10 stars is really to much, I'd give a solid 7 or even 8 if people were less black-or-white on this stupid site. This movie really has an old-times comedy vibe. It doesn't have a lot of gags and they mostly try to make you sincerely smile instead of making you laugh your lungs out. So it's silly but it's also pretty refined while doing it. It features some great talents, it's a parody of westerns but that's not the only purpose of the movie, it's... great at what it was meant to do. I feel like, since it's comedy, people expected today's standards or even 80s laugh-your-lungs-out standards (like "Airplane!" or something). Guess what, their expectations don't define the movie's goodness and there's a lot of it.

Three failed silent movie actors Lucky Day (Steve Martin), Dusty Bottoms (Chevy Chase) and Ned Nederlander (Martin Short) seemingly land up with a dream job; they get an offer of 100,000 pesos to protect a small town in Mexico - the three amigos assume that this is film work and that everyone else is along for the ride, but they soon learn that what they're involved in is real and the 3 Amigos quickly find themselves having to rescue Carmen (a Mexican girl) who has been kidnapped by the evil El Guapo (Alfonso Arau) and whom is seen by El Guapo as his own personal prize.Three Amigos is a western spoof, and for me most obviously it is parodying The Magnificent Seven. In some respects it does work; the set up to the story is good as are the evil Mexican bandits (with the leader clearly being an Eli Wallach type), but sadly this western spoof doesn't work consistently enough....Where it doesn't consistently work is in the amount of laughs that the film throws up; it is fitfully amusing in areas, but not really as a whole. The film has a slapstick and silly feel to it (which sometimes works) when for example there is a good visual gag or examples of amusing dialogue, but far too often there are stretches in this film where neither element exists and you're left with some sequences that aren't that funny - some of the song and dance numbers don't really work and the camp-fire scene produces rather mixed results in the comedy stakes.Where the film works slightly better is in the occasional way that it shows the flaws with our protagonists; all of them are idiots, but in different ways; I did like the way that Steve Martin's character is called Lucky Day yet more often than not, it was him that messed everything up for his Amigos - clearly an intentional irony exists with his character. Likewise, the same exists with the other 2 Amigos with Chevy Chase being notably dim-witted; the chemistry between all 3 leads is what really keeps this picture above the water and as I said despite there being a distinct unevenness with the writing and directing it does kind of work from time to time.Whilst for me, this film was OK and quite funny at times, it is very uneven and it never works as well as it should do. Clearly, it is intended as a parody of The Magnificent Seven, but sadly it is never as good as the material that it is parodying and for that reason it can only be seen as something as a failure (despite it having some amusing moments).

Three Amigos casts Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short as three Latino cowboy heroes of the silent screen where their obvious Anglo speech patterns will not distract from the image they create. Their actors and have the egos and fragilities of Hollywood cowboys. But they also know they're Hollywood cowboys and don't take themselves too seriously.But in a plot gambit taken from The Magnificent Seven, there's a village in 1916 revolutionary anarchic Mexico that's being plagued by a bandit named El Guapo and his gang. Like kids they take their cowboy heroes seriously and they expect these three to act like their screen images.Not so easy for these guys to do that, but once they get going they're actually inspiring in their own ways. Not to mention that in Chase, Martin, and Short you have three of the very best from the training ground of Saturday Night Live. Individually and collectively they make a very good comedy premise come to life.Best scene is in that Mexican bar when the patrons are told three distinctive tough guys are coming to town and even though these guys break into My Little Buttercup for the crowd, the patrons still act scared.How do they rid the town of El Guapo. Why have the villagers use their own special talents. What they are and how they are employed is for you to see Three Amigos and laugh your heads off.

The fish out of water premise rarely works, and here, it doesn't bring justice. Three Amigos is a dry, mediocre comedy that has one central joke, its more than capable leads in goofy, flamboyant outfits. The film somehow thinks the key to its success is dressing up the three main characters and hoping people will find the antics funny just because the characters look funny.I'm here to say it isn't, but of course I don't speak for everyone. The film is cheery, wholesome, but all too dry. There isn't enough desperation with the characters because much of the film they're spent with cocky, boastful attitudes and not realizing the trouble they've gotten themselves into. The story concerns "The Three Amigos," a silent movie comedy team featuring Lucky Day (Martin), Dusty Bottoms (Chase), and Ned Nederlander (Short). The three are famous for their plethora of films together and their utterly fashionable costumes. When they request a raise to continue doing films, they are sent packing and helpless.Before we're introduced to them we see Carmen (Martinez), the daughter of a village leader in Santo Poco, Mexico. When seeing a film with "The Three Amigos" she sends them a telegram believing they are real crime-fighters. So, immediately, The Amigos get a telegram and are off to save the town of Santo Poco. Or so they think. They believe it's a new job opportunity. In reality they have to try and run the legendary El Guapo (Arau) out of town.The premise sounds acceptable and fun, but the real tragedy is Three Amigos never fully knows what it wants to do. Is this satire, homage, or a shameless parody of the western genre? At times it seems to want to put a satirical spin on the western genre. For example, dressing in those utterly goofy costumes and trash-talking the opponents before opening fire. At other times it seems like it wants to pay a tongue in cheek homage to the cheesy style of some westerns. For example, the fake, Technicolor backgrounds like a cheap play. And if the writing had been polished a bit more involving more jokes instead of dead air, it could come off as a David Zucker, Leslie Nielsen type spoof.The talent here is taken for granted. Steve Martin gets a lot of screen time, it seems Chevy Chase is left with the recycled odds and ends from other successful screenplays as he fumbles in search of his own time, and Martin Short isn't given much to perform with either.Three Amigos has heart, but not comedy. It's one of those comedies that thinks it's being funny, when really, its one note joke has gotten old after a few minutes and we've been expecting some more cutting edge ones for a while. Randy Newman's musical numbers provide fun and smiles, Landis's directing is above average, yet you'd find superior in his other works like The Blues Brothers and National Lampoon's Animal House, but the dry setup, the under-used talents, and the flimsy script make Three Amigos a missed opportunity.Starring: Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Martin Short, Patricia Martinez, and Alfonso Arau. Directed by: John Landis.