Three Amigos

Three Amigos Movie Poster

Three Amigos was a 1986 comedy that starred Steve Martin as Lucky Day, Chevy Chase as Dusty Bottoms, and Martin Short as Ned Nederlander (these are the "three amigos".  Although today many people consider this movie to be one of the funniest ever made, it received mixed reviews in the 80's (Roger Ebert did not like it at all).  It was a modest success at the box office.

In this film, the bandit El Guapo is extorting money from small Mexican villages.  One village in particular, Santo Poco, is desperate to stop El Guapo.  After watching a silent film featuring the three amigos (circa 1916), the village leader's daughter mistakes them for real heroes, and she sends a telegram to them.  The telegram is sent incorrectly as an invitation to make a movie with El Guapo, and given that the three amigos have just been fired, they are happy for the work.  After arriving in Santo Poco, where the three amigos are treated very well, some El Guapo bandits come to rob the town.  Thinking it is part of the movie shoot, the trio performs a stunt show, which causes the bandits to ride off.  When El Guapo and his gang return, the three amigos soon realize it is not a movie at all, and they are ran out of town.  Having nothing to lose, the three amigos decide to become real heroes, and in the end, they convince the townspeople to stand up for themselves.  In the end, everyone lives happily ever after given the defeat of El Guapo and the return of peace in Santo Poco.