Der galoppierende Gaucho

Walt Disney knew he had a winning model in Mickey when he introduced the character in May 1928's "Plane Crazy." But he was discouraged not buyers wanted to pick up the cartoon. He had Ub Iwerks draw up a second Mickey cartoon, "The Gallopin' Gaucho," in an attempt to create interest in his mouse. Mickey is not the innocent rodent fans later knew him by. He rides into town on a South American rhea-not an ostrich as most believe his transport looks like. He enters a tavern and immediately lights up a cigar, swilling a beer with it. Minnie displays an erotic tango dance movement, and the two recreate Douglas Fairbanks' lusty steps with Lupe Valez in his 1927 "The Gaucho." The evil Black Pete, familiar to fans of Disney's "Alice's Comedies" and "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit," kidnaps Minnie and drags her out of the place. Mickey retrieves his rhea, only to discover the giant bird is smashed by drinking several beers. The mouse ends up carrying the passed out rhea while Pete brings Minnie to a house upstairs to take advantage of her. Mickey uses a Fairbanks trick to get up to Pete's third floor bedroom where the two duel with swords. Mickey throws a bedpan, landing over Pete's head, incapacitating him. Minnie escapes with Mickey on top of the now sober rhea. They all race behind a screen of trees, hiding what the two mouses romantically intend to do.

Viewers were ambivalent towards Disney's new cartoon, released August 1928. In the preview surveys, a majority felt felt Mickey, Minnie and Black Pete acted immoral and not characters they wanted their kids to look up to. What's unusual about "The Gallopin' Goucho" is Minnie is first seen wearing her famous oversized shoes early in the cartoon, but doesn't have them on towards the end. Disney wasn't totally in despair with his first two Mickey cartoons' rejection and would revisit them after sound was introduced to animation months later. Over a course of time, Mickey changed his adult behavior, appealing more to children than adults. The rodent became a model of good behavior, a wholesome character where parents weren't embarrassed by his actions.

Mickey is a gaucho--an Argentinian cowboy. He rides an ostrich for some reason. He goes to a cantina where Minnie is a dancer. They hook up, but it isn't long before she is kidnapped by Pete, the giant cat. There are all sorts of interesting implausibles, mostly involving mouse tails. Anyway, it's a decent little film. Mickey starts to gain a little personality.

Both "Steamboat Willie" and "Plane Crazy" are timeless classics. Personally, while very entertaining, due to its somewhat minimal story, I didn't find it as much as a classic. Still it has held up well, with some nice black and white animation, plus the music is absolutely wonderful here, particularly in the sword fight between Mickey and Pete. Speaking of Mickey, he is so cool here, he smokes, dances the tango and challenges others to sword fights. Minnie is also quite hot, and Pete is suitably villainous. Walt Disney does a great job with the vocals, making the most of the little amount of dialogue he has, as a vast majority of the cartoon is driven by visuals and music. All in all, entertaining and worth watching. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I remember watching this as a kid on Youtube and much like many of Mickey's other shorts, I thought this was funny. It may not be Plane Crazy or Steamboat Willie, but it's still entertaining to watch and has some good scenes such as when Mickey dances with Minnie. If you like Mickey, i'd say check it out.

Who knew Mickey Mouse could be so un-pc? Drinking, smoking, picking up strange lady mice in out of the way watering holes. It's primitive, but more fun than his later incarnation.