Going Bye-Bye!

In a bustling courtroom, Harry Dunkinson opens the scene with gratitude to the spectators Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy for their pivotal testimony, which helps seal the conviction of the notorious criminal Butch Long. The gavel drops on a life sentence, and the moment is punctuated by Stan’s ingenuous, half-asked question about why there isn’t a capital punishment option: “Aren’t you gonna hang him?” The response to the line turns sharp as Butch Long—incensed and restrained in a straitjacket—lunges into threats, vowing vengeance on the pair.

Outside the courtroom, the atmosphere is tense but comic as Stan and Ollie, shaken by the verdict, consider a fresh start somewhere else. They place a newspaper ad seeking a travel companion, hoping for a new ride in life. Unexpectedly, Mary, Mae Busch the girlfriend of the convict, answers the call, bringing a strange new dynamic into the mix. Meanwhile, Butch, having slipped away from custody, seeks refuge at Mary’s apartment, unseen by the duo who swing by to meet their prospective traveler. Mistaken by Stan and Ollie for law enforcement, Butch crawls into a large trunk and somehow locks himself inside.

With no clue about the danger lurking inside, Stan and Ollie set out to liberate the trapped man using a string of misguided, slapstick approaches. They drill holes into the trunk, hoping for a quick rescue, only to have Butch detect Ollie through one of the bored apertures and direct them to use a blowtorch. What follows is a spectacular conflagration that rages through the cramped room. To douse the flames, the duo resort to a high-pressure firehose, which floods the trunk and inadvertently frees Butch.

Butch’s moment of revenge comes swiftly as law enforcement closes in, and the escape artist exits the trunk to confront his pursuers. The pursuit ends with a brutal sequence in which Butch inflicts harm on Stan and Ollie, leaving them in a precarious state as the police drag him away to jail. The aftermath finds the two friends coping with the comic fallout of the day’s chaos.

As the curtain falls, Stan and Ollie collapse onto a couch, their legs awkwardly entwined around each other in a signature visual gag. Oliver Hardy delivers a rueful line to Stan: > Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into! And Stan can only whine in response, a perfect capstone to a day of calamity and camaraderie.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:06