"Three Little Pigskins" is a very good Three Stooges comedy that deals with football follies. Curly, Larry, and Moe are hobos mistaken for the Three Horsemen, a trio of crackerjack football players from Boulder Dam College. In terms of the plot, need I say more? Obviously the major highlight from "Three Little Pigskins" is the much-too-brief football sequence at the end, which features several hilarious mishaps. Other highlights: Curly breaks a dumbwaiter apart, causing his two partners, as well as mob leader Joe Stacks (Walter Long), to fall down the shaft in succession. This short marks the first occurrence of Larry laughing at another Stooge for getting creamed and then receiving the same kind of punishment; in this case, it happens during the way-too-long seltzer bottle scene. AND when the Stooges' seltzer bottle antics have gone too far, they are briefly scolded for horsing around while there are ladies present, so they shift gears and squirt the ladies! (Incidentally, one of the ladies is a very young Lucille Ball, believe it or not.) "Three Little Pigskins" is one of the earliest Three Stooges shorts at Columbia Pictures, so the boys still had the advantage of youth during the strenuous football sequence. Moe once referred to this film as "a humdinger of bangs and bruises"; specifically, this meant a broken leg for Curly, a knocked-out tooth for Larry, and a series of broken limbs for the Stooges' stunt doubles on the football field!

With this fourth Three Stooges short, I feel like they’re growing on me as I liked it quite a bit! Racketeer Walter Long (a great Laurel & Hardy foil) needs players who can be bought for a fixed game he’s organizing. His moll (a young Lucille Ball) and her companions meet The Stooges dressed in football gear – the boys are down on their luck, so they accept a job advertising for a football team – and, mistaking them for star players, bring them home. After the initial misconception about the men’s presence in Long’s apartment – leading to a delightful chase involving a base-less dumb waiter – The Stooges find themselves in a football stadium trying to make head or tails of the game, to the chagrin of the sinister-looking gangster! The short’s football craziness and the hijinks in the apartment are clearly inspired by HORSE FEATHERS (1932), one of The Marx Bros.’ greatest vehicles.

The big professional football game between the Cubs and the Tigers is coming up on the weekend and the Tigers' owner is just informed that his three best backs got plastered and rolled over in their car. Now he has to go out and find three players, fast. He's told about some great amateur backs - The Three Horsemen - at Boulder Dam College.Meanwhile, in the college town our boys are on the street panhandling and getting socked in the jaws for their efforts. However, they do get a job holding signs promoting the big college football in town, and they are dressed in football gear.You guessed it. The boys are mistaken for the Three Horsemen - by the men's girlfriends, no less - and are taken back up to their apartment. One of the girls, by the way, is Lucille Ball, but you wouldn't recognize her.The scenes in the apartment are far better than the football game which is only shown in the last three minutes and aren't much. Overall, okay but a little too dumb and not as good as expected out of the guys. However, it was still early (1934) in their careers and they were learning. It was interesting to find out how many people got injured filming this short.

Like the previous reviewer mentioned, this movie is not the best they ever made. Part of that is attributed to the injuries that occurred on the set. Larry lost a tooth when one of the bit players mistimed a punch. Curly broke his leg in one of the scenes. Even the stunt doubles sustained injuries. These injuries probably affected their ability to perform at their best.Nonetheless, I still think it's entertaining and funny.This short was filmed at the Los Angeles Gilmore Stadium with the Loyola University football team as extras. The name "Three Little Pigskins" was in reference to Walt Disneys popular cartoon short "Three Little Pigs."