Mexican Hayride

Fresh from the hit "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," the comedy duo set out on "Mexican Hayride." Costello plays Joe Bascom, who is on the trail of Harry Lambert (Bud Abbott). Lambert coerced Bascom into swindling friends in Iowa, and Bascom has followed him into Mexico to force him to pay up. Through a series of misunderstandings, Bascom becomes "Amigo Americano" and is honored and feted. Lambert sees this as an opportunity for further land swindles in Mexico, and again tries to use Bascom as an unwitting pawn.

If this description sounds like an unusual plot for an Abbott and Costello film, you would be right. The story is based upon a Broadway show. A&C stalwart screenwriter John Grant does his best to interject A&C humor and routines into the existing Broadway storyline. Two of his best examples are the scene where Abbott rips off Costello's clothes in an effort to hide his initials, which are sewed on every piece of clothing; and the scene with Fritz Feld as an diction specialist.

"Mexican Hayride" is considered one of the weakest films in the A&C series, and I agree. The main problem lies in trying to interject A&C into a Broadway storyline built for other actors. A&C give it their best as usual, but the storyline simply isn't for them. One expects Abbott to take advantage of Costello here and there; it was seen in many of their best comedies. But for Abbott to swindle many people besides Costello simply isn't funny. There are also many gaps in the humor that result in dull moments. I really tried to like "Mexican Hayride," but the storyline simply didn't fit A&C snugly, and the humor is not consistent enough to generate many laughs. 3 out of 10.

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.

An Abbott and Costello movie that comes off as something of a misfire, especially following right after the great ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, often considered one of their very best. Based on a play, this story is sort of awkward in the realm of Bud and Lou misadventures. We have Costello as a fugitive who's just won a contest where he danced a samba for 68 hours, and is now pursued by the police to Mexico. Of course, it's not poor Lou's fault; he was swindled by the character played by Abbott, and Costello needs to catch up with Bud and get his money back, and clear himself.

Naturally we get some gags here and there, but they're not among the comedy duo's finest. One running joke that really gets boring after the first couple of tries is Lou uncontrollably conditioned to dance the samba from force of habit, whenever hearing the music played. Another routine has Lou confronting a wild bull in an arena (what else would you expect in a Mexican comedy?). There are a couple of humorous scenes with assistance from guest stars like Fritz Feld (who attempts to teach Costello how to speak properly), and my personal favorite involving Sidney Fields as a fast-talking interviewer who won't let Lou get a word in edge-wise (Fields would later go on to play A&C's landlord on their TV show). Lou's brother Pat Costello has a steady role here as one of the cops constantly trailing Lou. He'd made brief appearances in other movies and often as Lou's stunt double, but Pat is pretty much a wooden Indian throughout. **1/2 out of ****

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.

I don't know why people think so poorly of this film. Although it seems a little odd the way it begins in the middle of the story, it ticks along at a good rate; Pat Costello has an effective repartee with Lou, which is very interesting; Luba Malina, Fritz Feld, Sid Fields and Chris-Pin Martin are all funny. Costello is over the top, yet seems lovable and genuine in this movie. There are no gratuitous musical numbers to FF through, but there are a couple of comic musical numbers. It does not have the slow moments or the maudlin handling they had in "Little Giant" (which does have some good moments, by the way); Lou keeps things moving, and I can count 10 good skits off the top of my head--the one with Lou preparing tortillas has something close to a spectacular ending...if only the plot hadn't got in the way. Even the grand finale with a few rear-projections (and a "trained" bull) turns out pretty funny.

It's the logical extension of Abbott's character for him to be an all-around swindler, so that doesn't bother me; their teamwork is still top-rate, and I'm happy to see Costello get the better of Abbott once in a while. It's also relieving that in this context (and maybe an off-screen agreement?), Abbott refrains from slapping Costello, which would make his character unacceptable.

So spend a few bucks and watch it on DVD. Not a classic, but a good Sunday afternoon comedy with two comedians still at their peak of performance. And that's not bad.