Production Information
Title: Dopey Dicks
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 122
Release Date: March 2, 1950
Running Time: 15:43
“Central section… northeastern section… western section… if I don’t hurry, we’ll all be in sections!”
(Shemp)
Short Take
The Stooges are janitors in this scare comedy who have just finished moving furniture and assorted items into the office of a detective. Shemp fantasizes about the exciting life of a private eye, when a beautiful blonde in distress (Christine McIntyre) rushes in begging for help, claiming she is being followed. While the Stooges search the hallways, she quickly scribbles a note and is captured by a mysterious figure.
The Stooges follow her note to a dark house on Mortuary Road, where an evil scientist (Philip Van Zandt) is building an army of robot men. Fanning out to search, Shemp finds the girl tied up and gagged in a curtained alcove at the end of the main hallway. The scientist and his assistant (Stanley Price) then try to dispose of the Stooges, but the Stooges overcome the odds and escape with the girl in a car driven by one of the scientist’s robots.
Cast & Crew
| Directed by | Edward Bernds |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Hugh McCollum |
| Written by | Elwood Ullman |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Christine McIntyre Philip Van Zandt Stanley Price |
| Cinematography | Vincent J. Farrar |
| Edited by | Henry DeMond |
Dopey Dicks Trivia
- The film title is a parody of Herman Melville‘s 1851 novel Moby-Dick.
- A colorized version of Dopey Dicks was released in 2007 as part of the DVD collection “Hapless Half-Wits.”
- Stanley Price plays Ralph, the wonderfully ghoulish, mad professor’s assistant.
- Phillip Van Zandt who played the mad professor got his start on Broadway and had an acting school in Hollywood in the 1950’s.
- Dopey Dicks has a spectacular, eight-minute, multi-room chase.
- The address to which The Boys follow the damsel in distress (Christine McIntyre) is 275 Mortuary Road.
Production Notes
Dopey Dicks was shot November 11 to 14, 1949.