Three Amigos

I missed Three Amigos back when it came out in 1986, mostly because it was a notorious critical flop. Famously, Roger Ebert, sitting next to co-star Chevy Chase on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show couch, said that the film was one of the worst of the season.

I didn't find it that bad, but it's curiously toothless for a comedy with such a good pedigree--it's written by Steve Martin (also a co-star), Lorne Michaels, and Randy Newman (who also wrote the songs) and directed by John Landis. It's amiable and inoffensive (although some Mexicans may take umbrage) but it lacks punch. It's a movie that has one hand tied behind its back.

In a sort-of spoof of The Seven Samurai, Martin, Chase and Martin Short play a trio of silent film stars who play the title characters--ridiculously costumed heroes who inevitably save the day for the oppressed. When Martin dares to try to negotiate their fee with the studio boss (Joe Mantegna) they get fired.

Meanwhile, down in Mexico, a woman from a village terrorized by a group of bandits led by El Guape (Alfonso Arau, in a witty performance) sees one of the Amigos' films and think that they are really heroes. She cables them, and, needing a job, the Amigos come down, thinking they're being hired to do a show. So when the first bandits come into town, they chase them off, thinking it's all make believe. Eventually, after Martin takes a bullet to the arm, they realize it's all on the level, and they run off. But, their manhoods challenged, the decide to head back and save the village.

This kind of mistaken identity was done again, and better, in 1999's Galaxy Quest. Martin seems to have had the idea to create a new comedy team, like the Three Stooges or the Marx Brothers, but comes up woefully short. One of the best lines in the film points out why this doesn't work: when asked which one she likes best, a young Mexican woman says, "The dumb one," and her interrogator looks confused, as they are all dumb. None of the three has a particularly distinguishing characteristic. All of them are sweet, goofy and dim, but comedy requires some anger. Even Laurel and Hardy got made at each other, but a cross word is never exchanged between these Amigos.

There is the requisite slapstick, none of it inspired. Some of the gags are really labored, like Arau taunting his second-in-command for not knowing the meaning of "plethora." I really like Steve Martin, but in many films he leaves his sharpness behind, and the result is childish drivel. Three Amigos is a wasted opportunity.