Saluso- Salad ass – que? ‘What the balls is Saludos Amigos’, I hear you bellow. It’s a Disney movie, you ignorant! Yeah, some guy who didn’t like the fact that some other guys were allowed the same rights and freedoms that he was afforded decided to tear up most of the world back in the 1940s. Ha! How we all laugh now, nothing like that could ever happen again because no-one like that would ever rise to power agai- yeah, you see where I’m going with this. Everyone was strapped for cash in those days, even the mighty Disney, and while the rest of the world was being sent to die or being killed in their homes, somebody had to keep making entertainment, albeit on a tighter budget. Step forward the rarely remembered Disney package films – movies which were really a series of existing and/or new shorts, bundled together to keep the kids slightly less terrified of the mess adults make of the world until Uncle Sam and Squinty Old Churchill had sent Mr Hitler off to the Shite Gig In The Dirt (killed him).
Saludos Amigos was the first of these such films, a weird one which clearly panders to South American audiences and attempts to ease frictions, while reminding insular US patriots that those south of the border actually had running water, electricity, and weren’t still herding around in the jungle undergrowth eating each other or whatever. It also has some songs. These ones:
‘Saludos Amigos‘ opens with dramatic violins but rapidly descends into the usually torrid male vocals of the time singing about friendship, before fading out of sight and mind.
‘Aquarela do Brasil’ features Donald getting pissed on the local sauce, his hiccups setting the beat. There’s then a bunch of trumpets and samba stuff and singing – if you live in Britain and watched any of the 2012 World Cup, you’ll have heard this song – ‘Brazil! Brazil!’ etc.
‘Tico-Tico‘ is more hyperactive Samba, with rolling beats and whistles and all the rest. There’s a lot of other instrumental music in the movie, but this one stands out a little more.
Not a lot to say about these then, and only worth another listen if you’re into South American oldies. They’re never going to make anyone’s playlist outside of the most ardent flag-waving Disney cultist but like all of Disney’s stuff it’s worth a one time watch or listen.
Let us know in the comments what you think of this one!
The Spac Hole 