Out West in Wyoming, baddie Rance Roden (Don Lamond) wants to trick the Native Americans into revolt by first seeing to it that their buffaloes are killed, then selling them weapons to overrun the Cavalry, and once that is achieved he wants to take control of the country - of course without figuring how he would overpower the Native Americans once they've defeated pretty much the white men in their territory, but that's besides the point. What's to the point is, that back in Boston, the Wildlife Preservation Journal gets wind that all the buffaloes are killed out West, so they send their best reporter, Cabot (Adam West), to the town where Roden has his headquarters, and a trio of photographers (the Stooges, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Joe DeRita) along with him. Thing is, Cabot is a city person, totally not cut out for the rough territory the West can be, and Roden, once he notices Cabot's less than a tough guy, and sees to it that he's even made the new sheriff in town, just for a laugh. That soon backfires a bit, as Cabot soon starts printing pamphlets condemning the useless killing of buffaloes, so Roden gives his right-hand man Trigger Mortis (Mort Mills) permission to kill him. However, Roden's on-again off-again girlfriend Annie Oakley (Nancy Kovack) has somehow fallen for Cabot, and she (by secretly doing his shooting) and the Stooges (by tomfoolery that turns out to be ingenuity) save him from repeated attempts on his life, without him even noticing. This all culminates in Roden inviting the whole US's nine worst outlaws, Jesse James (Wayne Mack), Wyatt Earp (Bill Camfield), Wild Bill Hickock (Paul Shannon), Belle Starr (Sally Starr), Johnny Ringo (Hal Fryar), Rob Dalton (Joe Bolton) of the Dalton Gang, Billy the Kid (Johnny Ginger), Bat Masterson (Ed T. McDonnell), and Cole Younger (Bruce Sedley) of the James-Younger Gang, to his town just to shoot Cabot dead - but the stooges glue the the gunmen's guns to their holsters, making them unusable, and Anne Oakley takes care of Belle Starr in a catfight. But to actually get the Cavalry involved, Cabot and the Stooges need proof that Roden was trading weapons to the Natives - so they try to photograph the deal but get captured instead and made ready to be executed ... when Joe remembers his special flute that can call buffaloes. And an instrument like this is enough to turn the tides for the buffalo-starved Natives ...

Now by 1965, the Three Stooges were definitely past their prime, and their slapstick-centered humour has lost most of its freshness, and thus their later films are not among their better ones - and The Outlaws is Coming was their second to last feature film. And that all out of the way, this actually isn't too bad a movie - sure, it's a rather simplistic and unassuming comedy, but at least some of the jokes actually hit their mark, and since the direction is genre savvy, the parodistic elements do mostly work. That of course still isn't enough to make a great movie, but circa 90 minutes that don't feel too wasted - especially when seen through a nostalgic lense.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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