NetfliXperiments: Three Amigos vs. Three Caballeros

By Patrick Roland July 25, 2004 11:36 PM

Here we go folks, the event you?ve waited all summer for. A six-round, head-to-head bout between two films that have nothing to do with each other except similar sounding names.

Experiment Volume 10: Three Amigos vs. Three Caballeros

In this corner, born in 1945: ?Three Caballeros.?

And in this corner, the new kid in the ring, born in 1986: ?Three Amigos.?

This is a fair fight, both pugilists come in DVD form from Netflix and special features are not taken into account; because neither offers any. Let?s keep it clean, gentlemen!

Plot:

Amigos: Bumbling movie stars attempt to save a Mexican village and defeat the evil El Guapo.
Caballeros: Cleverly veiled educational film about the culture of Latin America.

Winner: Amigos

Background:

Amigos: Early collaboration between Saturday Night Live Producer Lorne Michaels and a handful of SNL alums. Next to the Blues Brothers, probably Michaels? finest effort.
Caballeros: Capturing the magic of early Disney, the seventh full-length feature from the studio such an amazing job of mixing live action and animation, films decades later (Such as Mary Poppins and Pete?s Dragon) still were licking Cabelleros? boots.

Winner: Amigos

Theme song:

Amigos: One for each other and all for one. Three brave amigos are we.
Caballeros: We?re three caballeros/ Three gay caballeros/ They say we are birds of a feather.

Winner: Caballeros

Members:

Amigos: Martin Short, Chevy Chase and Steve Martin
Caballeros: Donald Duck, Jose Carioca: a Brazilian Parrot and Ponchito: a Mexican Bird

Winner: Amigos

Guest Stars:

Amigos: Joe Mantagna, Phil Hartman, John Lovitz and a choir of singing horses.
Cabelleros: A flying donkey and a slutty Carmen Miranda look-a-like.

Winner: Amigos

Influence:

Amigos: Perhaps the finest homo-erotic cowboy comedy ever made. No one has attempted to steal their crown.
Caballeros: Along with Fantasia and Dumbo, Three Caballeros invented the psychedelic cartoon decades before LSD?s popularity.

Winner: Caballeros

Not a pretty fight. The judges score gives Three Amigos four rounds and Three Caballeros two. I guess age before beauty doesn't mean much in an imaginary fight.

More NetfliXperiments:
Netflix has thousands of films to rent. I try to squeeze in as many films as I can since I pay a monthly fee. I skip the junk you can rent at Blockbuster and go straight to the sublime, irreverent and just plain weird you can?t find anywhere else. Consider me your trash man and treasure hunter as we experiment with movies we never knew existed.

? NetfliXperiments Volume 9: They're gonna put me in the movies.
? NetfliXperiments Volume 8: The Jazz Age
? NetfliXperiments Volume 7: TV Daze
? NetfliXperiments Volume 6: Amish Paradise?
? NetfliXperiments Volume 5: Freak Out!
? NetfliXperiments Volume 4: Leprechaun Party!
? NetfliXperiments Volume 3: Rock 'n' Roll Freakshow
? NetfliXperiments Volume 2: Ouch! My Head Hurts--Foreign Films
? NetfliXperiments Volume 1: Highway Horror & Hillbilly Fishermen

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