Forgotten Childhood: iThree Amigos!

This past weekend bore witness to arguably the most impressive gathering of comedy greats that have ever been assembled in one venue. These greats were brought together to celebrate the 40th year of the sketch-based American institution known as Saturday Night Live. Over the course of this anniversary evening, We were treated to a host of screen legends that have redefined comedy over the course of the past three decades. The show SNL has bred these stars from cast members into icons. The talent pool that has emerged from the show includes names the likes of Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Phil Hartman, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler among many others. The staying power of the show can be attributed in large part to its creator and producer, Lorne Michaels. Lorne has been a driving force in the process of screening cast members and weighing their overall potential since the shows inception. Initial favorites of the show in the 1980’s included Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short, who are the stars of today’s film. During his one and only break from the show, Lorne Michaels took time out to make a star vehicle for these three popular cast members with a little help from his friend, John Landis.
Written in part by Steve Martin and produced by Lorne Michaels, iThree Amigos!iThree Amigos!iThree Amigos! is a family friendly western romp filled with slapstick hijinks and satirical nods to classic movies set in the old west. The plot sees a trio of hapless Hollywood actors named Lucky Day(Steve Martin), Dusty Bottoms(Martin Short) and Ned Nederlander(Chevy Chase) as they are unwittingly thrust into the role of keepers of the peace.
The village of San Poco is being terrorized by a fearsome bandit named El Guapo and his gang. In need of salvation, The villagers send a telegram to the legendary heroes known as iThree Amigos!. Unfortunately for them, they are unaware that the silent movies have they watched are not real and the three they have inquired for are actually just actors. Lucky, Dusty and Ned receive the telegram believing it to be a performance booking. With the promise of a reward, they dutifully whisk off to San Poco expecting to do a meet and greet with a few songs thrown in the mix. Upon arrival, they treat everything as if it were all part of an elaborate act. It doesn’t take too long for the pin to finally drop on the actors, who find themselves caught in a much more dangerous situation than they would have expected.
The comedy from iThree Amigos! relies heavily on its lead performers. A balance is well struck between the distinct personality of the characters at hand. Lucky is the leader desperately trying to keep the gang together in hopes of revitalizing their film careers, Dusty is the concerned member of the group always vigilant and anxious in times of stress and Ned is the carefree dolt who seems undeterred by everything they encounter. Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and Martin Short have an on-screen chemistry that blends these contrasting characters together as a believable band of brothers. Through their interactions and the well written musical pieces that they perform, we get the best parts of a movie that peaks too early on. Hilarity ensues when its apparent that the characters are oblivious to what is going on. The halfway mark in which they discover the actual circumstances they are in is when the humor takes a halt. A new story is told of redemption for the “down on their luck” actors who are inevitably being forced to become real heroes.
Despite a wonderful performance of the song “Blue Shadows,” The essence of the movie is lost when it becomes a straight up adventure to stop the bandit El Guapo. The actor Alfonso Arau deserves credit for his turn as the fiendish yet humorous outlaw – but there is a defining cut off point of when I started to lose interest and that moment was the story shifting to a tale of three saviors. Memorable scenes are all packed into the first forty minutes aside from the aforementioned “Blue Shadows” scene, This leaves the rest to be quite barren and a little lazy in terms of the talent they had on offer. Nevertheless, iThree Amigos! is still a fun chuckle worthy film that will cause a smile. When it is at its best is when it is delivering its hilarious musical elements, “My Little Buttercup” being the highlight of my experience. Overall, I enjoyed it more when i was younger. It doesn’t age well enough to be classified as a classic. It is definitely worth a look if you are a fan of any of the three leads. Otherwise, I would say you can probably give it a miss and not feel like you have lost out on a golden nugget of wild west antics.