Corrida messicana

Lesser Abbott & Costello film sees the boys hiding out in Mexico because Lou is wanted for being a forger and swindler. Except Lou is just an innocent dupe of Bud, who's the real crook. Part of the problem with this one lies right there in that description. Abbott & Costello aren't friends in this and Bud is kind of a tool. So you have Lou performing several routines with other characters instead of Bud. There are lots of pretty senoritas hanging around, so that's a plus. Lovely Virginia Grey is another plus. Some of the gags are pretty corny. A repeated gag involving Lou and samba music is particularly unfunny. It's not a bad movie and there are some laughs but something just doesn't click.

Two con men selling phony stock flee to Mexico ahead of the law, where they run into a woman friend from their earlier days, who is now a bullfighter.

The plots of the various movies don't really matter one way or the other. What really matters are the gags. I loved the painting gag, even though I saw the punchline coming. And the Smith / Jones routine is the sort of back and forth people love from this duo (myself included).

I think the comedy duo tends to be best remembered today (2017) for their series of films meeting the Universal monsters. But let's not forget some gems like this one, which has aged surprisingly well.

MEXICAN HAYRIDE (1948) **1/2 Bud Abbott, Lou Costello.

A&C comedy south of the border with con man Bud bilking samba-loving Lou who unwittingly foils some phony silver stock plans. Highlight: the bull fight.

This film is a bit unusual for an Abbott and Costello film in that Bud and Lou work against each other. In other words, they are not friends in the film and Lou is hiding out in Mexico. It seems that Bud is a swindler and has made it look like Lou is guilty. Naturally, Lou's goal is to get the money back so that he can pay off everyone back home and get the police to drop the case against him. Again and again throughout the film, Bud promises to give Lou all the money...in a few days.

Complicating things is that the police have just spotted Lou and are hot on his trail. But, they aren't positive it's the right guy and they are forced to back off when Lou is designated the "Guest of the People of Mexico". In other words, he was supposedly randomly chosen to be wined and dined as a sign of good will between the US and Mexico. In a very ironic scene, just when the Mexicans are set to honor Lou, the American police are ready to arrest him. What stops them is that one of the cops also matches this vague description! And, in reality, this part is played by Pat Costello--Lou's older brother in real life! Low points in the film include Luba Malina's performance. At times, she speaks with a typical American accent and in others she tries (in vain) to approximate a Mexican accent...and fails miserably. Why the director didn't bother to fix these scenes or notice is beyond me. Apparently, Malina was Russian-born and lived all around the world and if you listen, you can clearly hear this in her voice! Another is the scene late in the film where Lou is hiding out as an old lady with a tortilla wagon. His fake Spanish is really, really lame and sounds like Spanish only to someone with severe brain damage--and it's not really very funny--though the scene otherwise isn't bad at all. Could audiences back in 1948 have actually thought this was an approximation of Spanish?! High points are the lack of musical numbers and irrelevant secondary characters in the film. There is no handsome couple (unless you count Lou and Luba) and the film tends to focus exclusively on Bud and Lou.

Unfortunately, though, there aren't a ton of laughs in the film and it is a rather bland affair compared to the rest of the comedy team's work. An mildly interesting diversion and that is all.

Before writing this review I took a look at George Eells biography of Cole Porter which has a good reference section listing his Broadway shows and original film productions.

To make this film fit for Abbott and Costello whole sections of the plot and entire characters were junked as well as Cole Porter's entire musical score. The barebones of the book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields was retained and the whole business about stock swindling and the Amigo Americano was from the musical. For instance listed as characters in the play were the then Vice President of the United States Henry A. Wallace and the former King Carol of Rumania and his notorious mistress Madame Lupescu. I can't even imagine what they might be doing as characters in an Abbott and Costello comedy.

Cole Porter's scores rarely made it intact to the screen. Usually it was because of his risqué lyrics not playing well in Peoria. However as we learn it was simply because Abbott and Costello fans didn't want their favorites clowning interrupted by musical numbers as they were in so many of their World War II era films.

If that's the case why in heaven's name did Universal buy Mexican Hayride and rework it for them? I'm sure there must have been any number of Cole Porter fans who wanted to see a film adaptation of one of his Broadway shows. Once they had bought their tickets and were seated in the movie house, they must have been sorely disappointed.

The boys have some good routines here, Costello has some funny moments in an interview with reporter Sid Fields and also with elocution teacher Fritz Feld. The highlight of the film of course is Costello in a bull ring trying to get money Abbott swindled in some watered stock case. Problem is the money is in a hat that was tossed in the ring and landed on the bull's horns.

One routine they did was previously done in the Bing Crosby film Double Or Nothing by Martha Raye. Costello won a marathon dance contest doing the Samba for 36 hours and goes into autopilot the exact same way Martha Raye did in Double or Nothing.

It's not the best film from Abbott and Costello and boy are those Cole Porter lovers in for a disappointment.