Production Information
Title: Half Shot Shooters
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 14
Release Date: April 30, 1936
Running Time: 18:35
“Every time you think you weaken the nation.”
Short Take
Half Shot Shooters opens in 1918, where, upon receiving medals for “wounds in action” (being beaten up by their sergeant after sleeping through an attack), The Three Stooges are discharged from the army immediately following the end of World War I; they subsequently take revenge on Sgt. MacGillicuddy (Stanley Blystone) in retribution for his attack and overall poor treatment of them.
The film then cuts to 1935. The Stooges are traveling the streets hungry and are tricked into signing up for the army again. Unfortunately for them, MacGillicuddy is again the sergeant in charge. In the office of their colonel at the army base they have been sent to, the still-hungry Stooges fall upon some tomatoes MacGillicuddy had brought in. He orders them to throw away the tomatoes, and, demonstrating, throws one away himself, inadvertently hitting the colonel. As punishment, MacGillicuddy is ordered to polish spittoons.
Moe, Larry, and Curly are then assigned to coast artillery, and begin practicing their “skills.” They first hit a smokestack, followed by a house, a bridge, and lastly, a battleship, which just happens to be the flagship of a navy admiral. Sgt. MacGillicuddy and a group of officers rush up to investigate; when they question The Stooges as to whom is responsible, the three point fingers at each other in mutual blame. The frustrated sergeant asks them to line up for a photo shoot. The Stooges agree, glad to be rewarded for their sharp shooting, and pose as Sgt. MacGillicuddy swings a deck gun at them and fires, leaving three pairs of smoking boots behind.
Half Shot Shooters Cast & Crew
| Directed by | Preston Black |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Clyde Bruckman |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Stanley Blystone Vernon Dent Edward LeSaint Harry Semels Heinie Conklin Lew Davis |
| Cinematography | Benjamin H. Kline |
| Edited by | Charles Hochberg |
Half Shot Shooters Trivia
- This was the debut of longtime Stooge co-star Vernon Dent
- This is the final short to feature the original version of the Columbia Torch Lady with the headdress and the animated flickering torch
- This was the first Columbia short that had no female cast members
Production Notes
- Half Shot Shooters was filmed on March 18–21, 1936
- The unique Headquarters structure, also known as the Train Depot and the Cotton Exchange, can also be seen in Yes, We Have No Bonanza
- The exterior shot the restaurant window scene was filmed on the Columbia Ranch’s Modern Street and the interior camera shot was taken from inside the Bank, on the corner of New York Street and Modern Place