Josh Spiegel
Love has always been a foundational aspect of Disney’s animated storytelling, in short or feature form. The notion of “happily ever after” is rooted in everything from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Aladdin to Frozen, even as animators have begun to challenge what a whirlwind romance can look like. But more adult notions of love and romance, specifically of a more erotic nature, are largely absent from these films; they are (partly) aimed at children, after all. But not all Disney films are made equal, and this week marks the 80th anniversary of the U.S. release of one of the studio’s earliest animated titles, a film that more than earns the moniker of being Disney’s most sexual: The Three Caballeros.
The Three Caballeros was intended to bridge the gap between the United States and Latin America during World War II, a way to show Americans about the vibrant cultures and heritages of differing nations south of the border. (Sowing community instead of discord at a time of fraught tensions among countries. What a concept!) The film, released during the so-called Package Era of Disney animation, is a combination of short films strung together by an immensely flimsy premise: it’s Donald Duck’s birthday and he’s received a slew of presents from his friends down South, primarily home movies. (“Just what I wanted!”, Donald says in one of the film’s more unintentionally funny moments.) The first third of the 72-minute feature is something of a warm-up act, as Donald watches two shorts that are pleasant enough but also very tame depictions of the South Pole and the gaucho lifestyle, respectively.
And then one of Donald’s fellow caballeros, Jose Carioca (a Brazilian parrot), asks if he’s ever been to the Brazilian state of Bahia, unlocking something in Donald akin to Betty hearing “Silencio” in Mulholland Drive. It’s not just that the rest of the film allows Donald to enter the world of South America, becoming part of the movie instead of just watching it. It’s that he spends much of that time chasing after every woman he sees. Although we think of Donald as being a kept duck, Daisy was barely a recurring character in the mid-1940s, so it’s not entirely unbelievable that he would drool over countless Latin American women in the final 50 minutes of the film. (Although Daisy made her debut in a 1941 short, she didn’t become a more frequent presence until just a few months after this film premiered.)
So it doesn’t take long for Jose to recognize Donald’s true nature. “You are a wolf!” he crows with amazement. Of course, it’s not as if the other birds aren’t egging him on; once the Mexican bird Panchito Pistoles arrives and takes Jose and Donald to the beaches of his home, he’s all too happy to pull out a telescope so they can look at “the hot stuff.” Although Donald is unable to spend any, uh, quality time with the laughing women (Jose and Panchito pull him away before things get too rowdy), they keep teasing him with “pretty girls,” half-taunting him and half-encouraging him to get his beak wet. The film climaxes (ahem) with a reverie of Donald’s, in which he keeps hearing those two words echoing as he chases after Latin American songstresses and dancers whose faces are placed atop animated flowers.
Kids can easily watch the film and pick up on none of this, seeing as each time that Donald strikes out with a lady (each of whom laughs at him like he’s a kid himself) is an excuse for some solid slapstick. But the adults in the room will be unable to watch and not see the duck as being a friendly but extremely horny American neighbor to the South. The juxtaposition, though, is what makes The Three Caballeros enjoyably jarring 80 years after the fact. Much of the culture on display has been flattened out to make sure it’s palatable to an American audience, about as basic a depiction of Latin America as possible, replete with pinatas and bulls charging at Donald for dangling something red in front of them.
Yet the charm of The Three Caballeros is consistent and effective. To say that a movie has its heart in the right place is not the greatest defense, but this underrated 1945 title does genuinely want to give its American viewers a well-intentioned glimpse at the difference in cultures, and how that difference is something to embrace instead of reject. The eponymous trio of birds live on at the Disney theme parks, specifically at Walt Disney World’s Epcot, but that park’s version of this story is much more family-friendly. To see how Donald tried, and failed, to get his groove going (before he even had to get it back), you have to stick to the surprisingly sexual source material.
“The Three Caballeros” is streaming on Disney+.
