Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

gwnightscream Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short star in John Landis' 1986 western comedy. This takes place in the 1900's where we meet silent film actors, Lucky Day (Martin), Dusty Bottoms (Chase) and Ned Nederlander (Short) who are well-known as "The Three Amigos." After being fired, they're asked by woman, Carmen (Patrice Martinez) to save a small, Mexican village from a tyrant, El Guapo (Alfonso Arau). The trio mistakenly thinks it's a movie gig, but soon realizes it's real. This pays tribute and spoofs the western genre much like "Blazing Saddles." Martin, Chase and Short are great together and the late, Elmer Bernstein's score is excellent as usual. Joe Mantegna, Jon Lovitz and the late, Phil Hartman also appear briefly. I recommend this 80's classic.

The_Film_Cricket It would be easy for me to say that 'The Three Amigos' goes no place fast if I believed for a moment that it intended to do anything fast. In fact, the movie is so lacadaisy that I think even the stars were checking their watches.The movie has all the earmarks of what could have been. It stars Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short whose brilliant individual work on 'Saturday Night Live' is completely missed here. They play The Three Amigos; a comedy team whose recent box office receipts has caused the studio to hand them their walking papers.Meanwhile down in Mexico a woman sees one of their movies and thinks they are the real deal. She sends a fractured telegram hiring them to save their village from banditos and being in need of work they oblige. Unfortunately they misread the cry for help and think that they are being called to do a publicity show which leads to a long (and I do mean long) series of misunderstandings until very late in the film when they begin to realize that the banditos aren't kidding around.Steve Martin whom I liked in some of his more critically panned films like the underrated 'The Man With Two Brains' seems too in on the joke. Martin Short does almost nothing and Chevy Chase gets one or two moments right and then stands to the side of the screen looking on at the moment.Maybe the problem is that the film feels too safe. We get the feeling that Martin, Chase and Short are in on the joke and that kills the spontaneity of the comedy. The Three Amigos have a trademark gesture which ends with them thrusting their hips forward and coughing. That's not funny because it feels rehearsed. I like it when comedians don't play the moment for laughs. Watch Gene Wilder in 'Young Frankenstein' when he is trying to figure out how to work the revolving bookcase and you'll see what I mean.

emalafeew Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase at the height of their comedic powers. The story is sweet, the supporting cast is uniformly terrific, the musical bits are wonderful, and the lines--this is the most quotable movie you will ever watch. The spoof of old westerns is spot on, look for saloon railings that obviously break away from being pre-sawed, bad guys not noticing good guys being "stealthy", and some excellent animal acting. Will put a smile on your face at any age, every time. And IMDb, please don't recommend City Slickers II if you like this movie. Maybe Galaxy Quest.

Andrew Judkins Three Amigos is a well known example of what I call 'inane comedy'. The jokes are silly and unfocused, while the film's comedy strategy and type seems uncertain. It is as thought the writers and comedian-stars weren't really quite sure what to do once the talent was assembled and threw together the first concept that came to mind, and the first comedy ideas they could conjure up to fit into the basic premise of the film.The makings of a decent comedy are here: We have three comedian actors, a workable concept and a good comedic director at the helm (Landis). But names aren't everything. Three stars under-deliver. We get Martin Short doing his prototypical goony movements, Steve Martin's slightly less goony movements and smarminess, and Chevy Chase's buffoonery with vintage obnoxious baritone singing from time to time. But perhaps worse than the lack luster and tired performances is the fact the film has no comic direction to speak of. I'm not trying to hold this film to high standards at all---I just want some laughs from it, but more often than not you need some sort of comedy philosophy and tone to build from in order to make people laugh as much as they should. The film starts out as though it may be a satire, making fun of silent movie Hollywood and the hubris of Hollywood in general. Quickly it gets away from that and moves to making fun of three egotistical idiot-stars. From there the film turns into a 'we thought this was fake, but it is real' farce. Some seriousness is added to parts of the plot to fuel this farce scenario. The heroes then become a version of what they faked in silent movies to end the film, in both a not touching and not funny way. Some of the jokes are misunderstanding driven, some try to satirize, some are character driven (look how dumb this character is, and how egotistical this one is!) some are absurdist, while some of the better jokes are old time gags such as the canteen/desert scene and the troubled plane that lands perfectly after an obviously incongruent cut.But the inanity of the writing, the scattered comedy focus and average performances aren't the only problems here. The execution of potentially good jokes stands out as a feature of this film. The one that comes to my mind is the strange camp-out scene with the super fake set and singing animals (including a tortoise!). The scene is odd and is full of potential laughs, but falls flat. Even those who get a chuckle out of it will be laughing less than they should. An odd feature of the film is that many of these negative aspects make it seem like a rushed, money making project, but the film was made with obvious care. The sets are really nice, the scenery is great and the supporting actors and extras are fantastic (often providing needed little laughs). Even the costumes are well made. I got as much enjoyment looking at the little Mexican village and surrounding scenery as I did from laughs.Landis has directed many fantastic comedies, such as Animal House and Blues Brothers. This is not his best work, nor is it Steve Martin's or Chase's. It is an OK movie to watch if bored---it is slightly above average for a comedy, and slightly below average for a typical film, in my mind. There are many better places to look for laughs despite the big names. Four and ½ stars.