The Gay Desperado (1936) User Reviews (14)

Well, you certainly can say this is different!!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 18 June 2009]

In a rather bizarre opening scene, a room full of Mexicans are at the theater watching a gangster film. It's odd because all the men have huge sombreros (hats) on--making it practically impossible for anyone to see the film. Suddenly, a fight breaks out and Leo Carrillo's gang takes on the rest of the audience. In a panic, the theater owner has Chivo (Nino Martini) take the stage and begin singing, as he has an amazingly beautiful tenor voice. The fight stops almost immediately, as everyone (especially Carrillo) is in love with the voice. I usually hate this sort of singing, but I also was amazed--he was that good.

Afterwords, Carrillo announces that Chivo MUST join his gang--or else. Given little choice, Chivo agrees and the next thing you know, Carrillo and his gang take over a local radio station and force everyone to listen to Chivo's operatic stylings! As the gang makes a getaway (after all, the police are coming), the come upon two young people and kidnap them (one, by the way, is a young Ida Lupino, who plays Jane). Chivo is smitten with Jane and makes an amazingly awkward play for her--it's a scene you just have to see to believe.

In the meantime, Carrillo goes in search of an American bandit, Butch. Carrillo mistakenly thinks that American bandits are like the ones featured in gangster films and wants Butch to teach them how to act like these film crooks! So how does all this get resolved? Does Chivo get to leave the gang? What about Lupino and her now ex-boyfriend? And does the gang become more Americanized--with gang members who act more like Jimmy Cagney and Edward G. Robinson? Tune in yourself to this silly yet strangely enjoyable B-movie.

Pluses are Nino Martini's amazing voice, cute supporting characters and a light and silly atmosphere. Minuses are Nino Martini's almost constant singing--a little went a very long way. In addition, the script is basically fluff. Enjoyable fluff, but still fluff.

The Girl & the Golden Voice

[Igenlode Wordsmith · 7/10 · 11 February 2009]

If "Love Me Tonight" is "the musical for people who don't like musicals", it has to be said that "The Gay Desperado" is definitely not a musical for people who don't like opera. In fact -- despite apparently being based on a comic operetta -- it is not really a musical at all but a spoof bandit story with interpolated unrelated arias to show off the voice of one character; and what a voice it is.

Nino Martini, as the young singer Chivo who joins the bandit troop to get a spot on the radio (no, the plot doesn't make a lot more sense later on either...), has a glorious golden tenor whose style hasn't dated a day since the era when it was recorded. The trillings and warblings of some of his musical contemporaries belong to a bygone fashion, but it's very easy to picture Chivo belting out "Nessun Dorma" to a World Cup crowd and topping the charts in the process. Unfortunately, while he has an engaging grin and a decent dramatic range, he is completely incapable of acting and singing at the same time. The result is that the otherwise rapid-paced film grinds to a shuddering halt every time Chivo lays his hand on his breast and starts to declaim, and the viewer's tolerance of the result is likely to depend on his appreciation of operatic performance.

Aside from this drawback, the film is an enjoyable broad-brush satire on Hollywood conventions and the Mexican bandit stereotype in particular, which achieves the vital goal of all such spoofs in making its characters engaging enough in their own right to hold the viewer's interest when the joke would otherwise have grown stale. The bandit chief and his sidekick have the traditional double-act relationship, there is an enigmatic peon with a carved-teak face, and a spirited heroine (a young Ida Lupino) who performs the generic "you say you hate me but you love me really" routine with a refreshing twist.

Overall the film is entertaining and pretty funny, and I feel I did get my money's-worth -- but it can't be denied that the musical interludes, while admirable in their own way, introduce severe pacing problems.

The 'snatch' business

[AAdaSC · 7/10 · 26 June 2022]

Leo Carrillo (Braganza) plays a Mexican bandit leader. He captures singer Nino Martini (Chivo) because he falls in love with his tenor voice and makes him an honorary bandit. However, Martini doesn't make a very good bandit. Carrillo wants to modernize - he wants an automobile and so he instructs his gang to hold up wealthy brat James Blakeley (Shay) and his girlfriend Ida Lupino (Jane) who they happen to come across while fleeing through the desert. At first, he just wants the car but carries out a 'snatch' once he learns who Blakeley's father is. Lupino and Martini develop feelings for each other. Of the love variety. It's a comedy so we have a happy ending.

This film is funny with comedy Mexican stereotypes and Carrillo leads well by learning all his mannerisms and sayings from American gangster films. He wants to operate more like the American gangsters. Of course, he is totally unprepared for this kind of lifestyle. It's a funny idea. A mention must be made of the scenery. The Mexicans in their hats riding through the cactus desert is one memorable scene whose image lingers on after the film. There are several moments like this.

Unfortunately, Martini gets too much singing time but there are a couple of good songs in there (mainly by other people - a girl trio and the Mexican bandits themselves). Perhaps this isn't a comedy but actually a documentary about Mexican bandits. It is certainly how I would expect them to be. And Carrillo has some moments of great dialogue.

a hidden gem of the Hollywood Studio system

[pat3 · 9/10 · 26 January 2007]

This film is one of the hidden gems of the 1930's Hollywood studio system. It is a wonderful operetta buffo, a delightful parody of all those Mexican bandito westerns and American gangster films of the early decade. The Mexican stereotypes are a bit painful but they are deliberately exaggerated for this comedy about a Mexican bandit who wants to learn real outlaw lessons from the American gangsters seen on the movie screen. The in-joke is that when we finally do meet those gangster, led by perennial heavy Stanley Fields, he is surrounded by other racketeers that look and act exactly like Edward G. Robinson and George Raft. And that is only one of the numerous little in-jokes in this film. Director Mamoulian's visual style and camera, his use of set-ups and shadows, of bandits riding against the evening sky, is so remarkable that the New York Film Critics gave him the Best Director Award for 1937. The script is witty and as fast paced as any Howard Hawks, especially the inter-play between Carrillo and Harold Huber in what must be his best Hollywood role. He and Mischa Auer as a mute Spanish Indian are delightfully. A real gem produced by Mary Pickford's United Artist company.

A funny, complex and subtle film

[pablo-delano · 10/10 · 7 August 2010]

This is an excellent film for all the reasons cited in other reviews. However, it is interesting to note that the film could also be interpreted as a social critique of what might be seen as materialism or American values. By so exaggerating all the characters to the point of absurdity, Mamoulian creates a space where this sort of critique can "pass" as zany humor. Yet notice that the Mexican "bandidos" are the only honorable people in the whole film; they live by a code of honor whereas neither the American gangsters NOR the American lawmen could care less what is right and wrong. Also, the American tycoon's son who gets kidnapped is a despicable human being and a spoiled brat - he assumes his daddy's money can buy him out of any trouble and cannot conceive that some things have no price. Finally, the bandidos defend not only the concept of honor and giving one's word, but they also celebrate the inherent value and beauty of art (music). In short, this reviewer believes there is a lot more to this movie than might first be apparent.

Blithe Banditos

[allielamar · 10/10 · 11 April 2004]

"The Gay Desperado" is wonderful throughout. The banter between Leo Carrillo and Harold Huber is as funny as anything you would hear in a movie today. Best line? "That would be my third choice!" "Diego" is obviously the archetype for Kevin Smith's "Silent Bob". Lucien N. Andoit's black and white cinematography (particularly with the banditos' shadows) was striking. All I can say about Ida Lupino is, "Thank God for DVD!" You can go right to the scene where she is trying on sombreros and serapes and watch her standing in front of that mirror over and over again.

Lest I forget, that Nino Martini guy sings real purty, too.

Local color and a correction...

[tkrehbiel · 8/10 · 21 April 2010]

This is, as others have pointed out, a lovely film in many ways.

I particularly enjoyed seeing the Tucson, AZ landscape as it was some 80 years ago. This appears to have been filmed in the area in which Columbia Pictures built a whole 1860s town for the movie "Arizona." On a personal note, I can look eastward from my back yard and recognize the mountains and the terrain that has been preserved as a county park.

The correction I need to make is the use in various reviews of the Spanglish non-word "bandito" (created to rhyme with the product name Frito) in every place where the correct word, readily found in any Spanish dictionary, would be "bandido."

The Bandito And The Heiress

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 12 March 2011]

The Gay Desperado came out during that short period when every studio had an opera star under contract giving the American movie going public a little culture more or less. The roles these people had were somewhat limited and the vogue passed painlessly enough with people like the star of this film Nino Martini going back to their first loves of the grand opera and the concert stage.

Jesse Lasky discovered Martini and used him on and off in films of varying quality, sometimes only as a guest artist. The Gay Desperado was his attempt to launch Martini as a full fledged star with a role as a singing radio entertainer captured by Mexican bandits. This also enabled Martini to use his accent without it being too noticeable.

Like Harry Cohn at Columbia with Grace Moore, Lasky and his producing partner Mary Pickford gave him full support and his biggest support was hiring Rouben Mamoulian as director. Mamoulian who was successful on the stage as well as film was able to tone down the overacting necessary for an opera singer and make it acceptable for film.

The Gay Desperado also has one gay and witty script involving some Mexican bandits who fall somewhere between the evil Goldhat of The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre and the noble Cisco Kid. Leo Carrillo after listening to American radio reporting and films glamorizing American gangsters thinks its time his group got up to date in their methods.

One night because Carrillo is a music lover he raids the local radio station and captures Martini who is giving a radio concert. Later on to get up to date Carrillo and his gang go in for kidnapping which was big in the Thirties starting tragically with the Lindbergh baby. Heiress Ida Lupino and the boy she was running away with to Mexico, James Blakely. A few cadenzas out of Martini and Ida forgets all about this rather arrogant young fathead she was running away with.

An American gangster and his mob, Stanley Fields horn in on the kidnapping and soon after American detective Paul Hurst is hot on everybody's trail. Pretty soon Leo is thinking that the American gangster style isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Nino Martini's career in film lasted pretty much as long as his fellow opera singers though this film garnered deservedly good critical reviews and public reception. He introduced the song The World Is Mine Tonight which later was revived by Mario Lanza. Probably without that accent he might have tried some of the familiar operettas that were being done at the time and be better known by audiences today.

The Gay Desperado with its good spirit of satirical fun still holds up well for today's audiences. Pity it's not shown more often.

Leo Carillo and Nino Martini. What a pair !

[mkawagoye · 22 June 2007]

This movie is a gem from United Artists. Leo Carillo is magnificent in his leading role. Mischa Auer is almost unrecognizable with a clean-shaven face. The preservation of Nino Martini's voice is a rare treasure for tenor aficionados of the Depression years. This is the movie that gave us his trademark song "The World is Mine Tonight". In addition, he throws in "Celeste Aida".

The movie is fast paced and never lags. Mamoulian richly deserved his award for direction.

The careful recovery of the film rewards the viewer with a blotch-free version which is easy on the eyes despite many outdoor scenes at night.

A young Ida Lupino is a treat for the eyes and even Chris Pin Martin (billed as Chris King Martin for this movie) makes an appearance.

This movie is an unexpected treat from the 1930's. If you have the chance, take the time to enjoy this Hollywood musical.

How does this film hold up today?

[charlytully · 8/10 · 18 March 2011]

Today's context for a 1930s movie about Mexican bandits holding Americans hostage and hijacking the mass media of the era needs to emphasize two news items appearing in the paper USA Today in the past week. 1)Several top officials of a New Mexico border town defend a state park dedicated to actual Mexican mass murderer Pancho Villa (in 1915-1916, Villa massacred two different groups of 18 Anglo-Americans, namely a group of unarmed tourists south of the border and 18 random men, women, and children in the area of the Terrorist Victory Park north of the border). These local honchos also crow about how all present-day townfolks of hispanic extraction publicly parade whooping it up on the annual school holiday celebrating dead white people, to the obvious discomfort of the non-hispanic villagers interviewed in the same article. 2)Three days later, a small paragraph in the back pages of the same paper notes that the top three officials of this settlement--all quoted in the more prominent story--have just been arrested by U.S. anti-terrorism authorities on charges of supplying guns for today's Mexican drug cartels.

Against this current day context, coupled with the fact that Pancho Villa's atrocities against Caucasians were committed at a time when the older actors in THE GAY DESPERADO already were grown men, this film--while admittedly appealing for its ethnic music--is as tone deaf as a musical comedy revue about the 9-11 hijackers would be today. If there's ever an Osama Bin Laden Victory park in Manhattan, we can probably count on Turner Classic Movies to dig up some ill-considered piece of jihadi propaganda to commemorate its grand opening.

Pleasant, minor Mamoulian

[kmoh-1 · 7 July 2020]

An enjoyably lunatic film, from a revered director. Somehow an amateur opera singer gets entangled with a chaotic group of Mexican bandits, just as they decide to modernise their operation and turn themselves into American-style gangsters.

The director left his mark with some classy desert photography, and engineers some hilarious set pieces. Highlights include the hi-jacking of a radio show during a girl group's rendition of 'Lookie Lookie Lookie, Here Comes Cookie' (they continue to perform with their hands up), a bungled firing squad, Nino Martini underneath the world's largest sombrero, Martini singing in handcuffs, and the entire gang guarding Ida Lupino. Mischa Auer shows his expertise at quirky roles as Diego, totally silent save for a single line, the longest in the film, where he becomes the gang's conscience. The interplay between Leo Carrillo's eternal optimist, and Harold Huber's pessimistic second in command is great.

Martini's performance is engaging, and he's not afraid to laugh at himself, but his English is too poor for the film to come over properly. It is never explained why Mexican bandits, and indeed Mexicans generally, are so enraptured by Italian opera. It also drags a little - it might easily have ended before Stanley Fields' gang of Robinson and Raft lookalikes even appear.

The film is undeniably minor, and the beginning of Mamoulian's decline - it is certainly can't compare with Becky Sharp or Queen Christina. It has some of the candy floss feel of Love Me Tonight, but none of that film's subtlety and far less wit. But it's got a nice feel to it.

Not that I have tried hard, but it's difficult to get any information on the girl group, who reappear later on the radio. They deserve to be remembered.

Funny at times

[noirfilm · 6 September 2002]

This movie is funny whenever Leo Carillo and Herbert Huber are together onscreen. Interesting to hear Ida Lupino before she completely lost her British accent. Mischa Auer has a subdued role--that was a disappointment. Note that Butch and his gang is made up of Hollywood gangster-actor look-alikes.

Check Out The Cuffs

[humanoid · 18 March 2002]

While watching this delightful farce, I was surprised to notice that Leo ("Braganza") Carillo's leather cuffs are each decoratively studded with a large swastika. This is, of course, a ubiquitous ancient sacred symbol which had only positive connotations before the Nazis appropriated it, but by the time this movie was made, it certainly had political implications. Was costume designer Omar Kiam merely employing a local graphic motif, or was he slipping in a pro-fascist symbol in the same way that SubGenius sympathizers placed the face of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs almost unnoticeably in the background of David Letterman's and Pee Wee Herman's original stage sets?