Short: (1947) College students are reminded that they need to bathe and wear clean clothes if they hope to get some.
Movie: (1951) In 1870s California, a loyal collie witnesses the murder of a gold prospector.
First shown: 9/26/93
Opening: The bots are putting on their own version of “The Tonight Show”
Invention exchange: Dr. F presents the cholester-do all, J&tB demonstrate back-talk
Host segment 1: Crow and Tom debate the messy woman in the short
Host segment 2: Reports on bearded guys include Crow’s paper on Rutherford B. Hayes
Host segment 3: Crow is crushed into an ingot
End: J&tB discuss is Lassie is guilty of murder, Dr. F. tries to revive Frank
Stinger: Naughty girl goes into the shower
(51 votes, average: 4.41 out of 5)
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• It was certainly a bold move, picking this movie, and westerns are always fun to riff, even westerns like this one, that do it doggy style. But I have to put this in the “good not great” category, something like the previous episode. The movie’s just a little too good (I actually got caught up in the story), while the riffing and segments are hit and miss.
• This episode was included in Shout’s Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Turkey Day Collection (aka Vol. XXXI).
• Unlike practically all the other episodes, there are no free versions of this episode on YouTube, although you can rent it for $3.99. (Oops, since I wrote that, one appeared. Never mind.)
• References.
• In the opening bit, I know Joel is just setting up Crow’s last punchline, but you can’t get sued for making fun of Congress. Kinda ruined the joke for me.
• A Youtube clip of the opening bit was often linked to as a way to disparage Leno during the great Leno/Coco wars. Leno hasn’t changed much.
• The actual prop Frank is wearing around his neck during the invention exchange is kinda cool. “Eee-kay-gee, does it work great!”
• Then-current reference: short-lived TV show “Delta.”
• The short seems to be aimed at college students. Did they really show this sort of thing in COLLEGE? Did college kids in the 1950s really need to be told to shower occasionally?
• That moment in the short where the movie moves backwards and Tom does the backward talking–do you think that’s what sparked the “Back Talk” invention?
• Segment 1 is MST3K at its best, witty, wise and fun. Love the reference to “Scoop Jackson Democrats and Jacob Javitz Republicans.” Those are pretty much gone.
• “Pile-On Pete” was an instant sensation in the message boards following this episode. As was the line “Snausages!”
• This movie was a Lassie rarity. In most Lassie movies, Lassie is a female character that was generally played by male dogs. But in this case, the character of Shep, a female, is actually played by a female dog.
• Segment 2 goes on a little long, but there’s some good stuff there. I like how you can hear Tom say “Rutherford B. Hays!” as Cambot is halfway down through the movie sign door.
• Callback: “Smoochers on mah property!” (Eye Creatures) “Sampo!” (Day The Earth Froze.)
• Segment 3: well, they’re doin’ stuff to the bots again. Funny puppet, though.
• Crow says “Thank you for extruding me” (like a little kid thanking his grandma for an itchy sweater he’ll never wear) as they enter the theater…
• The ending bit in Deep 13 is great: I love the food popping out of Frank’s mouth as Dr. F gives him CPR.
• A rarity: the stinger is from the short, rather than the movie.
• Cast and crew roundup: This movie has very few connections to the other movies. Makeup guy William Tuttle also worked on “Girls Town.” In front of the camera, Ann Doran was also in “Kitten With A Whip.
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Trace Beaulieu.
• Fave riff from short: “And look at that sidewalk!” Honorable mention: “Those … nose!”
• Fave riff from the movie: “First thing I’m gonna do is buy me a montage!” Honorable mention: “Oh for the want of a Frisbee!”
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i agree tghis is a good one not great. the ending is horrible. Did he put his hand into liquid nitrogen or something. i like his hand is frozen solid. Why would you have a bottle marked poison for.
Body Care and Grooming is one one of my top five favorite shorts, mostly for the line about how the young co-ed will never find a mate if she doesn’t pull up her socks…
jason #1 – What? You don’t have a bottle marked “POISON”?
I had watched this one recently and truly enjoyed it. I agree this film was an interesting choice for the show. The short is a classic and has been one that I’ve used to intro the show to newbies. My fave bit in the movie is the montage. Especially when there is a close up on Jonathan and Servo chimes “SAMPO!” Truly great stuff and one that should not be missed.
“Did college kids in the 1950s really need to be told to shower occasionally?”
College kids of the 1990s certainly did…
Favorite line:
“That’s outrageous! I want to see an itemized bill!”
Paul Kelly, who played Jonathan Harvey in Painted Hills, was quite a prolific actor and worked from the silent era (1911) through his death in 1956. From 1927 to 1929 he served two years of a prison sentence for manslaughter. He had fallen in love with the wife (Dorothy) of one of his close friend. Their marriage was falling apart due to her husband’s drinking and abusive behavior. One day Paul and the drunken husband got in a fight and the husband died a few days later. In 1931, Paul and Dorothy were married and remained so until her death in 1940 (car accident). It’s really something that he was able to overcome that setback and go on to have three more decades of success in pictures and on Broadway.
I was surprised to see him in an MST episode since he is in quite of few of my favorite classic films, most notably a couple of parts in films starring Gary Cooper who is my tip top fave :grin: .
Boring story: On November 9th, 1965, I celebrating my 8th birthday. My lasagna dinner and cake were being prepared by my mother. I was in front of the TV set watching The Painted Hills. The movie dimmed for a second and then all the electricity went out. Not only in my house but most of northeastern U.S. Yes, the great blackout of 1965. We had our lasagna dinner with candle light from the cake. I never watched The Painted Hills again until it was on MST3K. Thank you MST3K for reuniting me with this movie.
First, about the short, I just preferred the girl when she was supposedly messy. She looked OK, rather than the manufactured prettiness of later on.
As for the movie, it’s pretty dark. I mean, the villain knocks off his partner, apparently considers killing a child and poisons a dog. Then, Lassie goes all Charles Bronson and sends the guy to his death. Fairly grim for a movie with Lassie.
Oh, one truly geeky question: if I recall correctly, Joel says Crow is made of kevlar in this one, yet Crow himself says he’s made of molybdenum years later. Who’s right? (We’ll debate this after the whole “Kirk’s actual middle initial” question.)
Other than the short, this is one of the worst episodes. Absolutely unfunny.
Obviously, he built himself from a different material after he was finished being an energy entity.
Either that or Kevlar somehow naturally transforms into molybdenum after thousands of years.
If you’re wondering what Crow’s made of, or other science facts, then repeat to yourself “It’s just a show. I should really just releax.”
Haven’t seen the movie too much to comment on it, but the short is great. “Body Care and Grooming: they’re cops!” :smile:
The movie kind of wears you out, but it’s dumb enough and full of corny pathos to be decent fodder for the MST3K mill. It’s like Treasure of Sierra Madre with a dog and a mediocre script.
Did college kids need to be reminded to shower? We had some fairly suspect characters in my dormitory back in my college days. I think there will always be people who need to be reminded to shower, in college or not.
A new force for change is on the scene, Tom Servo runs for president…
http://www.inews3.com/play.php?first=Tom&last=Servo
I don’t think I’d call The Painted Hills “too good”. It’s both a heartwarming children’s film and a brutal revenge flick, and that’s pretty much all you need to know about it. They’d need some pretty spectacular riffing to overcome the incongruous darkness of it for me, and unfortunately, the commentary is merely average.
Funny short, though. Also, both the Rutherford B. Hayes segment and the gold fever segment are hilarious. My favorite part is when Crow goes gold-crazy for himself. “I’m mine!” he cries.
“Pile-on Pete” always makes me laugh out loud. I’m def from the (small) crowd that likes this episode a lot. And the short is top-notch, not to be missed.
I can’t believe that this episode has such a lukewarm response. This episode is one of my favorites and has always cracked me up every time I’ve seen it. Its one of the few I pop out for people regularly since its a pretty easy movie to watch, and the riffing and sketches are solid.
Then again, MST3K just tends pull out all sorts of opinions for every episode. Its almost as bad as Doctor Who.
I too like this episode a lot. The short is just packed with great lines. The movie doesn’t feel as dark for me as it does for others. Segments are great. Crow’s really the star here. Great Leno, great argument, great physical comedy.
While certainly not my favorite, this is an upper tier episode.
Do college kids need to be told to shower? Sadly, for some, the answer is yes. I wish I was joking about that statement…
That aside, the short is fantastic and the movie begins well, but kind of peters out for me in the third segment, though the end picks things up a bit. The montage bit is a great example of everything MST3K stood for: a range of pop culture, meta humor, and silly jokes delivered in less than a minute of film and wrapped up in the brilliant line, “Well, looks like the montage finally blew over…”
The host segments are brilliant, especially Crow’s “Rufiford B. Hayes” report. “The age of pornography”, the tent made of the underwear of Taft…the joys of warping the Gilded Age! And the Mads’ invention that week…I crack up just thinking about it. “Frank, I’d love to you revive you, but how am I going to run the defibulator?”
Odd indeed. I’d say season 5 had some of the most solid Joel episodes, including this one. It’s good for them to change up the movie styles every now and then; frankly, the endless stream of Sandy Frank imports wore thin in earlier seasons (sorry, but “Time of the Apes” is nigh-unwatchable even with the poop jokes), “Untamed Youth” was a great romp back in the previously “all sci-fi” days… and the Gumby short was a great trip out from all the industrial/educational ones too. We don’t get many westerns, and a Lassie one to boot!
It also contains one of my favorite…uh… you know, there really needs to be a specific term for the way MST3K (typically Tom) would purposefully mangle the English language at times. “Together, I can RULE THE WORLD!”
“My salesmen are slobs!” “No they aren’t!” “Yes they do!” “Huh?”
Crow’s Hayes speech is legendary stuff. “Pornograph”. Hee hee hee.
Did college students really need to be told to shower?
Well, when my brother was going to University of Missouri, Rolla, he told me of a group of students known affectionately as the “Sloungers”. They were called this because they inhabited the dormitories “south lounge”. He said you could smell them before you saw them. They were all male, played roll-playing games, ate nothing but take-out food and just lived in filth. They were apparantly proud of this fact. These guys didn’t just need to shower, they needed a HAZMAT team to decontaminate them.
Favorite line: “He’s the world’s largest elf!”
sorry but this is one of my favorite episodes ”he’s turned into johnathan.” oh and joel was talking about getting sued by jay leno
This was hit and miss for me. Cute, but not hysterical.
Fave line from the short: “Exhibiting individualism is just plain wrong.”
I also liked the line (as mentioned in #19) “Well, I guess the montage finally blew over.”
Collies are beautiful dogs and Lassie (all of them) can usually act circles around the humans she-he is in a movie with, but even that can’t save this one from being kinda bland.
Oh, I also liked Crow’s line: “Mt. Rushmore —
before it was made.”
Lassie’s back! And she’s pissed!
Not much more to add on this one, unfortunately.
I’m also getting a bit depressed – Only two more Joel episodes to go! (sob) Unless you count his guest role in “Soultaker” – which I don’t. (Forced, not really Joel as we knew him).
(It was Soultaker, right?)
Okay, I was kidding about the whole “kevlar vs. molybdenum” thing. It doesn’t bother me at all. Now, that whole “Kirk’s middle initial” thing…
Body & Grooming is one of my all time fave shorts. I think it & Mr. B Natural are a tie for the best two MST3K shorts. The riffs are rapid fire in this short, you barely recover from one riff when another comes slamming into you.
“pick up a rifle”
“man, skin sucks”
“I’m looking, I’m looking”
“spring- when a man’s thoughts turn to… underpants”
“an entire day spent grooming”
The movie- Painted Hills is pretty darn good too. Its one of those movies you do start to get caught up in and caring about the characters. But I think the riffing is top-notch and merciless.
I like it when the riffing is rapid and doesn’t let the subject up for air. A prime example is San Francisco Int. Airport when the mother goes into Davey’s room at the beginning and tells him she & father are separating. That is beautiful!
Are you a regular person Mr. Pete?
No, I reckon I’m about as IRREGULAR as they come!
J&TB: EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
I like this episode. The short is not one of the better ones, but the movie flows along real good and funny from beginning to end. It doesn’t really have any great classic riffs, but the sum of the parts add up to a continuously enjoyable time.
I like that the movie is ridiculous in its concepts. Like early on when the white bearded guy is supposedly being dug up by Lassie, though anyone can see the guy could easily stand up on his own.
Favorite riff- Oh look, they shaved shep and thats all thats left of him! (it’s that little dog).
Responding to #24.
Yes it was Soul Taker where Joel and Frank made guest appearances.
The fact that the stinger is from the short rather than the movie is telling about the respective quality . . .
A few thoughts on the movie, I do not think was Lassie movie first of all the dogs name is Shemp and second he is a male and Lassie of course was a female. I know there is confusion because they are both Collies maybe Shemp is Lassies brother.
Also this is much darker then the Lassies movies, what with the murder and Shemp seeking revenge, I am pretty sure Lassie never killed anyone.
As for the short: that is simply a Fifties propaganda film on conformity, the message of the short is simply be like everyone else because individuality is bad. Take example of that pretty young women do you really think guys would reject her just because her hair and clothing were a little messy. Give me a break. Yes that film is pure propaganda on conformity. Thank god most people didn’t buy into that or else we would have never had the Sixties.
I have this movie on one of those cheap public domain DVD collections and it clearly says “Starring Lassie” on it. And also, i think one of the title on some of the DVD releases may have actually been “Lassie: the Painted Hills”.
It’s starring Lassie as another dog, just like Patrick Swayze doesn’t play himself in his movies. Also, as I think was mentioned, most of the dogs who played Lassie AS Lassie were male playing female. This one (Lassie 3000), was a female. Her name was Shep, not Shemp, and she was a female in this movie.
On another note – I think the guy playing Taylor should have watched the short. I don’t think he bathed or changed clothes in, like, a month!
My favorite part was when Shemp put his hand in front of his nose so Moe couldn’t poke him in the eye…or am I thinking of something else?
• That moment in the short where the movie moves backwards and Tom does the backward talking
I wonder if you were to play what Tom says backwards-Uh, backwards if it would actually say something?
It’s odd that the Brains didn’t seem to think of this one as a Western. The very next episode, Dr. F would introduce “Gunslinger” to Joel as “your first Western.”
By the way, noting in advance for next week, the “your first Western” seems a clever bit of deliberate anti-foreshadowing, since the Brains, of course, knew it was also Joel’s LAST Western.
I don’t think a movie qualifies as a Western just because it takes place in a Western state. Sure there was gold in them thar hills, and there were guns, horses, a collie, Injuns with obligatory slow stereotypical speech , prospectors, old crusty Gideons, a saloon, men that don’t bathe or change for weeks at a time – Oh, wait, I guess this WAS a Western.
I gues :twisted: s Jay Leno’s going to need a new gig soon.
Oh, this is the one with the power being hooked up to Frank’s Heart? I thought their logical explanation of why Lassie couldn’t be tried for murder was quite good. However, the dog would still be put down if they ever had caught him! :smile:
This isn’t one of my favorite episodes. The short is OK, but I think the movie has some of the weakest riffing they ever did (sorry, Brains).
The Pile-on Pete bit seems like a reach to me; I didn’t think the name was that unclear, and I thought they were deliberately mis-hearing it to satisfy the joke.
The snausages riffs I don’t understand at all. What is the reason for this, other than there’s a dog in the film? Why snausages? Did Lassie endorse snausages at some point? And they just went on and on. Somebody help me.
I actually liked “The News Hole”, though.
I liked this one. Its always a treat to see them handle a competently made film, if not one very good creatively. This works for me better than “The Magic Sword” (a good film well, if cheaply, made) or some of the movies made by total amateurs who at least had a creative spark (I’m thinking of “Time Chasers” here).
On the showers in college issue, wasn’t Sampo’s point more about students in the ?
Sorry, tried to do italics at the end there. Here’s my point again:
Wasn’t Sampo’s point about showering in college more about students in the 1950s?
I think the deliberate reach and beating into the ground of Pile-on Pete and the nonsensical use of the Snausages ad is what always made it funny to me. The namesake of Big Stupid wasn’t really that unclear either but it was too good to pass up.
I have very fond memories of watching this episode with other people when it was new. Maybe not the strongest in the writing on the movie but I think it has a fun flow to the riffing and performance. Same with the short.
This is another one of my all-time favorites from Season 5 – the movie just offers a bunch of great goofy characters for the Brains to play with, from the grizzled Jonathan to the “irregular” Pile-On Pete, and of course Lassie herself as Shep (“Snausages!” was used just enough times so that it didn’t get old). One of the true classics of the Joel era, in my opinion!
I watched this one about three months ago, after not seeing it since I first taped it back in ’93, and for good reason: it really isn’t one of the show’s better efforts. I hadn’t remembered anything from my first viewing, so in some ways it was new. But I too found myself more involved with the storyline of the movie than the actual riffing…which isn’t a good sign if you’re a fan of this show.
Even the IE and host segments were just okay. For me, this was the “City Limits” of Season 5, very forgettable.
There was something different about the reach for “Big Stupid” – for some reason, it didn’t seem to me like they were trying as hard to mis-hear it, and maybe the joke was a little funnier.
But, you know what? Since my earlier post, I had been thinking that there are a lot of things in the series that are a bit of a reach, and I was being petty and unreasonable in criticizing them for it. Bobo @ #43 reinforced that, and I agree.
One of my favorites, Joel’s dog voice cracks me up everytime.
“Ahhh…GYM-COLLIE!!!”
“ARF-KEEBA!!!”
Also, “His head, just doesn’t have the structural support for that hair.”
Love the episode — one of my favorite bits is actually when Lin Taylor is trying to explain to Tommy as the latter recuperates in bed what happened, with J&TB throwing in every possible addition at any possible pause.
“Shep told me to kill him.”
“If you want to know any more you’ll have to speak to my lawyer.”
And my favorite bit:
“Jonathan IS dead, son.”
“And I helped!”
(Also great, during another confrontation:
Tommy: “I’ll tell everyone in the whole world!”
Lin: “No you won’t, Tommy?”
Crow (with a drawn out drawl/sneer): “You gonna tell the CHINEEEESE?”
Oh wait, I had that wrong at the end, Lin goes “You’re wrong, Tommy,” and then Crow steps in. Anyway.
ecsuse you he is my grandpa. :mad: who do u thank u is talkin bout my grandpa like dat dont get me started talkin bout yo grandpa i can go on and on u dont no me like dat. try me go head start