(Cijal, 1968)

NOTES: this is a routine "buddy" comedy, with David Reynoso, Andrés García, and Héctor Bonilla playing three womanizing, brawling, cattlemen from Aguascalientes. The gimmick is that Reynoso is the father, who alternately smacks his sons around and tries to be their pal, a concept which was hardly original (it had been used several times in the 1950s).

Tres amigos is an odd entry in Gilberto Gazcón's directorial credits: his most effective films were generally rather "strong" contemporary dramas such as El mal (aka Rage), Los desarraigados (the first version), and Perro callejero. Tres amigos has a few vulgar comedy aspects and in one scene a man is murdered in cold blood, but otherwise the film has little connection with Gazcón's more realistic works.

David Reynoso is the center of attention: neither García nor Bonilla is given a distinctive personality, and Fernando Luján is largely wasted in a straight villainous role. Alfonso Arau has an amusing cameo as a bumbling Mexico City cop (he keeps saying "Sí, no?"), and Lalo el Mimo makes an early appearance as a stereotypical gay employee of a bordello.

On the distaff side, Claudia Islas is showcased in bikinis, lingerie, baby-doll nightgowns, and very tight street clothes. In one sequence, Reynoso's character is changing the diapers on a baby, while Islas leans over a railing to watch: there are repeated cuts to closeups of Islas' rear end, clad in bright yellow panties. Amedee Chabot and Bárbara Angely (wearing a red wig) appear briefly at the beginning of the film, as two gringa tourists picked up by García and Bonilla. Drunk, Angely keeps repeating "Viva México!" and Chabot repeatedly refers to "Pablo" (García) as "Pueblo" ("What happened, Pueblo?"). García and Bonilla return the women to their hotel and pick them up the next morning, but after these brief scenes the gringas aren't seen again.

Cattle rancher Jorge and his sons Pablo and Pedro are in Mexico City selling part of their herd. Jorge meets his old friend Alfonso Guzmán, recently released from prison after serving 8 years for a crime he didn't commit. He tells Jorge that he has documents which prove Emilio Gómez is really responsible. That night, Jorge and Alfonso pay a visit to a bordello; while Jorge is upstairs with Lulú, three men burst into the lobby and shoot Alfonso to death, stealing the documents. Jorge pursues the men, wounding one, but they escape. Meanwhile, the bordello employees dump Alfonso's body outside (to avoid trouble); when Jorge tries to explain the situation to the police, the people inside the bordello (which now doesn't look like one) say they've never seen him. Accused of murder, Jorge steals a police car and escapes. He goes to see Alfonso's 18-year-old daughter, Elena, who has the original copies of the incriminating documents. Together, they leave for Aguascalientes (where Jorge's ranch is, and where Emilio Gómez is now rich and powerful).

In Aguascalientes, Jorge introduces Elena to Emilio--and to Pedro and Pablo--as his long-lost, illegitimate daughter. Elena flirts with Emilio, trying to elicit more information. The situation is complicated when a baby is left at Jorge's house (which he is renting from Emilio, so he can stay in town rather than returning to his hacienda), with a note that says the mother is dead, and now "the father" has to care for him. Jorge, Pedro, and Pablo cannot figure which of them is the father.

Elena, frustrated at the slow progress in exposing her father's murderer, decides to kill Emilio. She asks him to elope with her as a prelude to this. Meanwhile, Jorge is bringing the effeminate bordello employee back to Aguascalientes from Mexico City in order to prove his innocence of Alfonso's death. Pedro and Pablo, who have discovered Elena is not their half-sister but otherwise know nothing of the situation, foil Elena's plan: Pedro pretends to be Emilio and picks up Elena on his motorcycle, while Pablo (in drag) poses as Elena and rides off on Emilio's motorcycle. Both couples meet at the airport, where Pedro confesses his love for Elena and Pablo punches Emilio. The film concludes with a confused scene in the local jail, where Emilio and his henchmen are identified as the killers, and the baby is claimed by its real mother (who left the baby in the house because Emilio was the father--she didn't know he didn't live there any more).

Tres amigos has some amusing scenes and lines of dialogue, but it is not especially coherent and a lot of the "humor" consists of Reynoso blustering and García and Bonilla bickering. Overall, it is mostly of interest as a chance to see a young and sexy Claudia Islas in some skimpy outfits, for a very brief but amusing comic turn by Alfonso Arau, and for Amedee Chabot and Bárbara Angely fans (although their roles are basically irrelevant cameos).

Back to the Amedee Chabot Page.

Review posted 24 April 2000 by D. Wilt (dwilt@umd.edu)