Three Amigos
¡Three Amigos! is a 1986 American Western comedy film directed by John Landis, written by Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, and Randy Newman (who also wrote the film's songs), and starring Chevy Chase, Martin Short, Alfonso Arau, Tony Plana, Patrice Martinez, and Joe Mantegna. It is the story of three American silent film stars who are mistaken for real heroes by the suffering people of a small Mexican village. The actors must find a way to live up to their reputation and stop a malevolent group of bandits.
For other uses, see Three Amigos (disambiguation).¡Three Amigos!
- George Folsey Jr.
- Lorne Michaels
- Steve Martin
- Chevy Chase
- Martin Short
- Alfonso Arau
- Tony Plana
- Patrice Martinez
Ronald W. Browne
Malcolm Campbell
- December 12, 1986
103 minutes[1]
United States
English
$25 million[2]
$39.2 million[3]
Plot[edit]
In 1916, the bandit El Guapo and his gang collect protection money from the Mexican village of Santa Poco. Carmen, daughter of the village leader, searches for someone who can rescue her townspeople. Visiting a village church, she sees a silent film featuring The Three Amigos, a trio of gunfighters who protect the vulnerable from villains. Believing them to be real heroes, Carmen sends a telegram asking them to come and stop El Guapo.
Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms, and Ned Nederlander, the actors who portray the Amigos, demand a salary increase for their next project and are fired by their boss Harry Flugelman. He has them evicted from the studio mansion, banned from his lot, and the clothes they borrowed from wardrobe repossessed. They soon receive Carmen's telegram, misinterpreting it as a job offer to perform a show in Santa Poco. The Amigos break into the studio to retrieve their costumes and head for Mexico.
Stopping at a cantina near Santa Poco, they are mistaken for associates of a German pilot who is a fast draw and arrived in town shortly before, also in search of El Guapo. The Amigos perform "My Little Buttercup" at the cantina, confusing the locals. After they leave, the German's real associates arrive at the cantina, proving themselves lethal with their pistols when everybody laughs at them. Relieved, Carmen picks up the Amigos and takes them to the village, where they are pampered in the best house in town.
The next morning, when three of El Guapo's men raid the village, the Amigos do a Hollywood-style stunt show that leaves the men bemused. The bandits ride off, making the villagers think they have defeated the enemy. In reality, the men inform El Guapo of what has happened and he decides to return the next day to kill the Amigos.
The village throws a victory party for the Amigos. The next morning, El Guapo and his gang come to Santa Poco and call them out, but they think it's another show. After Lucky is shot, they realize they are confronting real bandits and beg for mercy, clarifying to everyone that they are just harmless actors. Since he "only kills men", El Guapo allows the Amigos to live, then has his men loot the village and kidnaps Carmen. Losing the respect of the villagers, the Amigos leave Santa Poco in disgrace.
Ned persuades Lucky and Dusty to go after El Guapo as they have nothing worth going back to in America and this is their chance to be real heroes. After trying and failing to find El Guapo's hideout, the Amigos spot a plane and follow it. The plane is flown by the German, who has brought a shipment of rifles for the gang. El Guapo's 40th birthday party is being prepared and he plans to bed Carmen that night. The Amigos swing down from the outer wall to infiltrate the hideout with mixed results: Lucky is immediately captured and chained in a dungeon, Dusty crashes into Carmen's room, and Ned ends up suspended from a piñata.
Lucky frees himself, but Dusty and Ned are discovered and held hostage. The German, having idolized Ned's quick-draw and gun-spinning pistol skills in childhood, challenges him to a shootout. Ned kills the German and Lucky holds El Guapo at gunpoint long enough for Carmen and the Amigos to escape in the German's plane.
Returning to Santa Poco with El Guapo's army in pursuit, the Amigos rally the villagers to stand up for themselves. The villagers are uncertain as all they are good at is sewing. Drawing inspiration from one of their films, they have the villagers create improvised Amigos costumes. The bandits arrive, are shot at by Amigos from all sides, and fall into hidden trenches. El Guapo's men either ride off or are shot, and he takes a fatal wound. Before he dies, the villagers, dressed as Amigos, step out to confront him. El Guapo congratulates them, then shoots Lucky in the foot before dying.
The villagers offer the Amigos all the money they have, but the Amigos refuse it with: "Our reward is that justice has been done." They then ride off into the sunset.
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 45% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Three Amigos! stars a trio of gifted comedians and has an agreeably silly sense of humor, but they're often adrift in a dawdling story with too few laugh-out-loud moments."[14] On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "B" on an A+ to F scale.[16]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film one star out of four, writing, "The ideas to make Three Amigos into a good comedy are here, but the madness is missing."[17] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that it was "likable" but lacked a "distinctive style", though certain jokes are crafted with "enjoyable sophistication".[18] Caroline Wetsbrook of Empire awarded the film three out of five stars and wrote that it was "good-natured enough to sustain its ultimately thin premise".[19]
The film has since been reviewed more favorably and has become a cult classic. Neil McNally of the website Den of Geek noted that the film was "unfairly overlooked" when first released, and praised the performances of Martin, Chase, and Short; the comedic timing of Landis's direction; and Bernstein's "sweeping, majestic" score.[20] The film was ranked 79th on Bravo's list of the "100 Funniest Movies".[21]