Three Amigos
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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¡Three Amigos! is a 1986 American western comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, and Randy Newman. Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short star as the title characters, three silent film stars who are mistaken for real heroes by the suffering people of a small Mexican village and must find a way to live up to their reputation.
Plot
In 1916, the bandit El Guapo and his gang are collecting protection money from the Mexican village of Santo Poco. Carmen, daughter of the village leader, searches for someone who can come to the rescue of her townspeople. While visiting a village church, she sees a silent film featuring "The Three Amigos" and, believing them to be real heroes, sends a telegram asking them to come and stop El Guapo.
Meanwhile, Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms, and Ned Nederlander are Hollywood silent film actors who portray the Amigos on screen. When they demand a salary increase, studio boss Harry Flugleman fires them and evicts them from their studio-owned housing. Shortly afterward, they receive Carmen's telegram, but misinterpret it as an invitation to make a show appearance with El Guapo.
After breaking into the studio to retrieve their costumes, the Amigos head for Mexico. Stopping at a cantina near Santo Poco, they are mistaken for associates of a fast-shooting German pilot, who is also looking for El Guapo and who arrived just before they did. The Amigos perform a show at the Cantina, singing "My Little Buttercup", and leave the locals amused. The German's real associates then arrive at the cantina, proving themselves adept with their pistols. A relieved Carmen picks up the Amigos and takes them to the village, where they are put up in the best house in town and treated very well.
The next morning, when three of El Guapo's men come to raid the village, the Amigos do a Hollywood-style stunt show that leaves the men very confused. The bandits ride off, making everyone think that the Amigos have defeated the enemy. In reality, the men inform El Guapo of what has happened, and he decides to return the next day and kill the Amigos.
The village throws a boisterous celebration for the Amigos and their victory. The next morning, El Guapo and his gang come to Santo Poco and call out the Amigos, who confess that are too scared to confront him after Lucky gets shot in the arm. El Guapo allows his men to loot the village and kidnap Carmen, and the Amigos leave Santo Poco in disgrace.
Ned persuades Lucky and Dusty to go after El Guapo. They spot a cargo plane and follow it; the plane is flown by the German, who has brought a shipment of rifles for the gang. Preparations are underway for El Guapo's 40th birthday party, and he plans to make Carmen his bride. The Amigos try to sneak into the hideout, with mixed results: Lucky is captured and chained up in a dungeon, Dusty crashes through a window into Carmen's room, and Ned ends up stuck in the piñata.
Lucky frees himself, but Dusty and Ned are caught. The German, having idolized Ned's quick-draw and gunspinning pistol skills since 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 Santo Poco with El Guapo's army in pursuit, the Amigos rally the villagers to stand up for themselves. The bandits arrive, only to find themselves suddenly being shot at by Amigos from all sides and falling into hidden trenches dug by the villagers. El Guapo's men either ride of or are shot, and he takes a fatal wound as well. As he lies dying, the villagers step out to confront him. El Guapo congratulates them, then shoots Lucky in the foot and dies.
The villagers offer to give the Amigos all the money they have, but the Amigos refuse it, saying (as in their movies) that seeing justice done is enough of a reward for them. They then ride off into the sunset.
Cast
- Steve Martin as Lucky Day
- Chevy Chase as Dusty Bottoms
- Martin Short as Ned Nederlander
- Alfonso Arau as El Guapo
- Tony Plana as Jefe
- Patrice Martinez as Carmen
- Joe Mantegna as Harry Flugleman
- Phil Hartman as Sam, one of Flugleman's assistants
- Jon Lovitz as Morty, one of Flugleman's assistants
- Tino Insana as The Studio Guard
- Loyda Ramos as Conchita
- Phillip Gordon as Rodrigo
- Kai Wulff as the German
- Norbert Weisser and Brian Thompson as the German's friends
- Randy Newman as the Singing Bush
- Rebecca Underwood as Hot Senorita (kisses Ned at the close of the film)
