December 12, 1986
¡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), produced by Michaels and George Folsey Jr. (who also served as second unit director), and starring Steve Martin, 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.
Orion Pictures released Three Amigos on December 12, 1986, and it earned $39.2 million against a budget of $25 million.
Storyline
In 1916, the bandit El Guapo and his gang collect tribute from the Mexican village of Santa Poco. Carmen, the village leader's daughter, 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. Believing they are real heroes, Carmen sends a telegram asking them to come and stop El Guapo.
At Goldsmith Pictures in California, Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms, and Ned Nederlander, the actors who portray the Amigos, demand a salary increase for their next project but their supervisor Harry Flugelman dismisses them from the studio instead. They soon receive Carmen's telegram, misinterpreting it as a job offer to perform a show in Santa Poco. The Amigos steal their costumes back and head for Mexico.
At a cantina near Santa Poco, a German pilot inquires about El Guapo and demands respect for his friends who will arrive soon. The Amigos stop at the cantina in costume soon afterward and are assumed to be the German's friends. They mistake the fearful patrons for star-struck fans and perform a cheerful song and dance ("My Little Buttercup"). After they leave, the German's associates arrive and shoot up the cantina when the off-guard patrons mock their fine clothes. Carmen picks up the Amigos and takes them to the village, where they are pampered in the best house in town.
The following day, when 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. The village throws a victory party for the Amigos. The following day, 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, explaining that they are harmless actors. El Guapo decides they are not worth killing, orders the village looted, and kidnaps Carmen. The Amigos leave Santa Poco in disgrace.
Ned persuades Lucky and Dusty to defeat El Guapo and become real heroes. They try summoning a magical swordsman to locate El Guapo, but Dusty botches the ritual and shoots the swordsman. At his hideout, El Guapo prepares for his 40th birthday party, when he will accept a shipment of weapons from the German and then bed Carmen. The Amigos find the hideout by following the German's plane and swinging in from the outer wall with mixed results. Lucky is immediately captured and chained in a dungeon, Dusty crashes into Carmen's room, and Ned is suspended from a piñata.
Lucky frees himself, but Dusty and Ned are discovered and held captive. 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 with their best talent, sewing. The bandits arrive and are shot at by Amigos from all sides, forcing them to retreat as El Guapo takes a fatal wound. The villagers, all dressed as Amigos, gather around him. He compliments the Three Amigos on their cleverness, then shoots Lucky in the foot before dying.
The villagers offer the Amigos all their money, but they refuse it, stating, "Our reward is that justice has been done." They then ride off into the sunset.
Sound Effects Used
- Hollywoodedge, Bird Hawk Single Scre PE020801/Hollywoodedge, Hawk Screech Single AT082901
- Hollywoodedge, Coyote Howl Single Me AT026401 (Heard in a lower pitch.)
- Hollywoodedge, Single Classic Wolf CRT012501/Sound Ideas, COYOTE - LONG HOWL, ANIMAL
- Sound Ideas, GUN, HANDGUN - .44 CALIBER, MAGNUM SHOTS, INTERIOR
- Sound Ideas, HORSE - SINGLE WHINNY, ANIMAL
- Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - CARTOON RICCO 07