The Stooges are janitors working at a space center. Through a series of mishaps, they accidentally find themselves launched into space and land on Venus. There, they encounter strange creatures, including a talking unicorn and a giant fire-breathing tarantula, as well as an alien computer that has eradicated all life on the planet. The computer creates evil robot duplicates of the Stooges. Eventually, they manage to return to Earth, where they are celebrated as heroes. However, chaos erupts at their welcome-back party when the evil robot duplicates arrive, leading to a comedic melee.
Have Rocket, Will Travel was Joe DeRita's inaugural screen appearance with the Stooges. He had replaced Joe Besser when Columbia ceased production of the Stooges' shorts series. The title is a play on the title of the popular television show of the time, Have Gun – Will Travel.[3] Filming was completed over 13 days between May 18 and June 1, 1959.[5]
In the original cut, the Stooges were the only people shown after the rocket-launch scene early in the film, but the studio insisted on a party scene in order to introduce other characters.[citation needed]
Reception
Box office
Have Rocket, Will Travel was released on August 1, 1959 to mixed critical reviews but was a success at the box office. During its first five days of a multiple-theater engagement in Los Angeles, where it was double-billed with The Legend of Tom Dooley, the film grossed $127,000 ($1,327,411 today).[7] The film ultimately grossed over $2.5 million ($26,130,137 today) for Columbia Pictures against a $380,000 budget ($3,971,781 today).[7]
Critical response
Moe Howard expressed his dislike for the film in 1973, stating: "Didn't care much for Have Rocket, Will Travel. It was contrived a lot. The pies were dragged in at the tail end and not only that, the unicorn business and all that...ugh."[8]
The soundtrack was released as a two-sided 45-rpm single in August 1959 by Colpix Records to coincide with the film's release. The Three Stooges sing the film's theme song backed by vocal group the Tinglers. The title song was written by George Duning and Stanley Styne and arranged by Dennis Farnon.[7]
The record sold well but did not chart highly because Columbia Pictures did not afford it much publicity.[7]
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Have Rocket, Will Travel (Part 1)" (George Duning, Stanley Styne)
^Solomon, Jon (2002). The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion. Comedy III Productions, Inc. p. 524. ISBN0-9711868-0-4.
^Solomon, Jon (2002). The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion. Comedy III Productions, Inc. ISBN0-9711868-0-4.
