The Gay Desperado (1936) Review - A Very Weird, Very Loud Operatic Bandit Comedy

If you have eighty minutes to spare and want to see a Mexican bandit who is completely obsessed with American gangster movies, then yes, The Gay Desperado is absolutely worth your time. It’s a total weirdo of a movie that will delight anyone who loves early talkies, but if you can’t stand random outbursts of operatic singing, you should probably steer clear. 🤠

The whole thing kicked off because this bandit chief, Braganza (played by a very loud Leo Carrillo), decides his gang needs to be more "modern."

So he goes to a movie theater, watches some James Cagney-style flick, and decides that is how you run a racket.

It is honestly hilarious how much he wants to be a "chicagogo" gangster. He even forces his men to sit through movies to learn how to shoot people properly.

Enter Chivo, played by Nino Martini, who is basically just a guy who wants to sing but keeps getting dragged into these bizarre crimes.

Martini has this incredibly high, piercing tenor voice that just blasts out of the screen. Sometimes it feels like he is singing directly into your ear canal, which is a bit much at 2 AM.

There is this one scene where he sings to a cactus. I am not kidding, he literally stands in the desert and serenades a giant saguaro. 🌵

It reminded me a bit of the random musical breaks in Penguin Pool Murder, where the plot just pauses so everyone can do a little bit. Only here, the singing is much louder.

Then we get Ida Lupino, who plays a rich girl they kidnap.

She is so young here, barely out of her teens, and you can see her trying so hard to look bored and sophisticated while these goofy bandits run around screaming.

Her hair is incredibly shiny. Like, suspiciously shiny for someone who has been tied up in a dusty shack for two days.

The movie does this weird thing where its trying to be a romance but also a spoof of gangster movies and also a travelogue.

Sometimes the editing is super choppy, like they lost a few frames during the chase scenes.

For instance, there is a car chase near the end where a vehicle suddenly jumps about ten feet to the left between shots. I had to rewind it twice to make sure I wasn't losing my mind.

But honestly, the sheer energy keeps it afloat.

Leo Carrillo is just so enthusiastic. He grins constantly, even when he is threatening to shoot someone, which makes him look like a very friendly dentist.

It’s definitely better than some of the other stuff from that era, like Young as You Feel, which just sort of sits there.

Is it a masterpiece? Good lord, no.

But it has this unhinged charm that you just don't get in movies anymore.

Plus, there is a guy named Mischa Auer who plays a very sad-looking bandit and he steals every single scene he is in just by looking like a wet dog. 🐶

If you want something light and don't mind a lot of opera, give it a spin. Just don't expect the plot to make any sense after the first twenty minutes.