Those of you who loved Warner Baxter as the Cisco Kid should know The Return of the Cisco Kid was his last installment. Starting with The Cisco Kid and the Lady, Cesar Romero took over for the next six movies. In my opinion, there's no reason to be disappointed by the change. Cesar also puts on an accent, he also sings, rides a horse, makes jokes, and saves the day and rides off into the sunset with his faithful sidekick Chris-Pin Martin. Plus, he's better looking, so his dalliances with women are more fun and believable.
In this one, Cesar, Chris-Pin, and Robert Barrat come across a toppled stagecoach. A dying man inside bequeaths them his goldmine, and his baby son. In a very funny and clever trick, the man rips the map and deed in thirds, so all three men have to work together to get the gold. Robert soon turns on them, demanding their third of the paper by gunpoint - but Cesar smokes his paper in a cigarette and Chris-Pin swallows his. "We have very good memories. As long as nothing happens to us..." Cesar smiles.
I'm starting to like the Cisco Kid movies. They're cute and harmless, and they have the predictable flow of a sitcom: beginning reminding the audience of the characters, the middle follows a brief, fixable problem; and the end shows the leads joking together as they leave in search of a new town. There's the same theme song ("La Cucaracha") in each movie, and both leads have their own catch phrases. Chris-Pin always adds, "I think" after his assertions. Cesar repeats, "I never fight with my hands. If I hurt my hands, I can't play the guitar. If I can't play the guitar, I can't sing love songs. And if I don't love, I can't live!" from earlier films. Yes, they're B-westerns, but they're fun if you're in the mood for them. And they're enjoyable during an afternoon when you want a little comfort and stability - and a cute guy to look at.
