Aroldo Tieri is El Supremo, and he’s upset the citizenry with his insistence that first-night rights be part of his Constitution.
New brides can expects soldiers to arrive when the wedding ceremony ends. They’ll swope her off her feet and into the hands of El Supremo for a night before she’s allowed to return to her husband.
With the peasants on verge of revolution under a leader named Mendoza, El Supremo hatches what he thinks will be a brilliant plan.
He’ll have word slip to those peasants that three heroes — each a fast gun — is on their way to save the day.
Instead, he’ll have an ally select three imbeciles as the rescuers, presumably sent by the revolutionary leader Mendoza.
When the citizenry sees how incompetent they are, they’ll turn their back on Mendoza for good.
Only those three imbeciles — Walter Chiari as Pablo, Ugo Tognazzi as Domingo and Raimondo Vianello as Jose — pull a few surprises.
And they’ll get a helping hand from three lovely ladies, daughters of the town’s late mayor, who have been demanding changes from El Supremo.
Walter Chiari as Pablo, confronted with an unwelcome visitor in his prison cell in The Magnificent Three (1961)
Ugo Tognazzi as Domingo, better at playing music then leading a revolution in The Magnificent Three (1961)
Review:
A tiresome Italian comedy Western, complete with the obligatory drag scene in which our heroes, disguised as women, are dragged off for their night with El Supremo.
Oh, the female leads are fetching, but they’re not on the screen nearly enough.
And there’s a sorta neat twist at the end, but viewers will likely feel like they’ve put up with a lot to get there.
In between, one of the best scenes come when the ladies decide to trick El Supremo by holding a wedding in a cemetery.
Dressed as undertakers, the not-so-magnificent three, drive a hearse containing two coffins to the graveyard.
But they aren’t in on the ploy, so they pass out cold when the hidden bride and groom inside the coffins begin reciting their vows.
That’s about as funny as this one gets, folks.
Raimondo Vianello as Jose, trying to put the crowd back in a revolutionary mood in The Magnificent Three (1961)
Dominique Boschero as Alba, Anna Ranalli as Dolores and Margaret Rose Keil as Juanita demanding changes in The Magnificent Three (1961)
Directed by:
Giorgio Simonelli
Cast:
Walter Chiari … Pablo
Ugo Tognazzi … Domingo
Raimondo Vianello … Jose
Dominique Boschero … Alba
Anna Ranalli … Dolores
Margaret Rose Keil … Juanita
Aroldo Tieri … El Supremo
Luigi Visconti … Pedro
as Fanfulla
Alexis Revdis … Mendoza
Tom Felleghy … Lt. Gonzalez
Lido Pini … Kid Gorilla
Also with: Bruno Tocci, Tullio Altamura, Franco Jamonte, Nieta Zocchi, Nando Angelini, Ciccio Barbi, Giuliano Mancini, Lucia Modugno , Eugenio Pallamari
Runtime: 96 min.
aka:
I magnifici tre
Music: Gianni Ferrio
Song: “un Uomo Vivo” by Gino Paoli
Aroldo Tieri as El Supremo, insisting on first night rights with new brides in The Magnificent Three (1961)
Luigi Visconti (Fanfulla) as Pedro, spying on the three imbeciles he’s recruited in The Magnificent Three (1961)
Memorable lines:
Sorry, I watched an Italian version of this film.
Ugo Tognazzi as Domingo, Walter Chiari as Pablo and Raimondo Vianello as Jose arrive at their destination in The Magnificent Three (1961)
Margaret Rose Keil as Juanita, Anna Ralli as Dolores and Dominique Boschero as Alba, entertained by the three musicians in The Magnificent Three (1961)
Trivia:
This marked a rare film in which Walter Chiari, Ugo Tognaazzi and Raimondo Vianello appeared as a comedy trio. Tognazzi and Chiari appeared together in 1960’s “A Dollar of Fear” and Chiari and Vianello made several films together, including three Euro Westerns. Vianello also teamed up with comedian Lado Buzzanca for a pair of Spaghetti spoofs — “Ringo and Gringo Against All” and “For a Few Dollars Less,” both released in 1966.
Wondering about those three lovely lasses. Anna Ranalli was Miss Europe 1960; this was one of six films in which she appeared. German-born Margaret Rose Keil appeared in nearly 40 films, played a small part in 1977’s “The Court Martial of George Armstrong Custer” and a larger one, sporting dark hair, in 1971’s “And His Name was Holy Ghost.”
In terms of film appearances, Dominique Boschero was the most prolific of the three with more than 60 film roles between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s. She appeared in five Euro Westerns and was romantically involved with actor Claudio Camaso, brother of Gian Maria Volonte.
Alex Revdis as Mendoza, the revolutionary trying to overthrow El Supremo in The Magnificent Three (1961)
Raimondo Vianello as Jose, Walter Chiari as Pablo and Ugo Tognazzi as Domingo, passing themselves off as women in The Magnificent Three (1961)
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