Yes, We Have No Bonanza 1939

Together with a trio of cowgirls, the Stooges—Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard—sing and wait tables in a dusty Western frontier saloon, enduring the bluster of the surly saloon keeper Maxey who keeps the girls working to cover debts their family owes him.

Determined to free the cowgirls and win their affection, the Stooges hatch a bold plan to earn their fortune through gold prospecting. Unbeknownst to them, Maxey has recently robbed a bank and hidden the loot—$40,000 in stocks and gold bonds (roughly $887,531 today)—in the hills near the spot where the trio begins digging.

What follows is a string of comic mishaps that turns the search into a chaotic spree: a burst of explosive chaos with dynamite, a stubborn burro named Yorick, and a noisy dog that send the crew skittering in every direction. Despite the chaos, the Stooges stumble onto Maxey’s ill-gotten gains and momentarily mistake their find for a real windfall, letting their imaginations run wild as they head back toward town convinced luck has finally smiled on them.

But the homecoming brings a rude awakening—the crook has slipped away with the cash, triggering a high-spirited pursuit that tests the trio’s luck and luckiness alike. They manage to nab Maxey and recover the stolen loot, and the chase culminates in a meeting with the town’s Sheriff Vernon Dent. The stolen money is returned to its rightful place at the First National Bank, leaving the Stooges astonished by how a spree of mistakes can still end in a just and surprisingly wholesome resolution.