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 bad man El Gallo, sees them making the deposit and tips off the bandit. He promptly steals the Wild Bunch’s loot and everything else in the bank vault, 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.

Neville Brand as Butch Cassidy, making a deposit, rather than a withdrawal, from a bank in The Three Outlaws (1956)

The Wild Bunch, including Sundance Kid (Alan Hale Jr.) and Bill Carver (Robert Christopher) putting El Raton (Jose Gonzales-Gonzales) in a bind in The Three Outlaws (1956)

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.

Rodolfo Hoyos as El Gallo, the Mexican bandits whose men steal the Wild Bunch’s money in The Three Outlaws (1956)

Jose Gonzalez-Gonzalez as El Raton, watching the Wild Bunch make a large bank deposit in The Three Outlaws (1956)

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”

Robert Tafur as Col. Aguilar, the man trying to enforce the law in San Sebastian in The Three Outlaws (1956)

Lillian Molieri as Rita Aguilar, shocked by the news that the man she’s romantically involved with might be an outlaw in The Three Outlaws (1956)

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?”

Bruce Bennett as Charlie Benton, the man sent south of the border to catch the Wild Bunch in The Three Outlaws (1956)

Rodolfo Hoyos as El Gallo and Jeanne Carmen as girlfriend Polimita, hearing about a bank ripe for robbing in The Three Outlaws (1956)

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.”

Neville Brand as Butch Cassidy and Robert Christopher as Bill Carter, wondering where Sundance is in The Three Outlaws (1956)

Alan Hale Jr. as the Sundance Kid romancing Rita Aguilar (Lillian Molieri) in The Three Outlaws (1956)

Jose Gonzalez-Gonzalez as El Raton, trying to gauge how much trouble he’s in by questioning Polimita (Jeanne Carmen) in The Three Outlaws (1956)

Robert Christopher as Bill Carver, Alan Hale Jr. as Sundance Kid and Neville Brand as Butch Cassidy, shocked by a bank robbery in The Three Outlaws (1956)