Gaston's Cronies (individual names Tom, Dick, Stanley, and Gramps) are supporting antagonists in Disney's 1991 animated feature film Beauty and the Beast as close friends of Gaston and LeFou.
Background[]
Like LeFou, they are eager to praise, as well as please, Gaston and look up to him as their leader the most out of the rest of the Villagers. In the film's climax, while the citizens only mob together out of fear that the Beast will attack their town, these four French stooges seemed to care more about taking pleasure in killing him than defending their home.
During Gaston's song, LeFou refers to three of them by name via jumping on their heads just as he stated their names: he calls the shorter man Tom, the thin man Dick, and the husky man Stanley, while the older man goes unidentified by name (though concept art by layout artist Davy Liu identifies him as "Gramps"). In the live-action film, Tom, Dick, and Stanley are credited by these names.
Appearances[]
Beauty and the Beast[]
Stanley and Gramps are first seen in the scene depicting Gaston's failed wedding. When Gaston arrives, the elderly man chats up with the somewhat irritated priest while Stanley sneaks a bite of the wedding cake, much to the baker's chagrin. They also laugh alongside everyone else (exempting Claudette, Laurette and Paulette, who are crying out of the devastation that Gaston was marrying Belle over themselves and presumably keeping them in the dark about it) when Gaston thanks everyone for attending the wedding and then comments that he has to go in and propose to Belle first.
The four men are first seen together at the tavern, trying to cheer up a depressed Gaston through a song idolizing him and emphasizing his strengths (perhaps over-emphasizing), with Stanley getting his leg bitten by Gaston during a bar fight. They also observed the Bimbettes during their scene in the song, with Stanley smirking at Tom and Dick gawking at them. When Maurice arrives and pleads Gaston to help rescue his daughter, they snicker and mock at his description of her alleged captor (Beast). After Gaston "agrees" to help him, Dick and Stanley grab him and throw him out of the tavern before returning and talking with Tom about "crazy old Maurice" and how "he's always good for a laugh", giving Gaston the idea of blackmailing Belle into saying her marriage vows. They seemed to be aware of and support Gaston's resulting plan to blackmail Belle by incarcerating Maurice under false pretenses afterward, apparently eavesdropping on Gaston's whispering of the plan with their tankards.
They are not seen again until the climax near the end of the film, where the four stooges and the villagers are seen as rioters when Monsieur D'Arque and his men arrive to take Maurice to the asylum. After Belle proves out her father's sanity about the Beast, Gaston manipulates the mob into agreeing with him to kill the "creature". Stanley and Dick then throw Maurice into his basement, before Gaston throws Belle inside as well and locks them to keep them from reaching the Beast before the mob.
On their way to the Beast's castle, the mob managed to chop down a tree to use as a battering ram to force open the castle doors. There, Cogsworth and Lumiere led a surprise attack on the invading villagers to save the castle. During the battle, Dick (wielding an ax) found himself between a pair of drawers and prepares to strike, only to be knocked in the face between their slamming shelves. Later, he and Gramps attempted to subdue Wardrobe but were easily defeated: Dick being knocked out cold and Gramps being pulled inside Wardrobe's closet by a hairbrush and comb and being released dressed like a woman with woman’s hair and makeup, prompting him to flee the scene in fear and embarrassment. As for Tom, he yanked at Fifi's feathers, only for Lumiere to rescue her by burning Tom’s rear end, causing him to yelp in pain. Soon after, Tom, LeFou, and Stanley chase Sultan (who had stolen LeFou's left shoe) into the kitchen and prepare to kill him, believing they have him cornered. However, along with the other villagers, they finally retreated out of the castle after being scared away by living knives and the oven who raised his flames in a menacing fashion.
Like LeFou, it is left unrevealed if they knew Gaston died against the Beast, though it's likely that Gaston's absence from then on would give them that exact message.
Other Appearances[]
In Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, Stanley made a cameo, as a commoner in the ball in the first story.
Printed media[]
Beauty and the Beast Marvel comics[]
Gaston's cronies made a brief appearance in the ending of Issue 3, where they were seen getting a drink at the bar area of the Tavern.
Live-action appearances[]
Beauty and the Beast (2017)[]
From left to right: Stanley, Dick, LeFou and Tom.
In the 2017 live-action remake, only three of the men appear (Tom, Dick, and Stanley). In this version, Tom, Dick, and Stanley all share similar physiques and Stanley is the youngest in the trio. They are first seen during the song "Belle" in which they sing the line "Look, there she goes/That girl is so peculiar." The men later appear when Belle is caught teaching a little girl to read and under the orders from the town's headmaster, they proceed to rudely throw Belle's washing contained inside the barrel into the dirt.
Later during the song "Gaston", the three French stooges (like their animated counterparts) happily partake in bolstering their friend's ego, with encouragement from LeFou. Later, Belle asks the Beast's magic mirror to show her father and sees the three goons tormenting and roughly manhandling Maurice who they believe to be insane and falsely accusing Gaston of attempted murder (which is true).
When Tom, Dick, and Stanley accompany the mob to the castle to kill the Beast, the enchanted objects attack the mob and the three are surprised by many books flying and attacking people. Cogsworth then says to them: "Those are called books, you third-rate Musketeers!" With their intelligence insulted, Gaston's three stooges glare menacingly at Cogsworth and corner him, only for Madame de Garderobe to confront them and dress all three of them (as opposed to only one in the animated film) in extravagant ballgowns and powdered wigs. Tom and Dick scream in horror and flee in humiliation but Stanley is rather pleased with his makeover and smiles gratefully at Garderobe before strutting off.
Stanley later appears during the dance at the end of the film, in which he and LeFou switch from dancing with women to dancing with one another, vaguely hinting at a possible attraction between the two. Tom and Dick are not seen after the sequence in which they are dressed in drag, so their fate is unknown, but it is possible that they no longer associate with Stanley (assuming they now know of his feminine side).
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Tom, Dick, and Stanley's names are a reference to the saying "Tom, Dick or Harry".
