¡Three Amigos! (1986)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

When your town is being terrorized by a man and his cronies, where would you turn for help? Would you call the police? Call some friends? Is there a section in the phone book for stuff like that? Carmen lives in a small Mexican town being terrorized by El Guapo and his men. She’s desperately in need of help, but doesn’t know where to turn. She walks into a bar and asks for help, but gets nowhere with that. It isn’t until she walks in on a movie that she knows she’ll be saved.

The move in question stars Dusty Bottoms (played by Chevy Chase), Lucky Day (played by Steve Martin) and Ned Nederlander (played by Martin Short). Carmen sees them and doesn’t realize that they’re just characters in a silent film. She thinks that they’re real heroes, so she sends a telegram. Since she can’t afford much, “put on a show of your strength” becomes “put on show,” so The Three Amigos think that they’re being summoned to star in a show.

Since they’ve just been fired by their studio, the don’t hesitate to respond. It isn’t until one of them gets shot that they realize that El Guapo is for real. Being nothing more than actors, they cower in fear and run away. When they realize what El Guapo is capable of, they decide to stay and help. It’s not like they have anything to go back to, anyway.

All three of the characters are clueless to varying degrees. For instance, they have to find a singing bush, which will allow them to find an invisible man. When they approach a singing bush, they try to ask the bush if it’s the singing bush. Chase plays as close to a straight man as the three get with Short and Martin being a little goofier. (When a woman expresses interest in the not-so-bright one, another one asks which one she’s referring to.)

I remember the movie being a lot funnier when I was a kid, but might still stand up today. There is a part of it that seems dated, but not really having to do with factual stuff. It just seems like a product of the 80’s. I think part of it is that you don’t see comedies like this any more. If the movie had been made today, it would probably have slicker effects and totally different dialogue.

I also don’t know that it has a lot of replay value. I just rented it a few days ago and I wasn’t laughing like I used to at it. There are some movies that you can watch over and over again. This just doesn’t seem to be one of them. In my case, I think it comes from remembering too much of the story. The basic outline is so simple that you can easily remember what happened next. Even having waited 15 or 20 years between viewings, I found that there was very little that I had forgotten.

I think for someone watching it for the first time, it’s going to be funny. That’s why I’d still give it three stars. But rent it. Don’t actually buy it. See if you can get it On Demand or something. 

IMDb page

Spies Like Us (1985)

The Defense Intelligence Agency has a problem.  They’ve been sending their best spies in to Soviet-controlled Asia, yet all of them are killed before reaching their target.  The DIA’s solution is to send in two of their worst spies as decoys.  Hopefully, this will throw off the enemy long enough for the actual spies to complete their mission.  This is where Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase come in.  They play Austin Millbarge and Emmett Fitz-Hume, respectively.

Millbarge is a code breaker that’s stuck in a basement and will probably never be promoted.  Fitz-Hume is a legacy employee and will probably never be promoted.   Both want to take the foreign service exam, although for different reasons.  Millbarge is smart and driven enough that he might pass, but Fitz-Hume gets both of them kicked out for cheating.  The DIA realizes that they have their decoys.

Millbarge and Fitz-Hume are told just enough that they could believe that they’d be useful.  They’re rushed through basic training.  They’re given just enough details that they know where to go, but not enough to let them complete their given mission.  That much doesn’t even become apparent until they’re in the thick of things.  Hopefully, the Soviets will see the two of them bumbling around and capture them.

This was one of those movies that I sort of remembered watching at some point in the past.  There’s a good reason for this.  The movie was released in 1985 and is dated.  The Soviet Union has since dissolved.   Many of the computers look like something out of a history book.  Even the image of a spy is like something out of the 80s.  It’s a very goofy movie, as you might expect from Aykroyd and Chase.  There’s one scene where Millbarge and Fitz-Hume are talking to a group of doctors, posing as doctors themselves.  Everyone greets each other as doctor. It’s a minute of people just saying, “Doctor,” to each other.

I’ve always wondered what actual spies/operatives even would think of movies like this.  I know it’s supposed to be a comedy.  Accuracy often takes a back seat to comedy.  In that regard, you’re probably going to get some laughs out of the movie.  I’m not sure what those younger than me would think of the movie.  This is something I could see someone my age watching with their kids where the parents laugh and the kids don’t quite get it.  This movie was definitely a product of its time.

IMDb page