“Hot Stuff” (1956) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

Hot Stuff (1956)

Director: Jules White

Writer: Felix Adler, Elwood Ullman

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard, Christine McIntyre, Philip Van Zandt, Vernon Dent, Jock Mahoney, Gene Roth and Emil Sitka.

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

Our boys are government agents assigned to protect a scientist developing a super rocket fuel.  When foreign spies mistake Larry for the scientist, they kidnap him, Moe and Shemp.  If Larry cannot come up with the formula for the super rocket fuel, it’s curtains for our guys.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Hot Stuff (1956) is a reworking of the Stooges’ 1949 short Fuelin’ Around.  It makes use of quite a bit of footage from the original.

Hot Stuff is also the first short to use Joe Palma as a stand-in for Shemp since he had recently died.  Palma would usually have his back to the camera or as in the scene shown below would be wearing a fake beard or or something to obscure his face.  This gave rise to the term “Fake Shemp”.

Hot Stuff (1956) rates 4 of 5 stars.