The Three Outlaws (1956)

Butch Cassidy (Neville Brand), the Sundance Kid (Alan Hale Jr.) and Bill Carver (Robert Christopher) attempt to go straight by joining the Army and fighting in the Philippines, until they’re recognized.

Instead they wind up robbing the C&S Railroad for the fourth time. And this time they steal the train, too, using it to flee to Mexico, where they plan to live the good life after depositing their share of the loot — $57,480 — into a small Mexican bank.

Just one problem: El Raton, an informant for local badman El Gallo, sees them making the deposit and tips off the bandit. He promptly steals with Wild Bunch’s loot, leaving them penniless.

They spend the rest of the film trying to regain their fortune through holdups, attempting to frame El Gallo for each one. Which works just fine, until local military commander Col. Aguilar decides that the best way to stop the gang might be to team up with El Gallo.

Review:

Spirited low-budget Western that gives longtime character actors Neville Brand and Alan Hale Jr. a chance at starring roles and succeeds partly because it doesn’t take itself very seriously.

That’s said, it’s difficult to swallow Hale as the charming lady’s man he plays in the film; he winds up romancing the colonel’s daughter, Lillian Molieri in her final film role. And poor Robert Christopher is nearly invisible as the third member of their outlaw band.

Jose Gonzales-Gonzales offers comic relief in the role of El Raton, who is convinced to switch alliance thanks to a noose the Wild Bunch puts around his neck. Bruce Bennett is the U.S. detective sent south of the border to bring back Butch and Sundance.

Jeanne Carmen, aka “The Blonde Bombshell,” sports dark hair for a turn as El Gallo’s lover. She appeared in only one other Western (1957’s “War Drums”). A good friend of Marilyn Monroe, Carmen wound up appearing in more documentaries about the star and her mysterious death than films.

Directed by:
Sam Newfield

Cast:
Neville Brand … Butch Cassidy
Alan Hale Jr. … Sundance Kid
Robert Christopher … Bill Carver
Bruce Bennett … Charlie Benton
Jose Gonzales-Gonzales … El Raton
Rodolfo Hoyos … El Gallo
Lillian Molieri … Rita Aguilar
Robert Tafur … Col. Aguilar
Jeanne Carmen … Polimita
Jonathan Hale … Pinkerton
Stanley Andrews … Railroad President
Vicente Padula … Mr. Gutzmer
Henry A. Escalante … Corporal

Runtime: 74 min.

Title tune: “The Three Outlaws”

Memorable lines:

Butch: “It’s kinda a funny feeling, putting money in a bank instead of taking it out.”
The Kid: “Yeah, sorta like going to church.”

El Raton: “It would kill me if I hanged.”

Polimita: “Do not let anything happen to you, my big rooster.”
El Gallo: “To me? Or the gold you want me to bring back?”

Rita Aguilar, after being kissed without her permission: “Senor, you are a beast! A Yankee beast!”
The Sundance Kid: “Senorita, I’m just being myself. We are like that, us Americans. Very impetuous.”
Rita: “You mean when a Yankee meets a girl, he grabs her and kisses her?”
Sundance: “That’s just about it?”
Rita: “But do not American senoritas know how to slap?”
Sundance: “Si, senorita. We get a lot of slaps. But we get a lot of kisses, too.”

Butch Cassidy: “Well, it looks like the end of the line, Kid. A lot of years and a lot of ridin’.”
Sundance Kid: “It’s those railroad detectives. If they’d just let us alone. They’re the cause of all this.”
Butch Cassidy: “No, I’m blamin’ my old man.”
Sundance Kid: “What are you talkin’ about?”
Butch Cassidy: “Well, when I was 10, if he’d hired an honest foreman instead of a rustler, I’d probably grown up respectable.”