History Film / TheThreeStooges

* DownerEnding: A few of the shorts ended with the stooges either getting some comeuppance they didn't really deserve, or even being killed. Subverted in that it always came off as darkly humorous.

*** The sight of tassels in ''Tassels in the Air''.
** Mentioning "UsefulNotes/NiagaraFalls" can also push Moe and Larry's button.

** Hanna-Barbera also featured the Stooges (Moe [Pat Harrington, Jr.], Larry, and Curly-Joe [Daws Butler]) in two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMovies''.

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: Women weren't on the receiving end of the stooges antics ''too'' often, at least until food fights broke out, then everybody was fair game.
** A notable exception is in ''I'm a Monkey's Uncle''. Moe and Larry have ''courted'' (read: bopped) Aggie and Maggie. Shemp is [[ButterFace less enthusiastic]] about Baggie, and she ends up wooing him after a flying tackle. Another tribe comes on them and accuses the boys of stealing the women, and hurls spears; all three land in the rumps. Of Moe, Larry, and ''Baggie'' (as she's carrying Shemp).
** The 2012 film features Creator/SofiaVergara and several female cast members of ''Series/JerseyShore'' engaging in Stooge-like antics.
** The 1946 short "Rhythm and Weep" featured three sexy dancers as co-stars for the Stooges. A scene was filmed in which the girls dressed as Moe, Larry and Curly and impersonated the Stooges. Unfortunately, this scene was cut from the film and the footage lost; only publicity images of the girls in costume survives.

* TakeThat: ''Back from the Front'' has an epic one toward the Nazis near the end.
-->'''Moe (disguised as Hitler)''': [[YouHaveFailedMe You fail to catch three spies.]] [[BoomHeadshot Blow out]] [[DrivenToSuicide your brains!]]\\

* OneExtraMember: There were actually 6 of them, though only 3 in any given short. (Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, Curly Besser, and Curly-Joe)

-->-- Lyrics to the iconic theme song, "Three Blind Mice"

->''"Well, they're these kinda funny looking guys... who like to hit each other."''
-->-- '''Jerry''', ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''

* IdiotPlot: Every single one of their films, really. It was an integral part of their humour.

Curly was forced to retire in 1947 after suffering a stroke during a break in filming, and Shemp Howard (who was reluctant to rejoin, as he had a successful solo career, but realized that Moe and Larry would have nothing without the Stooges) rejoined the act, changing the dynamic and triggering an ongoing "Curly vs. Shemp" debate that presaged the similar [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Joel vs. Mike debates]] of more recent vintage. After Shemp died in 1955, a bizarre set of Stooges shorts were created in order to complete the trio's current contract, making use of a body double and stock footage to make it appear that the now-deceased Shemp had participated, a technique later dubbed the FakeShemp in his honor by director Creator/SamRaimi. In 1956, Joe Besser, already a well-established comedy star, joined the group for their last shorts with Columbia (the short-film format was retired in 1959), and "Curly Joe" [=DeRita=], so nicknamed because of his resemblance to the original Curly, would sign on for their "post-shorts" career which involved a number of feature films as well as hosting a popular cartoon series.

The Stooges continued to make popular feature films and TV appearances until 1970 when Larry Fine suffered a stroke during production of a TV pilot called ''Kook's Tour''. In the early 1970s, longtime Stooges supporting actor Emil Sitka (best known to most Stooges fans for the line [[Recap/TheThreeStoogesBridelessGroom "Hold hands, you lovebirds!"]]) was promoted to "Third Stooge", but Moe died in 1975 before any more movies were made, ending the era of the original Three Stooges. Curly-Joe continued to do live performances for a short time with two other individuals filling in for Moe and Larry, but then retired.

[[caption-width-right:350:The brain trust.]]

* {{Grumpy Bear}}: Moe

* CourtroomAntics: ''Disorder in the Court''

* IllGirl: The stooges help one reunite with her father in ''Nutty but Nice''.

** Taken UpToEleven in "Blunder Boys," where Larry is knocked senseless by an army helmet and starts acting drunk.

** In ''Pop Goes the Easel'', his jerkass attitude gets cranked {{Up To Eleven}} when, following a clay fight, Moe demands to know who started it, Larry says "YOU did!", Moe responds by angrily yelling "Oh YEAH?!", and then promptly spins around with his hand extended, [[JerkWithAHeartofJerk slapping Larry, Curly and three or four other guys]] [[KickTheDog with]] [[TheBully one]] [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist continuous]] [[DopeSlap slap]].

* LargeAndInCharge: The Stooges were all rather short (Moe and Larry were each 5'4", Curly and Shemp 5'5"), to good comedic effect as therefore their adversaries, both male and female (the latter especially when in heels), tended to tower over them.

* NiceMeanAndInbetween: Curly/Joe/Curly Joe (nice), Moe (mean), and Larry/Shemp (in-betweeen)

** Curly's "Sointenly!"

** A later Curly-era short has the boys kissing and hugging a trio of women. At one point, Larry pauses, looks directly at the camera and exclaims, "This I like -- and I get paid for it, too!"

* TheButlerDidIt: In the short "If a Body Meets a Body".

-->'''Curly: Certanly! I'll get some apple pie and whipped cream!