Hi, Gaucho! Is a bit of a weird relic

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you are a completionist when it comes to old Hollywood or just really want to see an early performance from Rita Hayworth. If you are looking for a tight, logical Western or a sweeping romance, look elsewhere. People who hate movies where the 'big plan' is just a guy standing around looking nervous will probably want to turn this off by the twenty-minute mark.

The whole thing feels like a stage play that someone forgot to clear the furniture out of. You have these outlaws who are supposed to be dangerous, but they spend most of the runtime just hovering in the background like they are waiting for a bus. There is this one scene where the lead outlaw pretends to be the Spanish suitor, and it is just… painfully obvious that no one would fall for it.

Rod La Rocque is doing his best, I guess, but the mustache work alone is distracting. Every time he leans into the frame, I kept thinking about how much more fun this could have been if they just leaned into the comedy. Instead, they try to play the romance straight, which makes the whole 'kidnapping an old man to steal his life' thing feel a little grosser than intended.

Random Observations

• The way the mother character insists on the marriage is basically a template for every melodrama that followed.
• Rita Hayworth is just radiant, even when she is stuck in scenes that are clearly just filler.
• There is a distinct lack of actual Argentina in this Argentina-set movie. It feels like a soundstage in California, which, well, it probably was.
• The pacing is weird. It stops dead for conversations that go nowhere.

It’s not as chaotic as Pirate Party on Catalina Isle, but it shares that same feeling of being made because the studio had some costumes lying around. It’s light, it’s forgettable, and it ends exactly how you think it will. 🤠

Sometimes you just need to watch something that isn't trying to change the world. This is definitely that kind of movie. Just don't expect it to stick in your brain for longer than an hour after the credits roll.