Joe BesserFilmography

Hey Abbott!

Synopsis: Narrated by Milton Berle, Hey Abbott! is a compilation of highlights from Abbott & Costello's numerous television programs. Includes routines like "Who's on First," "The Birthday Party," "Floogle Street" and "Oyster Stew." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

Which Way to the Front?

Actors: Jerry Lewis, John Wood, Jan Murray, Steve Franken, Dack Rambo

Synopsis: Brendan (Jerry Lewis) is an eccentric multimillionaire who is rejected for military service in this misfired comedy. Eager to help the Allies, he gathers a quartet of offbeat irregulars and sails to Italy to join the conflict. Brendan captures a Nazi general and masquerades as the enemy. When Read More

The Savage Intruder

Synopsis: Faded Hollywood star Katharine Packard (Miriam Hopkins) lives a lonely, secluded life in a sprawling mansion, battling the bottle and struggling to hold on to her eroding sanity. After a drunken reverie leads to a broken leg, her doctor advertises for a live-in nurse to help care for the Read More

Hand of Death

Synopsis: Scientist Alex March (John Agar) is working on developing what he hopes will be a new, non-lethal form of nerve gas -- but following an accident in his lab, he discovers that not only is the gas deadly, but also that it has invaded his entire body, and his touch is instantly fatal to any other Read More

The Silent Call

Actors: Roger Mobley, David McLean, Gail Russell, Joe Besser, Jack Younger

Synopsis: Director John A. Bushelman makes a departure from his usual western and action films to guide this respectable, canine-centered, family film about a big dog by the name of Pete with definite separation anxiety. When the impoverished Brancato family takes off from their Nevada home to look for a Read More

The Errand Boy

Actors: Jerry Lewis, Brian Donlevy, Howard McNear, Dick Wesson, Robert Ivers, Pat Dahl

Synopsis: The second of Jerry Lewis' directorial endeavors, The Errand Boy, like its predecessor The Bellboy, is essentially a series of "spot gags," some hilarious, others only moderately amusing. The gossamer-thin plot finds Morty Tashman (Lewis) being hired by the CEO of "Paramutuel Pictures" (Brian Donlevy Read More

Let's Make Love

Actors: Marilyn Monroe, Yves Montand, Tony Randall, Frankie Vaughan, Wilfrid Hyde-White

Synopsis: Let's Make Love is a breezy comedy about an off Broadway musical production. Jean-Marc Clement (Yves Montand) is the richest man in the world and looking for someone who loves him instead of his money. He reads in Variety he is to be satirized in the new production and tries out for the part. The Read More

The Rookie

Actors: Claude Stroud, Norman Leavitt, Joe Besser, Vince Barnett, Herb Armstrong

Synopsis: This is an out-dated, feeble World War II comedy about a new army recruit who ends up alone with his Master Sergeant and a striking model on a deserted island, deserted except for two enemy soldiers. When Tommy Noonan (playing himself) insists on being drafted, the local boot camp has been all but Read More

Plunderers of Painted Flats

Synopsis: In this Western, a good-hearted gunfighter helps a young cowboy find the cruel cattle baron who killed his daddy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Sappy Bullfighters

Synopsis: Released on June 4, 1959, Sappy Bull Fighters ended the Three Stooges' 20-year-plus association with the Columbia short subject department. Consisting mainly of stock footage from the earlier What's the Matador? (1942), the two-reeler incorporated footage, filmed in 1957, featuring Joe Besser and Read More

The Story on Page One

Actors: Rita Hayworth, Gig Young, Anthony Franciosa, Mildred Dunnock, Hugh Griffith

Synopsis: A suspenseful courtroom drama, The Story on Page One was the second and last film directed by the distinguished American playwright Clifford Odets (who also wrote the screenplay). Jo (Rita Hayworth) and Larry (Gig Young) are lovers accused of murdering Jo's husband. Their trial lawyer, Victor Read More

Say One for Me

Actors: Bing Crosby, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, Ray Walston, Les Tremayne

Synopsis: This musical comedy takes an off-beat religious turn as it tells the tale of a show-biz priest (Bing Crosby) who runs a Broadway theater for spiritually kindred show-folk. His problems begins when a vivacious but troubled chorine (Debbie Reynolds) shows up with a sad story about her ailing father Read More

Fifi Blows Her Top

Synopsis: Joe Besser's French wartime girlfriend, Fifi (Vanda Dupre), moves in next door to the boys in this Three Stooges comedy two-reeler, a remake, with plenty of stock footage of Love at First Bite (1950). Christine McIntyre, who had retired in 1954, and Heinie Conklin appeared courtesy of the old Read More

Quiz Whiz

Synopsis: In their first two-reel comedy of 1958 (although filmed in 1957), the Three Stooges welcome blonde Greta Thyssen, Miss Denmark of 1952, and the last in a long line of pretty starlets to grace the team's little comedy shorts. The long-legged former double for Marilyn Monroe (Bus Stop), Miss Thyssen Read More

Sweet and Hot

Actors: Muriel Landers

Synopsis: Filmed in 1957, this Three Stooges two-reel comedy featured Muriel Landers as Joe Besser's sister, a singer suffering from stage fright. Several scenes consisted of stock footage from I'm a Monkey's Uncle (1948) and Besser's solo effort G.I. Dood It (1955). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide Read More

Triple Crossed

Synopsis: In their penultimate two-reel comedy, the Three Stooges used mainly stock footage from their earlier He Cooked His Goose. Bachelor Larry makes a play for Moe's wife (Mary Ainslee, in stock footage) and Joe's fiancée (Angela Stevens). The few new scenes featuring Joe Besser were filmed in 1957. Read More

Pies and Guys

Synopsis: A professor (Gene Roth) wages that he can turn the Three Stooges into refined gentlemen in this remake, with stock footage of Hoi Polloi (1935) and Half Wits Holiday (1947). Symona Boniface, who had died in 1950, and Helen Dickson appeared courtesy of the stock footage while new scenes were filmed Read More

Flying Saucer Daffy

Synopsis: Joe Besser's photograph of a paper plate is mistaken for an UFO in this two-reel comedy starring the Three Stooges. Moe and Larry are paid handsomely for the picture, but when it is determined to be a fake, they are hauled off to jail. Joe, meanwhile, manages to photograph a real flying saucer and Read More

Oil's Well That Ends Well

Synopsis: About the best thing that can be said about this Joe Besser-era Three Stooges comedy is that it's not an exact remake of the boys' 1939 film Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise, a classic short which featured Curly Howard. Plus, it doesn't rely on recycled footage -- an unfortunate quality of many Read More

Guns A-Poppin

Synopsis: A remake with stock footage of the Three Stooges' earlier Idiots Deluxe, Guns A-Poppin' has Moe Howard on trial for assaulting Larry and Joe. Vernon Dent appears in the old footage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide Read More

A Merry Mix-Up

Horsing Around

Hoofs and Goofs

Synopsis: The first Three Stooges short to co-star Joe Besser as the third Stooge, Hoofs and Goofs features Moe Howard in drag playing his own sister, Birdie. Joe dreams that Birdie is reincarnated as a horse who soon takes up every inch of space in the Stooges' apartment. Benny Rubin returned to the series Read More

Rusty Romeos

Synopsis: Unbeknownst to each other, the Three Stooges fall in love with the same gold digger (Connie Cezan) in this two-reel comedy which consisted mainly of stock footage from the earlier Corny Casanovas (1952). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide Read More

Space Ship Sappy

Synopsis: In their first sci-fi comedy, the Three Stooges land on Sunev (Venus spelled backwards), a planet inhabited by cannibalistic starlets such as Harriette Tarler, Lorraine Crawford, and Playboy Playmate Marilyn Hanold. Emil Sitka once again plays a deranged scientist, a favorite role of the popular Read More

Muscle up a Little Closer

Synopsis: This Three Stooges comedy was the second with Joe Besser in the lineup, and from the beginning it hardly seems like a Stooges film at all. It opens with the boys greeting their girlfriends and both Moe and Larry have their hair slicked back. (They never show their normal hairstyles throughout the Read More

Outer Space Jitters

Synopsis: This is one of the funnier shorts made by the latter day Three Stooges lineup of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe Besser. The boys are assistants to Professor Jones (Emil Sitka) and they have traveled from Earth to the planet Sunev (which a title informs us is "Venus" spelled backwards). The Read More

Two-Gun Lady

Actors: Peggie Castle, William Talman, Marie Windsor, Earle Lyon, Joe Besser

Synopsis: Peggie Castle is the Two-Gun Lady in this no-frills western. Castle plays Kate Masters, whose prowess with a gun earns her both fame and notoriety throughout the West. She returns to her hometown, intending to avenge the murder of her parents. Aiding and abetting Kate is U.S. marshal Dan Corbin (William Talman Read More

Spike Jones: The Best of Spike Jones, Vol. 2

Synopsis: Spike Jones, America's first great master of musical mayhem, challenges the hit parade to a wrestling match -- best two falls out of three wins! -- in this collection of classic moments from Spike's television show of the 1950's. With help from his guests (including Eddie Arnold and Billy Barty) Read More

Headline Hunters

Synopsis: In this drama, the eagerness of a rookie reporter gets him into deep trouble after he finds himself entangled with big city racketeers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Fred Clark, Lynn Bari, "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom, Mack Sennett, Hank Mann

Synopsis: The best thing that can be said about Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops is that it's better than the team's previous outing Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Set in 1912, the film casts Bud Abbott and Lou Costello as a couple of New Yorkers who are swindled out of their Read More

Sins of Jezebel

Actors: Paulette Goddard, George Nader, John Hoyt, Eduard Franz, John Shelton

Synopsis: Her days of cinematic glory behind her, Paulette Goddard was compelled to take whatever came along in the mid-1950s. Playing the title role in Sins of Jezebel, Goddard survives the ordeal armed with little more than grim determination. The wicked princess of Phoenicia, Jezebel hopes to expand her Read More

The Abbott & Costello Show [TV Series]

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello

Synopsis: The Abbott & Costello Show marked the last major commercial success for the comic team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The duo, who had started out in burlesque in the 1930's (and each had long experience in entertainment and performing before they met), had been a veritable fixure on radio since Read More

The Desert Hawk

Actors: Yvonne De Carlo, Richard Greene, Jackie Gleason, George Macready, Rock Hudson

Synopsis: The Desert Hawk deserves to be seen on the basis of its cast alone. No more believable than any of Universal's other sword-and-sand epics, this one stars Yvonne de Carlo as Princess Shaharazade (sic) and Richard Greene as Omar, aka the Desert Hawk. By day a humble blacksmith, the Desert Hawk Read More

Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey

Actors: Leon Errol, Joe Kirkwood, Jr., Robert Coogan, Jerome Cowan, Joe Besser

Synopsis: In Ham Fisher's original Joe Palooka comic strip, Joe's pal Humphrey Pennyworth was a blimp of a man. In Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey, Mr. Pennyworth is played by Robert Coogan, a slim, athletic chap who was then starring as TV's Captain Video. At least Joe Kirkwood Jr. was closer to Fisher's visual Read More

Africa Screams

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Hillary Brooke, Max Baer, Buddy Baer

Synopsis: Bud Abbott and Lou Costello temporarily leave their usual Universal stamping grounds to star in the Huntington Hartford production Africa Screams. Costello plays the colorfully inept Stanley Livingstone, a meek book salesman who poses as a big-game hunter at the behest of his shifty pal Buzz Read More

Woman in Hiding

Actors: Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, Stephen McNally, John Litel, Taylor Holmes

Synopsis: So far as the rest of the world is concerned, Deborah Chandler Clark (Ida Lupino) is dead, killed in a freak auto accident. But Deborah is alive, if not too well. Having discovered a horrible truth about her new husband (Stephen McNally), Deborah had intended to commit suicide. Now she is the Read More

Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'

Actors: Donald O'Connor, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Penny Edwards, Joe Besser

Synopsis: Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin' starts off on a tense note as a struggling man is led through the streets of a western town, presumably headed for his own execution. Within a few minutes, however, we discover that the "victim" is a reluctant trainee for an upcoming foot-race between the feuding Read More

Talk About a Lady

Actors: Jinx Falkenburg, Forrest Tucker, Joe Besser, Trudy Marshall, Richard Lane

Synopsis: The "lady" is country lass Janie Clark (Jinx Falkenberg) in this peppy Columbia musical. Upon inheriting several million dollars' worth of real estate, Janie heads to Manhattan, where she runs up against her snooty, avaricious relatives. One of Janie's assets is a nightclub, providing the heroine Read More

Eadie Was a Lady

Actors: Ann Miller, Joe Besser, William Wright, Jeff Donnell, Jimmy Little

Synopsis: New chorus member Eadie Allen (Ann Miller) is the only thing that's good or lively or fresh in a run-down burlesque revue run by Tommy Farley (William Wright). He gives her a featured number and soon she's the star of the show, and he'd like to get to know her better because, conniver though he Read More

Hey, Rookie

Actors: Ann Miller, Larry Parks, Joe Sawyer, Jimmy Little

Synopsis: Musical star Ann Miller plays a Broadway leading lady coaxed into reteaming with Larry Parks, her former producer. Parks is now a lowly Army G.I., anxious to produce a show for the troops--with a 200 dollar budget! This being a wartime musical, Ann Miller succumbs to Patriotism and stars in Parks' Read More

Hot Steel

Actors: Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, Peggy Moran, Anne Nagel, Donald Briggs

Synopsis: Old stock shots are blended with freshly filmed material in the Universal programmer Hot Steel. Richard Arlen plays a metallurgist who brings his formula for super-strength steel to a mining town. The formula is promptly stolen, putting everyone under suspicion. To make matters worse, a murder is Read More

The Abbott & Costello Show: The Drugstore

Synopsis: In the introductory episode of The Abbott & Costello Show, we meet the two heroes, down-on-their-luck performers who owe too much rent to their landlord, Mr. Fields (Sidney Fields). To help pay it off, slick conman-type Bud Abbott maneuvers roly-poly comic Lou Costello into a job as a soda jerk Read More