Review of “Three Amigos!” (1986)

Our latest Saturday night pizza and bad movie was one my dearly beloved had seen, but I hadn’t. It was a silly flick with a silly premise.

Plot:

I’ll preface this by saying that my Spanish is shaky on a good day, so those who speak it better than I do (and there are many), feel free to correct me.

In 1916, Carmen (Patrice Martinez) goes in search of someone willing to help deliver her village from the evil bandit El Guapo (“the handsome one,” Alfonso Arau), who is extorting protection money from its good people. She wanders into a movie showing the adventures of “The Three Amigos,” silent film heroes who rescue the helpless and defeat the oppressor. For some unfathomable reason, she gets the idea they are real and sends them a telegram to Hollywood, California, asking them to help her village of Santo Poco (“Saint Little?”).

Because she doesn’t have enough money for the entire telegram, the operator whittles it down to an easily misinterpreted message.

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, the Three Amigos—Lucky Day (Steve Martin), Dusty Bottoms (Chevy Chase), and Ned Nederlander (Martin Short)—are busy being fired by the studio. They are also evicted from their studio housing. In this situation, they receive a telegram, apparently inviting them to a town in Mexico to put on a show or maybe make a movie with someone named El Guapo. What have they got to lose?

In the meantime, a German pilot, wearing his headgear, enters a cantina also looking for El Guapo. He easily kills several patrons, then tells the bartender he’s expecting friends. He hopes they’ll be treated with more respect than he was.

When the Three Amigos swing into town, dressed in the (stolen) costumes and enormous sombreros, the cantina patrons assume they must be the German’s friends. Thinking they’ve been recognized, the Three Amigos perform a song and dance number for those assembled.

Fortunately, Carmen sees them and brings them back to Santo Poco, where they’re treated like heroes.

Thoughts:

First, this is silly. El Guapo and his band of bad guys are violent thugs, but they also like hanging out and drinking tequila. El Guapo’s number two is named Jefe (Tony Plana). “Jefe,” if memory serves, means “boss.”

For El Guapo’s birthday, the boys of the gang string the courtyard with pinata. They chip in and buy him a present—a sweater. He’s delighted. The Three Amigos try swinging in on the lines holding the pinatas up. Their fates vary, but all are equally improbable.

One scene early on has the Three Amigos performing in a silent movie, complete with greasepaint, exaggerated expressions, and intertitles, whipping bad guy hind end and saving a damsel in distress. It doesn’t last long, but I found the sheer goofiness of it one of the funniest in the whole movie.

Another oddball scene is when the three set out looking for El Guapo and spend the first night in the desert, sleeping on the horses’ saddles. Ned spooks at hearing a coyote howl. The other two start singing “Blue Shadows on the Trail” (written by Randy Newman) to put him at ease, and he doesn’t bat an eye when other animals—a mountain lion, a coyote—appear. A desert tortoise vibes alone with their lullaby for Ned.

Steve Martin wrote part of the movie along with Randy Newman, who wrote several of the songs used in it.

While I enjoyed the silly parts—and they abounded in this flick—I couldn’t quite buy some of the basic ideas. Why would Carmen think the Three Amigos were heroes rather than actors? Why was El Guapo extorting the poor people of Santo Poco for protection money? They didn’t have any money. No one ran any businesses to speak of. There was one cantina. Were they paying him in chickens?

If you can overlook the plot holes and the parts that didn’t quite make sense, this movie is a lot of fun. The abundant silly parts help the viewer ignore the parts where the seams don’t exactly match.

Overall, I liked the movie.

The movie can be watched here on Tubi with a whole slew of ads or rented here on YouTube.

Title: Three Amigos! (1986)

Directed by
John Landis

Writing Credits
Steve Martin…(written by) and
Lorne Michaels…(written by) and
Randy Newman…(written by)

Cast (in credits order)
Steve Martin…Lucky Day
Chevy Chase…Dusty Bottoms
Martin Short…Ned Nederlander
Alfonso Arau…El Guapo
Tony Plana…Jefe
Patrice Martinez…Carmen

Released: 1986
Length: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Rated: PG