What's the Matador?

In April 1942's "What's the Matador?" a play on the phrase 'What's the matter,' the Stooges play vaudeville entertainers whose schtick is dressing Curly as a bullfighter with Moe and Larry inside a bull's outfit. They squeeze a gig in Mexico, but encounter a jealous husband who catches his wife Delores (Suzanne Kaaren) flirting with the three travelers. The laughs pile on when the hubby arranges a real bull to enter the ring while the Stooges are performing their act, with Curly receiving the butt end of the prank. The film parlays on the popularity of Tyron Power's 1941 hit "Blood and Sand" about the bullfighting arena with Rita Hayworth.

"What's the Matador?" features a Mexican giving a longest set of directions captured on film delivered in Spanish, totally confusing the Stooges. In essence he tells them to take a series of left and right turns before he finishes with, "There you will find a river. Do me a favor: jump into the river and drown yourself!" This movie also includes a "comedy of manners" scenario commonly found in Restoration English theatre which typically takes place in a bedroom where hidden lovers of wives slink from the clutches of outraged husbands. Here, in the couple's bedroom where the husband is napping Delores hides the Stooges, who want to exchange the luggage Jose had accidentally grabbed at the bus station. Pandemonium ensues when he awakens, ending when Jose can only gawk at the three while each emerges separately from his hiding place and leaves.

"What's the Matador?" offers a rare time when Moe refers the trio as 'The Three Stooges' while sending a telegram. Also film reviewer Stuart Galbraith notices Curly's physical downfall, stating, "one can see the earliest signs of Curly's pre-stroke personality change. It's very subtle, and while he's still quite funny, one can see little changes in his screen persona, and about here he begins to age dramatically, with lines suddenly etched deep in his face."

One of my favorite Three Stooges films, with my favorite of all their villains. The bit where Delores hides the Stooges from her husband is classic, especially considering that neither she nor the Stooges are actually doing anything wrong. Jose's reaction when he discovers them in his bedroom still crack me up after many viewings. The climactic bullfight is also brilliant, and even though you can see "between the lines" how the filmmaker pulled off the effects without injuring the cast, that's part of the joke and the fun as far as I'm concerned.

This is one of the funniest of all the Stooge classics. No wonder various elements of this short have been used in many Stooge shorts that came out in later years. I especially loved the scenes with the Stooges and Jose. Jose is the ultimate jealous husband. He is such a paranoid individual that he would probably kill a man just for looking at his wife. But the scene that really makes this film is, of course, the bullfighting scene, especially Curly's reaction that the bull is real and not Moe and Larry in a bull costume. That scene alone makes this a classic.

What's the Matador? (1942)

*** (out of 4)

The Three Stooges play a comedy act who con their way into a job in Mexico. Once there they end up making a husband incredibly jealous when they come onto his wife. Finally the trio get to perform their act but the husband just happens to be in the crowd. It seems that WHAT'S THE MATADOR? is one of the least popular shorts that the Stooges made and I can understand why some might feel that way but I've always enjoyed this one. I think you can say that there really wasn't anything too original here and it seems that the writers must have thrown this one together quickly as they were wanting to leave on vacation or something because it actually clocks in a couple minutes shorter than most in the series. With that said, the boys running into a jealous husband has always been a subject matter that I've enjoyed in the series. I thought the first run-in with the husband was hilarious and things got even better when the boys find themselves in his bedroom constantly trying to hide from him. The second half of the short has Moe and Larry inside a bull costume with Curly playing the matador and of course a real bull gets in the ring. Fans of the Stooges should find some good laughs to be had.

Very good episode as we know all of us fans, one of the best. There is a part in this film where curly is being accosted by dolores's husband and he is slapping him on the arm rather briskly and then pulls him off of Dolores when he pulls him off of Dolores look at curly's mouth and listen to what he says he says God damn it, it's this plane as day I cannot believe nobody else has commented on this. There is no mistaking it when you look at it and listen to it I went back and listened to it and saw it up close about four times and it's very distinct and curly does not look happy after he says it look at the look at his face he looks very pissed.