Punch Drunks is the second short subject film starring the American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges and was released on July 13, 1934.The trio made 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.
THE PLOT
Struggling boxing manager Moe is having lunch with several associates when he notices their shy waiter (Curly) goes into a violent fugue whenever he hears the song "Pop Goes the Weasel". Moe also takes notice of a fiddler (Larry) who happens to be playing the potent tune at the restaurant. Seeing dollar signs in the uncontrollable waiter, Moe quickly recruits the two unsuspecting cohorts and preps them for the boxing world. Curly's boxing handle becomes "K.O. Stradivarius", and with Larry in tow—playing "Pop Goes the Weasel" at every boxing match, Curly becomes the number-one contender for the heavyweight championship.
All goes well until the night of the highly anticipated World Championship match with Killer Kilduff. Only a few moments into the first round, Kilduff plants a left hook at Curly, sending him into the crowd, landing on Larry and crushing his violin. Frantic, Larry scurries the streets, looking for anything that is playing "Pop Goes the Weasel," while Curly is being battered by the boxer. Larry finds a radio playing the tune, takes it and heads back to the arena. Larry arrives at the arena a few minutes later with the radio. The song ends moments later just as Curly is about to knock out Kilduff. Moe sends Larry back out to find something else playing "Pop Goes the Weasel".
Larry manages to come across a politician's campaign truck blaring the tune from its speakers and "race-drives" it to the arena, crashing through a side wall. Curly is just about ready to throw in the towel until he hears "Pop Goes the Weasel". The wobbly boxer comes to his feet with renewed energy, and knocks out Kilduff in a matter of seconds, winning the fight. The song continues, however, and as they celebrate in the ring, Curly knocks out Larry and Moe and begins to advance on the camera as the short ends.
A side-gag for this short involves a boy sitting ringside and the bell-ringer. When Larry rushes out to find the song, Moe looks around for something to stop the round. He sees the bell-ringer has fallen asleep. He offers the house bet to the child in exchange for a piece of candy he's eating. The kid takes the deal, and Moe tosses a piece of candy onto the bell, ringing it. The kid finds it funny and gets into a battle with the bell-ringer over who can ring the bell first.
TRIVIA
In 2002, Punch Drunks was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", the only Stooge film to achieve such an honor.
The title Punch Drunks comes from the expression "punch drunk", referring to any fighter who has been hit so many times he is unsteady on his feet.
Punch Drunks was remade with Shemp Howard in 1945 as A Hit With a Miss.
The short is notable as being one of the few in which the Stooges are not an established trio at the beginning of the film.
Curly's first "woo-woo-woo!", done when Larry first plays "Pop Goes the Weasel", ended up being reused as a stock overdub in several future Stooge shorts featuring Curly.
This is the first of several films in which a normally passive Curly sees, hears, or smells something that triggers a violent reaction from him. The idea would be reused again in GC69YCC Horses' Collars, GC6BVDD Grips, Grunts And Groans, and GC6F693 Curly Howard: Tassels In The Air.
This was the first of nine shorts that featured Larry Fine playing his violin.
A snippet of Punch Drunks appears in the Eddie Murphy comedy Daddy Day Care.
Curly's quote "Did I do that" was later used for the Family Matters character Steve Urkle.
THE CACHE IS NOT AT THE POSTED COORDINATES
To obtain the coordinates for the final location of this cache, just answer this one trivia question obtained directly from this short, and then answer the bonus trivia question to get a clue for bonus cache GC6A8BH Moe Howard:
What is Curly’s dressing room number on the night of the championship fight against Killer Kilduff?
8 (N41 48.614 W087 58.602)
12 (N41 48.591 W087 58.836)
13 (N41 48.562 W087 58.622)
15 (N41 48.504 W087 58.619)
BONUS TRIVIA QUESTION: Record the number assigned to the letter below for usage in bonus cache GC6A8BH Moe Howard
At the championship fight, when Larry’s violin gets broken, he leaves the arena and comes back with a radio that is playing the Weasel song. As soon as he gets to the ring, the songs stops, and a voice comes on the radio telling you “how Fuzzy Bear met Peter Porcupine”. How does the voice identify himself?
Uncle Dan (B = 7)
Ranger Bill (B = 6)
To watch this short, use the following link :
Episode 2 Punch Drunks