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Oil's Well that Ends Well is the one-hundred-eighty-eighth Columbia Pictures short feature starring the Three Stooges.

Plot[]

Oils Well1

The boys trying to get ready for bed

The Stooges have lost their jobs. Adding insult to injury, they received a letter from Dad with the news that he requires surgery. To help pay for the operation, the father suggests the boys search for uranium on his mining property. The boys locate the uranium, but run afoul of a load of dynamite. Then, when they are trying to fix the water pump, it starts gushing oil. Joe tries to cork it by sitting on it, but he is sent flying into the air. When he wishes it would stop, it does, much to Moe and Larry's dismay. Joe manages to get the oil started again, and boys are in the dough.

Quotes[]

Joe calls out for Moe to catch a batch of dynamite he has thrown to him. Moe and Larry barely notice and catch the dynamite at the last second.

  • Moe: (angrily) "If that dynamite hit the rocks, we’d’ve ALL been blown to pieces!"
  • Joe: "Huh?" (gets up and walks over to Moe) "What did you say?"
  • Moe: (hotly) "I said you’re a nitwit imbecile!"
  • Joe: (sweetly) "Flattery will get you no place!"
  • Joe: "Hey Moe, I was just thinkin’-"
  • Moe: "Every time you think, you weaken the nation! Now shut up and sit down like I told ya!"

Notes[]

  • Though technically a reworking of Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise, none of the original plot is featured in this short. In addition, the only recycled footage utilized in Oil's Well That Ends Well is the shot of Curly Howard riding the oil gusher up into the sky. In addition, the concept of Joe wishing for things that come true was borrowed from Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise.
  • Oil's Well That Ends Well is one of two Stooge films that does not have a supporting cast. The other is 1950's Self-Made Maids.
  • The title is a pun of "all's well that ends well".
  • This short contains a rare instance where the Stooges break the "fourth wall," and directly address the camera audience. Joe, after being chastised by Moe and is told to sit down, turns around to the camera and mouths "I hate him!" to the audience before walking off-screen.
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