Playing the Ponies (1937) User Reviews

Charlies Lamont's Second--and Last-Directed Stooges' Film

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 25 November 2023]

In The Three Stooges' short film, October 1937 "Playing the Ponies," the trio are owners of a seaside restaurant called The Flounder Inn that's financially struggling. Similar to their previous film, the Stooges are approached by two conmen (played by the same actors Nick Copeland and Lew Davis). Their offer is to trade the pair's racehorse for the Stooges' Flounder Inn. Reading about the high payoffs for first place racehorses, the Stooges immediately agree to the deal, only to find their prize winning horse, Thunderbolt, is really a saggy-backed aging horse. But when they accidentally feed hot pepper nuts to Thunderbolt, the sluggish horse suddenly runs double-quick to the water trough to quench his thirst.

Veteran director Charles Lamont took the reins on "Playing the Ponies." Lamont, who broke into film in 1923 working for Mack Sennett, handled most of Buster Keaton's short films at Educational Pictures before moving over to Columbia Pictures. Lamont directed only two Stooges' films, this and 1935's "Restless Knights" before he realized "I had an intense hatred for Columbia's president Harry Cohn," and eventually joined Universal Pictures. He directed the later pictures of Abbott and Costello as well as the Ma and Pa Kettles series.

start and stop

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 14 February 2020]

Larry, Curly, and Moe run a bad restaurant. Larry and Moe are tired of the complaints. The guys get tricked into trading the restaurant for a horse. The horse is a dud until Curly mistakenly feeds it hot peppers.

The comedy is a bit slow especially during the horse race. The start and stop flow makes the comedy also start and stop. As for the restaurant, Curly works mostly in the kitchen by himself and that keeps the jokes disjointed. This is mostly fun.

The Sport Of Stooges

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 22 August 2011]

Playing The Ponies finds The 3 Stooges running a hash house and making a holy hash of it. Two customers of their's see three suckers, but Moe, Larry, and Curly think opportunity has arrived when the customers swap them their restaurant for a broken down racehorse named Thunderbolt.

Playing The Ponies has the look and feel of A Day At The Races with a lot of the same gags and cinematography. No songs by Allan Jones though. The boys do discover that feeding Thunderbolt hot chili peppers will give Thunderbolt the speed of Seabiscuit. How to use this knowledge is another story, but the Stooges are nothing if not creative on the fly so to speak.

A really good 3 Stooges short about three dopes doping a horse.

Aw, Nuts!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 30 August 2010]

Like a lot of Three Stooges shorts, the story is divided in two stories. Here, the first half involves gags concerning the restaurant business and the second half is a horse racing farce. Both are entertaining. The best lines are in the first half; the best slapstick in the second.

The first thing we see is a sign in the boys' restaurant: "Todays double feature - Lobster and Frog Legs 35 cents." Wow! I wonder what that price would be today?! Anyway, a couple of classic Three Stooges lines in this part still made me laugh, even though I've heard them many times. Things such as....

A dog growling at one of the customers trying to eat his meal, and the response, "Oh, don't mind him, mister; he's mad because you're eating out of his plate."

Or this exchange:

Larry, at the cash register: "How'd you enjoy your meal?"

Customer: "The soup was watery, the steak was tough and the coffee was just like mud."

Larry: "Glad you liked it. Don't forget to tell all your friends!

The Stooges get fed up with the complaints and wind up getting into the horse racing business, buying a washed-up nag named "Thunderbolt." You see, two crooks who own a washed-up racehorse happened to be in the restaurant and are heard saying "Only a sucker would buy Thunderbolt." Hmmm, I wounder who that would be?

Without ruining things, just remember Curly and the "peanuts" and "chili pepperinos." That's in the first four minutes and is the key to the second half of the story, the horse racing part which is totally insane, but that's what makes the Three Stooges fun to watch - few things ever make sense.

Decent Short

[Michael_Elliott · 19 June 2009]

Playing the Ponies (1937)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The Stooges are running a junky restaurant where no client leaves happy or willing to tell their friends to visit. The boys overhear a couple con men talking about a horse and end up trading their restaurant for him. It turns out the horse is a total bust until Curly ends up feeding him some hot peppers. This here is certainly middle ground as far as the Stooges go but there are a few nice laugh scattered throughout the film. This certainly isn't a short I'd be going back to watch over and over again but there's enough here for at least one viewing. I found the first half with the restaurant to be the best as we get Curly doing several nice gags including the fishing bit as well as him constantly eating the salted peanuts. The customers in the film also get to deliver some nice lines as all of them leave the restaurant very unhappy about their "mud like" coffee and various other issues. The scene with the horse and feeding it hot peppers really didn't make me laugh even though it was mildly cute.

Good one!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 11 August 2005]

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

This is one of My favorite Three Stooges shorts with Curly! All Appearing in this short are Billy Bletcher, Nick Copeland, Lew Davis, Charles Dorety, William Irving, and Jack 'Tiny' Lipson! This one is so hilarious! Curly has a great performance here and in My opinion its one of his best. I strongly recommend this Three Stooges short!

Fairly enjoyable Stooges short

[Woodyanders · 7/10 · 23 July 2009]

This time our lovably oafish trio are (ineptly) running a small restaurant. The endearing dolts trade in said restaurant for a rundown nag of a racehorse. Fortunately, the Stooges discover that the horse can still run fast if he's fed hot chili pepperinos prior to the race. Director Charles Lamont relates the story at a steady pace, but stages the gags in a merely competent manner. The first half is much stronger and more amusing than the strictly middling second half, with a handful of nice jokes which include Larry figuring out what a particular patron ate by checking out the stains on the guy's tie, another customer eating the burning hot chili pepperinos, Curly cooking the sole of a boot, and Curly constantly noshing on salted peanuts. Nick Copeland and Lew Davis are effectively smarmy as the two deceitful con artists who sell the Stooges the racehorse. The big horse race itself delivers a few solid laughs, but lacks that essential extra spark to be flat-out hilarious. Although not exactly classic Stooges fare, this movie is still worth a look for hardcore fans of the great comic team.

good short

[movifan1785 · 5 August 2002]

In this short the stooges are waiters that get tricked into buying a horse "Thunderbolt" they enter the horse into the race and the only way to get the horse to run fast is to feed it hot peppers. This was a good short but NOT their best.

"Only a sucker would buy Thunderbolt."

[slymusic · 1 October 2009]

"Playing the Ponies" is an enjoyable Three Stooges short in which Moe, Larry, and Curly break away from the restaurant business (too many squawks from the customers) and get into the horse racing industry. There actually is one aspect of their former restaurateur duties that aids their horse Thunderbolt in being a sure thing: chili pepperinos!

My favorite moments from "Playing the Ponies" include the following (don't read any further if you haven't yet seen this film). When a customer pays Larry his check, Larry sees if he can get away with pocketing one of the coins, but Moe's watchful eye tells him to drop the coin in the cash register. Curly prepares a "fillet o' sole" by fishing for an old boot, chopping it, and cooking it! A dog growls at a customer (William Irving) for eating out of his plate. Moe gets beaned in the face with the swinging saloon doors in the restaurant and with the alarm clock in the Stooges' suitcase. Moe and Curly attempt to help Larry jump onto Thunderbolt, but Larry misses and ends up with a pitchfork in his ass.

"Playing the Ponies" was directed by Charles Lamont, and I have a feeling that the Stooges didn't really like working with him. Out of 190 shorts the boys made at Columbia Pictures, Lamont only directed two.