The Stooges make their wild escape from Doc Barker's henchmen in a covered wagon (stock footage from "Goofs and Saddles"). Shemp outwits the cheaters in a poker game ("Out West"). Shemp talks about the enlarged vein in his right leg, while Doc Barker (Norman Willis) believes he is talking about gold ("Out West").

"Pals and Gals" isn't the greatest Western the Stooges ever tackled, but at least it IS satisfactory. What an unusual Western for the boys, however! First of all, while the Stooges are in the saloon basement in disguise, they suddenly encounter Doc Barker's gang; next thing you know, the boys jump out of a SECOND-STORY WINDOW in order to make their covered-wagon escape! And second of all, in "Out West," when Doc Barker drinks the Stooges' poisoned concoction, he merely gets knocked silly; in the new footage for "Pals and Gals," the drink actually KILLS him!