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Stitch's Movie Madness: 'The Three Caballeros'
19 years ago
General
When I was a wee tyke, Disney's 'Three Caballeros' was one of those videocassettes I would just... watch. Over and over. The routine would be; home from school, peanut butter sandwich, 'Three Caballeros'. For those not in-the-know, during the early 1940s the Disney company produced not one but two animated features designed to improve relations between the U.S. and Latin America (the other being 'Saludos Amigos', which introduced the perky green cigar-chomping parrot Jose Carioca to act as a frisky buddy and possible love interest for Donald Duck. You think I'm being snarky about Jose, but read on.)
Both 'Amigos' and 'Caballeros' celebrate (in that colorful but whitewashed and kid-friendly way that is Disney's stock in trade) the music, cities, art and peoples of South America. Not that I cared much about international goodwill gestures when I was a kid... I just liked the vibrant animation, tuneful songs and funny characters. Now, having re-watched it again for the first time in many years, I've come to realize something else about 'Three Caballeros', and that is that the entire movie is fucking crazy.
In a good way, mind you. After all, there's no denying the genuine entertainment value in watching a trio of cartoon birds going berzerk on a sex-and-possibly-drug-fueled orgy across South America's most colorful locales. That may have been largely lost on me as a kid, but now I can see 'Three Caballeros' for what it really is - a document of Donald Duck's hedonistic 'lost weekend' with a couple of his wild-n-crazy South of the Border buddies. This is Donald's version of a Spring Break bender in Tijuana, and the only thing missing is footage of him waking up bleary-eyed behind some garbage cans in Sao Paulo with a half-empty bottle of cachaca in his hand and all of his clothes gone except for a string of purple party beads and a pink straw sombrero with 'Brazil's #1 Boy-Toy' stitched into the front.
Not all of the movie is like that, of course... there are some adorable segments involving a too-cold penguin named Pablo who wants to move to a tropical paradise, and also one about a young gauchito who finds a cute flying donkey while eagle hunting in the mountains. Mostly, though, the story follows Donald Duck as he enjoys his birthday by traveling (via a magic pop-up book) across South America with Jose Carioca - who for some reason is only a few inches tall when he arrives - and his new friend Panchito, a hyper-excitable Mexican rooster with a spiffy gaucho ensemble and the disconcerting habit of randomly firing his pistols in all directions.
There's not much more to the plot than 'party time, amigo!' as it's mainly an excuse to send Donald and his pals flying off to various colorful places (on a magic serapi, no less) so they can dance, sing, and (presumably offscreen) imbibe enough hallucinogenic substances to induce the film's last twenty minutes, which unfold as a kind of free-form, multi-colored psychedelic freakout. Donald experiences dancing flowers that mutate into floating, disembodied heads, friendly buildings that shimmy and jiggle in the background like Jello, and neon-colored doppelgangers of his friends which torment him by singing in double-speed at inopportune moments. At this point it's difficult to tell whether Donald is still enjoying himself or not, especially when Jose pops up out of nowhere and inexplicably jams what appear to be two lit sticks of dynamite into his ass.
Which brings me to Jose's apparent homoerotic attraction to Donald. Say what you will about the film's rampant vibe of aggressive heterosexuality - after all, much of the running time is devoted to Donald and Jose's (but not, interestingly, Panchito's) lustful desire to bed as many Latina women as possible - but to me there seems to be an odd, subtle flirtation going on underneath the surface. For the record: Number of times Donald and Jose embrace each other - lots. Number of times Donald 'accidentally' kisses Jose, causing him to laugh playfully - once, but he gets in several smooches before Jose stops him. Number of times Jose shows Donald how to 'get bigger' by 'blowing' on his 'finger' - twice. Not that I'm criticizing, mind you. They make a cute couple... though you could argue that any relationship based on getting hammered in Baia and partying with trigger-happy gaucho roosters is probably going to be a stormy one.
Both 'Amigos' and 'Caballeros' celebrate (in that colorful but whitewashed and kid-friendly way that is Disney's stock in trade) the music, cities, art and peoples of South America. Not that I cared much about international goodwill gestures when I was a kid... I just liked the vibrant animation, tuneful songs and funny characters. Now, having re-watched it again for the first time in many years, I've come to realize something else about 'Three Caballeros', and that is that the entire movie is fucking crazy.
In a good way, mind you. After all, there's no denying the genuine entertainment value in watching a trio of cartoon birds going berzerk on a sex-and-possibly-drug-fueled orgy across South America's most colorful locales. That may have been largely lost on me as a kid, but now I can see 'Three Caballeros' for what it really is - a document of Donald Duck's hedonistic 'lost weekend' with a couple of his wild-n-crazy South of the Border buddies. This is Donald's version of a Spring Break bender in Tijuana, and the only thing missing is footage of him waking up bleary-eyed behind some garbage cans in Sao Paulo with a half-empty bottle of cachaca in his hand and all of his clothes gone except for a string of purple party beads and a pink straw sombrero with 'Brazil's #1 Boy-Toy' stitched into the front.
Not all of the movie is like that, of course... there are some adorable segments involving a too-cold penguin named Pablo who wants to move to a tropical paradise, and also one about a young gauchito who finds a cute flying donkey while eagle hunting in the mountains. Mostly, though, the story follows Donald Duck as he enjoys his birthday by traveling (via a magic pop-up book) across South America with Jose Carioca - who for some reason is only a few inches tall when he arrives - and his new friend Panchito, a hyper-excitable Mexican rooster with a spiffy gaucho ensemble and the disconcerting habit of randomly firing his pistols in all directions.
There's not much more to the plot than 'party time, amigo!' as it's mainly an excuse to send Donald and his pals flying off to various colorful places (on a magic serapi, no less) so they can dance, sing, and (presumably offscreen) imbibe enough hallucinogenic substances to induce the film's last twenty minutes, which unfold as a kind of free-form, multi-colored psychedelic freakout. Donald experiences dancing flowers that mutate into floating, disembodied heads, friendly buildings that shimmy and jiggle in the background like Jello, and neon-colored doppelgangers of his friends which torment him by singing in double-speed at inopportune moments. At this point it's difficult to tell whether Donald is still enjoying himself or not, especially when Jose pops up out of nowhere and inexplicably jams what appear to be two lit sticks of dynamite into his ass.
Which brings me to Jose's apparent homoerotic attraction to Donald. Say what you will about the film's rampant vibe of aggressive heterosexuality - after all, much of the running time is devoted to Donald and Jose's (but not, interestingly, Panchito's) lustful desire to bed as many Latina women as possible - but to me there seems to be an odd, subtle flirtation going on underneath the surface. For the record: Number of times Donald and Jose embrace each other - lots. Number of times Donald 'accidentally' kisses Jose, causing him to laugh playfully - once, but he gets in several smooches before Jose stops him. Number of times Jose shows Donald how to 'get bigger' by 'blowing' on his 'finger' - twice. Not that I'm criticizing, mind you. They make a cute couple... though you could argue that any relationship based on getting hammered in Baia and partying with trigger-happy gaucho roosters is probably going to be a stormy one.
The fact that I loved the film won me big brownie points with my elementary school Spanish teacher, who thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread that I enjoyed watching the thing. Of course, in retrospect, even though I lived in Miami, FL (the north end of Latin America), I didn't understand a damn word that was said in the movie.
I guess I was too young at the time, for the underlying homosexual tension between Donald and the rooster slipped past my child mind and was never recorded into memory. Though, now I can see the humor in the message behind the situation, based solely on your recap of the flick: I guess everyone wants a little Latin cock at some point. ;)
I guess every kid has a personal library of all their most favorite flicks growing up (looking back on it many of mine were Disney, though I also watched 'Krull' with alarming frequency). Despite living in California, I regret to admit that the only Spanish I speak is a halting 'dos tacos carnitas, por favor'.
As for homoerotic tension, why someone hasn't yet drawn a 'Caballeros' three-way is beyond me.
(Btw, speaking of drawings, I enjoy your artwork and would like to take this opportunity to say thanks for sharing it.) :3
Holy sweet jumping Jesus in a vat of Jello, I must see this movie now.
BTW, my own watch-it-to-death video as a kid was Beetlejuice. ...which explains rather a lot about me now.
I liked 'Beetlejuice' as a kid, but I tended to watch Disney flicks and the original 'Star Wars' movies a lot more. My fave Tim Burton flick remains 'Ed Wood'. :3
He really does need his own movie. Something casual with Donald. Hanging around, calling each other "carnal" "vato" and "jefe", cruising around in a low rider, maybe picking up that operatic spanish chicken and Daisy to go hit the clubs. That would be awesome.
Seriously though, _amazing_ use of color in this. Fun songs too. loved the Three Caballeros number, especially when they're trying to shut Panchito up at the end. There was also this one scene, where they're in Baìa and the two dudes turn into roosters, and then when their shadows turn back into people, it was done so perfectly I had to rewind and go 'How the smuck did they do that!?'
I would have liked to see the script for this, especially the ending: "Donald chases after all the girls on Acapulco beach (an impressive display of horndoggery from a guy who's only got a cloaca to work with) and then THE CRAZIEST SHIT YOU HAVE EVER SEEN IN YOUR LIFE HAPPENS." And, yeah, Joe really DOES shove firecrackers up donald's ass! I couldn't believe it. It still ranks a little below realizing Catbus has great big balls in three scenes of my Neighbor Totoro, though. ;)
Also, I really wonder how many inflation/transformation fetishists were inadvertently created from kids watching the 'Donald blowing his thumb' and 'Donald getting turned into a soundwave' bits...
You know, I'd actually kind of forgotten about the 'cockfight' scene (ahem) where the two guys turn into roosters. It was a great little moment, at that.
I understand that the filmmakers took an extended working vacation down to South America before starting production... apparently their research included knocking back more than a few cachaca cocktails, which might have been the inspiration for some of the imagery and general weirdness. :3
(FYI, Donald most likely has external male bits... ducks are one of the few bird species that are so equipped).
And yeah, I kinda guessed thare had to have been some kind of chemically-induced mania in the animators. How else to explain it? Now I gotta go find Saludos Amigos.
Ducks got dicks? Really?
WAYNE CAMPBELL: I was not aware of that!
(Yah, ducks have weenies, so it stands to reason that Donald's packing tackle.)