| The Bullfighters | |
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Theatrical poster for The Bullfighters (1945) |
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| Directed by | Malcolm St. Clair (as Mal St. Clair) Stan Laurel (uncredited) |
| Produced by | William Girard |
| Written by | Scott Darling (as W. Scott Darling) Stan Laurel (uncredited) |
| Starring | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy Margo Woode Richard Lane Carol Andrews Diosa Costello |
| Music by | David Buttolph |
| Cinematography | Norbert Brodine |
| Editing by | Stanley Rabjohn |
| Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
| Release date(s) | May 19, 1945 |
| Running time | 61 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Bullfighters (1945) is a late Laurel and Hardy feature film. The plot involves the team working as private detectives who've come to Mexico City hot on the trail of Hattie Blake, a.k.a. Larceny Nell. Meanwhile, Stan Laurel is found to resemble a famous matador, Don Sebastian. Stan Laurel himself wrote and directed portions of the feature, which was produced in late 1944 and released in May 1945. It was Laurel and Hardy's last American film and also the film debut of Rory Calhoun (credited as Frank McCown).
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Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are working as private detectives who've come to Mexico City hot on the trail of Hattie Blake, a.k.a. Larceny Nell. Meanwhile, Stan Laurel is found to resemble a famous matador, Don Sebastian, who is being heavily promoted in Mexico City ahead of a big bullfight he is to perform by a public relations agent named Richard K. Muldoon, who, eight years prior to the film's action, had been unjustly accused and convicted of some unspecified crime, thanks in no small part to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (but mostly Stan's testimony), and immediately given a twenty year jail sentence. After serving only five years in jail, however, he had been discovered to be innocent and released, but Muldoon has been so sore at Stan and Ollie he vows, if he ever catches sight of them again, to skin them both alive; "First the little one, then the big one! I'll skin them BOTH alive!!" When the real Don Sebastian encounters passport trouble, Muldoon's right hand man, Hot-Shot Coleman, observing the visual similarity between Sebastian and Laurel, goads Laurel into impersonating Don Sebastian for publicity purposes. But when it becomes evident Don Sebastian won't make it to Mexico City for the big Bullfight, Stan must take Don Sebastian's place in the bullring. However, unbeknownst to anyone, somehow or other the real Don Sebastian does contrive to arrive at the arena just in time for the bullfight, and as a result, Muldoon suddenly recognizes Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy...and right at the end finally executes his threat to skin them alive, leaving Stan and Oliver looking like live skeletons!
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