Friday Film Noir

Three Amigos! (1986) is a western comedy directed by John Landis and written by Steve Martin, Lorne Michaels, and Randy Newman. Fired by their Hollywood studio, silent-screen actors Lucky Day (Steve Martin), Dusty Bottoms (Chevy Chase), and Ned Nederlander (Martin Short) accept a telegram invitation to a small Mexican village. Believing they have been hired to put on a show as their famous cowboy characters, the actors arrive to discover the villagers actually expect them to defend the town against a ruthless bandit leader named El Guapo (Alfonso Arau).
Steve Martin began writing the screenplay in 1980 under the title The Three Caballeros, intending to star alongside Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. The project stalled following the death of Belushi, while Aykroyd left the production to make Ghostbusters. Steven Spielberg expressed interest in directing between 1981 and 1982, wanting to cast Martin, Bill Murray, and Robin Williams, but stepped away to direct E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Chevy Chase repeatedly ad-libbed physical comedy gags that kept ruining continuity, forcing the director to order multiple expensive retakes.
1986 • PG • 1h 44m
Rotten Tomatoes: 44%
Holy Unknown Grade: A
Worldwide Gross: 39M
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