''Machine Gun Mama'' is a 1944 American musical comedy film directed by Harold Young. It was

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

's attempt to feature a

comedy team A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases fo ...

to compete with Universal's

Abbott and Costello Abbott may refer to: People *Abbott (surname) *Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist * Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act Places Argentina * Abbott, Buenos Aires United States * Abbott, Arkansas ...

and Paramount's '' Road to ...'' movies, as well as their entry in the

Good Neighbor Policy The Good Neighbor policy ( ) was the foreign policy of the administration of United States President Franklin Roosevelt towards Latin America. Although the policy was implemented by the Roosevelt administration, President Woodrow Wilson had prev ...

film genre A film genre is a stylistic or thematic category for motion pictures based on similarities either in the narrative elements, aesthetic approach, or the emotional response to the film. Drawing heavily from the theories of literary-genre cri ...

of the time where the United States presented both a positive image to Latin and South America as well as stimulating American tourism to the region. Harold Young had also directed the live action portions of

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

's ''

The Three Caballeros ''The Three Caballeros'' is a 1944 American live-action/animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film premiered in Mexico City on December 21, 1944. It was released in the United States on ...

''. The film had the

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

s ''Mexican Fiesta'' and ''Moonlight Fiesta''Machine Gun Mama
but is also known as ''Tropical Fury'' as an American TV title of the film.

Plot summary

Two truck drivers from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

travel to Mexico to deliver an elephant named "Bunny", but they have lost the address where Bunny is to be delivered. Adopting the elephant as their own, the two stumble into a

traveling carnival A traveling carnival (US English), usually simply called a carnival, or travelling funfair (UK English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, ...

headed by Alberto Cordoba and his daughter Nita. The carnival is destitute and menaced by

loan sharks A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

. The two Americans sell Bunny to the carnival to replace their recently departed

flea circus A flea circus is a circus sideshow attraction in which fleas are attached (or appear to be attached) to miniature carts and other items, and encouraged to perform circus acts within a small housing. History The first records of flea perform ...

but agree not to accept their payment until the carnival regains its fortune thanks to Bunny and Brooklyn "

ballyhoo The ballyhoo halfbeak or ballyhoo (''Hemiramphus brasiliensis'') is a baitfish of the halfbeak family (Hemiramphidae). It is similar to the Balao halfbeak (''H. balao'') in most features. Ballyhoo are frequently used as cut bait and for trollin ...

". The loan sharks attempt a variety of dirty tricks against the

gringo ''Gringo'' (, , ) (masculine) (or ''gringa'' (feminine)) is a term in Spanish and Portuguese for a foreigner, usually an English-speaking Anglo-American. There are differences in meaning depending on region and country. In Latin America, it is ge ...

s. The title comes from a furious Nita turning a compressed air pellet firing machine gun carnival attraction on the Americans.

Cast

Armida Armida is the fictional character of a Saracen sorceress, created by the Italian late Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso. Description In Tasso's epic ''Jerusalem Delivered'' ( it, Gerusalemme liberata, link=no), Rinaldo is a fierce and determ ...

as Nita Cordoba *

El Brendel Elmer Goodfellow "El" Brendel (March 25, 1890 – April 9, 1964) was an American vaudeville comedian turned movie star, best remembered for his dialect routine as a Swedish immigrant. His biggest role was as "Single-0" in the sci-fi musical ' ...

as Ollie Swenson *

Wallace Ford Wallace Ford (born Samuel Grundy Jones; 12 February 1898 – 11 June 1966) was an English-born naturalized American vaudevillian, stage performer and screen actor. Usually playing wise-cracking characters, he combined a tough but friendly-face ...

as John O'Reilly *

Jack La Rue Jack La Rue (born Gaspare Biondolillo; May 3, 1902 – January 11, 1984) was an American film and stage actor. Early years The son of Sicilian immigrants Pasquale and Concetta Biondolillo, La Rue was born in New York City. His father sailed to ...

as Jose *

Luis Alberni Luis Alberni (October 4, 1886 – December 23, 1962) was a Spanish-born American character actor of stage and films. Early years Alberni was born in Barcelona, Spain, on October 4, 1886. He acted in stock theater for four years in Marseille ...

as Ignacio *

Ariel Heath Ariel Heath Dean (January 1, 1922 – July 21, 1973) was an American actress. She is best known for appearing in '' The Leopard Man'' (1943), ''The Black Hills Express'' (1943) and '' Career Girl'' (1944). Heath was born in Lexington, Kent ...

as The Blonde *

Julian Rivero Julian Rivero (July 25, 1890 – February 24, 1976) was an American actor whose career spanned seven decades. He made his film debut in the 1923 silent melodrama, ''The Bright Shawl'', which starred Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Gish, William Powe ...

as Alberto Cordoba * Eumenio Blanco as First Detective *

Anthony Warde Anthony Warde (born Benjamin Schwartz; January 1, 1909 – January 8, 1975) was a noted American actor who appeared in over 150 films between 1937 and 1964. Early years Born as Benjamin Schwartz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on New Year' ...

as Carlos

Soundtrack

* "Mi Amor" (written by

Sam Neuman Sam Neuman is a writer for television and films and a songwriter. He was also an attorney-at-law. Partial filmography *''Hitler'' (1962) *'' Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory'' (1952) *'' The Hoodlum'' (1951) *''I Killed Geronimo'' (1950) * ' ...

and Michael Breen) * "Moonlight Fiesta" (written by Sam Neuman and Michael Breen)

Notes

External links

* * 1944 films 1940s Spanish-language films American black-and-white films 1944 musical comedy films 1944 romantic comedy films Films set in Mexico American adventure comedy films Producers Releasing Corporation films Films directed by Harold Young (director) 1940s romantic musical films American romantic musical films American musical comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films English-language musical comedy films {{romantic-musical-film-stub