Trivia for
¡Three Amigos! (1986)

photos

board

trailer

details

• In the sequence where they have to say magic words to summon the invisible swordsman, one of Steve Martin's magic words is "Hfuhruhurr," his character's name in The Man with Two Brains (1983).
  
  
• "El Guapo" is Spanish for "The Handsome One" or "The Ladies' Man".
  
  
• Randy Newman, who wrote some of the the songs for this movie, was the voice of the singing bush.
  
  

• Sam Kinison had a role as Mexican bandit/stalker that was filmed and later cut by director John Landis.
  
  
• Alfonso Arau, who plays El Guapo, was one of the main villains in The Wild Bunch (1969).
  
  
• Alfonso Arau, (El Guapo), also starred in Tres amigos (1970), which translates to Three Amigos.
  
  
• The movie billboard behind Steve Martin when he is trying to break into the studio to retrieve the Three Amigos costumes is an advertisement for the movie "The Dueling Cavalier" starring Miss Reynolds. Debbie Reynolds starred in Singin' in the Rain (1952) in which the talkie movie they were trying to make was called, "The Dueling Cavalier".
  
  
• Lucky Day (Steve Martin) is the only one of the Amigos to get shot in the movie. Once in his left shoulder, and once in his right foot.
  
  
• Originally the movie was supposed to star Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Martin mentioned it in a Playboy interview published January 1980, referring to the movie as 'The Three Caballeros'.
  
  
• The injury that Steve Martin's character gets from the first gunshot wound is in his left arm, in the same spot he kept getting shot in his earlier film, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982).
  
  
• Steven Spielberg considered directing the film but chose to do E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) instead. He has said in interviews his choices for the roles of the Three Amigos were Steve Martin for Lucky Day, Bill Murray for Dusty Bottoms and Robin Williams for Ned Nederlander.
  
  
• El Guapo's second in command is named Jefe... This word literally translates to "head," but more accurately translates to "boss."
  
  
• While singing the opening song the Three Amigos simultaneously hold that high note for 14 seconds.
  
  
• Carl La Fong (actor/stunts) is the name used to great comic effect when W.C. Fields is questioned about that character's whereabouts in It's a Gift (1934): Insurance Salesman: Do you know a man by the name of LaFong? Carl LaFong? Capital L, small a, Capital F, small o, small n, small g. LaFong. Carl LaFong. Harold: No, I don't know Carl LaFong - capital L, small a, capital F, small o, small n, small g. And if I did know Carl LaFong, I wouldn't admit it!
  
  
• The bats hunted by Ned, is actually fried bacon, served on skewers.
  
  
• John Landis states, had Martin Short turned down the role of Ned, he would have then approached Rick Moranis to play the role.
  
  
• Chevy Chase's favorite film of his own.
  
  
• 'Nederlander' is Dutch for 'Dutchman'.
  
  

• SPOILER: The basic story and quite a few scenes borrow heavily from Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai". (Shichinin no samurai (1954)): Village terrorized by bandits; A few villagers goes into town to find help; They have very little to offer; No help from towns people; They find "warriors"; They prepare defenses (among them water filled trenches); Large climactic battle; The leader is the last of the bandits to die; Three prepare to leave the village; One looks back at the girl he fell in love with (though Three amigos has a slightly happier version of what happens then).
  
  

Related Links