Movie Review: Three Amigos (1986)
Synopsis: Silent film actors Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms and Ned Nederlander are best known for playing gunfighters known as the Three Amigos on the big screen. When they demand more money, they are instead fired by the studio but think they are catching a big break when they receive a telegram asking them to travel to a small Mexican to put on a private performance. When they arrive, however, they discover the village believes the Three Amigos are real and they have been summoned to fight a real-life gang of outlaws led by the vicious El Guapo.
Who's in it? The movie stars Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Martin Short, Alfonso Arau, Kai Wulff and Jon Lovitz.
Review: My day job (AKA, how I pay my bills) requires me to use all my vacation time each year and I was home this afternoon as a result of that. I had some things planned for my free time but forgot about most of them when I came across Three Amigos! What can I say, I love this movie and re-watching it for the umpteenth time didn't change that.
The thing that continues to impress me most with this movie is the way the film takes advantage of all three of the main stars. There are a lot of movies out there that advertise star-studded casts only to ultimately only fully utilize a small percentage of them and make the rest background characters. This movie, in comparison, showcases Martin, Chase and Short equally, allowing them to demonstrate their various comedic talents, whether it is one-liners or physical comedy.
And the jokes are funny too (something that isn't always a given in comedies), whether it's Lucky's (Martin) reaction when he learns El Guapo (Arau) is a real bad guy or Dusty (Chase) somehow managing to sit backwards on his horse.
Also helping this movie is a solid story and a strong supporting cast. It's a good tale of three underdogs facing near-impossible odds with a good mix of the absurd (such as the scene with the singing bush and invisible swordsman). The main villain has a surprising amount of depth and there's even an evil henchman, known only as the German (Wulff) who provides additional muscle.
I also thought the writers did a great job establishing everyone as being somewhat dumb, whether it was the Amigos or the villagers who didn't know movies weren't real. It made a somewhat unbelievable premise a bit more believable and made the odds against the heroes a little harder.
Final Opinion: There are some things about this movie that are a little dated, especially as far as some stereotypes go. However, it is a funny film that showcases three talented comedians in their prime and I am confident I'll end up watching it the next time I come across it too.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other 1980s comedies:
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