Saludos Amigos

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Saludos Amigos

Directed by	Norman Ferguson Wilfred Jackson Jack Kinney Hamilton Luske Bill Roberts
Produced by	Walt Disney
Written by	Homer Brightman William Cottrell Dick Huemer Joe Grant Harry Reeves Ted Sears Webb Smith Roy Williams Ralph Wright
Starring	Lee Blair Mary Blair Pinto Colvig Walt Disney Norman Ferguson Frank Graham Clarence Nash José Oliviera Fred Shields Frank Thomas
Release date(s)	1942
Running time	43 minutes
Language	English and Spanish
Preceded by	Bambi (1942)
Followed by	The Three Caballeros (1944)
IMDb profile

Saludos Amigos is the sixth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. It was released in 1942, produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Set in Latin America, it is made up of four different segments; Donald Duck stars in two of them and Goofy stars in one. It also features the first appearance of José Carioca. Saludos Amigos was popular enough for a sequel, The Three Caballeros, to be produced two years later. The film premiered in Rio de Janeiro on August 24, 1942. It was released in the United States on February 6, 1943. It garnered mixed reviews and was only reissued once, in 1949, when it was shown on a double bill with the first reissue of Dumbo.

According to Jack Haley Jr.'s documentary, "Life Goes To War", the United States Department of State commissioned this movie during World War II to be shown in Central and South America to build up relations with the Latin American populace. Several governments had close ties with Nazi Germany (e.g. Argentina) and the most popular US figure there was Mickey Mouse.

1 Worldwide release dates
2 Film segments
3 Titles in different languages
4 Trivia
5 Cast
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Worldwide release dates

Brazil: August 24, 1942 (Rio de Janeiro)
Argentina: August 26, 1942
Spain: August 21, 1944 (Madrid)
Spain: December 28, 1944 (Barcelona)
Sweden: March 18, 1946
Italy: September 19, 1946
France: February 11, 1947
Denmark: June 25, 1948
West Germany: 1952
Finland: April 17, 1953
Japan: March 20, 1957

[edit] Film segments

This film features four different segments, each of which beginning with various clips of the Disney artists roaming the country drawing up cartoon drawings of some of the local cultures and scenery:

Lake Titicaca had Donald Duck, an American tourist, visit the title location and meet with some of the local yokels, including an obstinate llama.

Pedro involved the title character, a small airplane from Chile, engage in his very first flight and pick up air mail from Mendoza, with near disastrous results.

El Gaucho Goofy had Goofy, an American cowboy, get taken mysteriously to the Argentine pampas to learn the ways of the native gaucho. This segment was later edited for the film's video release to remove one scene of Goofy smoking a cigarette.

Aquarela do Brasil (or "Watercolor of Brazil"), the finale of the film, involved a brand-new character, José Carioca, showing Donald Duck around South America and introduce him to the samba (to the tunes of "Brazil" and "Tico Tico").

[edit] Titles in different languages

Dutch: Saludos Amigos
Finnish: Oppituniti
French: Saludos Amigos
German: Saludos Amigos (also known as Die Drei Caballeros Im Sambafieber)
Italian: Saludos Amigos
Norwegian: Saludos Amigos
Portuguese: Alô, Amigos
Spanish: Saludos Amigos
Swedish: Saludos Amigos (also known as Kalle Anka och Långben i Sydamerika)

[edit] Trivia

It is the first Disney film to have a sequel.

The film's title is Spanish for "Hello, Friends" (more literally, "Greetings, Friends").

This was the first Disney Animated feature to be shown in South America before it was screened in the USA.

At 42 minutes, this is the shortest Disney feature to date.

The title song for this movie makes a brief appearance in its follow-up, The Three Caballeros, as underscoring.

The title song was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1943. It became Disney's fourth to do so. (It lost to the song "You'll Never Know" from Hello, Frisco, Hello.)

Gaucho is the denomination for cowboys in South America Pampa region.

The DVD release has been edited to current cultural attitudes towards animated family films. There is a scene in which Goofy is sitting, dressed as a cowboy. He tips his hat then inhales from a cigarette and then exhales smoke before he is suddenly pulled away. The DVD features him tipping his hat and then sitting still with his arm extended. [1]

2000 DVD cover of Saludos Amigos.

The character Pedro was taken as an offense by various Chileans; among them was the comic book artist René Ríos (a.k.a. Pepo), who answered by creating Condorito, a current Chilean pop icon.