Three Amigos!

íTHREE AMIGOS! takes a Mild Bunch of gringos south of the border to save a village threatened by a notorious bandit and his gang. One of the heroes speaks for his comrades, the villagers and those watching from the safety of theater seats or couches at home: “In a way, all of us has an El Guapo to face. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be ‘the actual’ El Guapo!”

El Gran Alfonso as The Muy-Feared El Guapo

“Mexico, 1916.” With her village of ‘Santa Poco’ (known for sewing) threatened with looting by ‘El Guapo’ (Alfonso Arau), defiant ‘Carmen’ (Patrice Martinez), after seeing an American silent film starring ‘The Three Amigos’, sends a telegram to Los Angeles begging them for help, not grasping that the celluloid heroes are just Hollywood actors ‘Lucky Day’ (Steve Martin), ‘Dusty Bottoms’ (Chevy Chase) and ‘Ned Nederlander’ (Martin Short). Cut loose from their studio, the misguided but plucky trio head south to suffering Santa Poco, under the assumption they’ll put on a personal appearance for fans, not battle banditos.After botching Into The Night and Spies Like Us, let alone blood-staining his reputation with the tragic mishandling of his section of Twilight Zone: The Movie, director John Landis rebounded to Trading Places territory by doing a swell job on this $25,000,000 rollick. Spoofing classics like The Magnificent Seven, The Professionals and The Wild Bunch (actor/director Arau figured in that epic), the chuckle-primed script was written by Martin, Lorne Michaels and Randy Newman, who also composed the sillypants songs (and did the voice of ‘The Singing Bush’).

Patrice Martinez, 1963-2018

Shooting in Arizona, New Mexico and California, sparked by Elmer Bernstein’s self-kidding music score, the three lead clowners share the goofiness fairly while showcasing their particular skillsets and the supporting cast is uniformly delightful down to the bit players. There’s great work from the makeup crew and in the costuming (Deborah Nadoolman, Landis’ wife). The luminous Patrice Martinez, 23, should have been a bigger star. *

“Do you have anything here besides Mexican food?”

Runs the standard 104 minutes, which ordinarily in a gimmick farce like this would be about fifteen too many, but the geniality of the players and the genre-teasing affection holds it together. Reviews approved, box office of $41,200,000 placed 21st in ’86.

With Tony Plana (‘Jefe’, El Guapo’s lieutenant), Joe Mantegna (‘Harry Flugleman’, head of ‘Goldsmith Pictures’), Kai Wulff (German pilot with expected dueling scar, blond hair and icy stare), Fred Asparagus (very funny as ‘The Bartender’), Phil Hartman (a Flugleman flack), Jon Lovitz (another Flugleman a-kisser), Abel Franco (noble ‘Papa Sanchez’) and Rebecca Underwood/Ferratti (as ‘Hot Senorita’, more than living up to her billing).