One of the favorite items I have in my Disney Blu-Ray collection is the Saludos Amigos & The Three Caballeros 75th Anniversary Edition set. Many people know and have heard of The Three Caballeros, but Saludos Amigos actually came before it and was the first time, Jose Carioca was shown.
How to Download Saludos Amigos
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review
It is crazy to think that this movie came out all the way in 1942. This is not a full theatrical movie (although it was released theatrically) it is made up of four short stories and with a runtime of just over 40 minutes, it is the shortest theatrically released movie Disney ever put out.
We have an introduction where we see the Disney animators hard at work which is something I get a kick out of. The first of the shorts is called, Lake Titicaca and it features Donald Duck! Donald takes a vacation to Peru to see Lake Titicaca and he ends up meeting the locals there and getting into his usual Donald Duck trouble thanks to his temper and misunderstandings.
Next up we have a short called, Pedro. Pedro is my least favorite of the shorts in Saludos Amigos and you could take it out and I would not miss it. Actually, the last time I watched this, I skipped it! Anyway, this is about a little airplane that is heading out on a trip to pick up a piece of airmail. I just found this whole short to be rather boring and while I liked the design of Pedro, there was nothing else about this one that made me really enjoy it.
The third short in Saludos Amigos is my favorite and one that has a very interesting history. In El Gaucho Goofy, Goofy is a Texas cowboy and he is taken to Argentina to see the way that they do things there. This is just a ton of fun and always makes me smile. Goofy as a cowboy is hilarious and I would probably put this up there with my favorite Disney shorts.
There is a scene with Goofy smoking a cigarette that has been taken out and put back in here more times than anything else I think Disney has ever edited. For a while, that set I mentioned in the intro was the best way to get the unedited version, but they did eventually upload the unedited version on Disney Plus, check it out before they change their mind and take it out again!
The final short in Saludos Amigos once again stars Donald and it is called, Aquarela do Brasil. The real main event here is that this is the first appearance of Jose Carioca so without this, we would never have gotten The Three Caballeros! It is a fun story where Jose is showing Donald the sights of Brazil and the magic of samba music!
Overall, Saludos Amigos is a really fun collection of Disney shorts, even though there is one that I do not like, the other three more than make up for it. I always find it interesting that most people are aware of The Three Caballeros, but do not know that Saludos Amigos was released a few years earlier.
