Sweet Lord above it has been too long since I've watched a 'Road Too' movie.
And given that 'Road to Utopia' wasn't all that great I was a little worried about this one.
However they really turned it around here.
Road to Rio isn't just a funny 'Road Too' movie, it's a flat-out solid comedy.
A Hilarious Adventure of slapstick, dance choreography and well-placed jokes all intermix with a surprisingly interesting story of two men continuously escaping troubles while encountering a Woman begrudged by her own.
So there's no pretence in this movie of trying to be anything more than a strict comedy.
It starts immediately with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope already running from state-to-state getting in trouble and causing more mischief for themselves.
Before inevitably ending up in Louisiana where Bing Crosby set up Bob Hope to do this ridiculous bicycle on a string trick ovary 20 foot drop.
Which of course he did against Bob's consent so they can get $200 which will probably be given away to some crying Dame who wants to take advantage of Bing's generosity.
Because Bob Hope is nothing about a coward in these movies he tries to weasel his way out of this Arrangement and in doing so accidentally sets the entire carnival on fire resulting in the men having to escape yet again onto another random boat, so they can flee the country to another exotic location.
And while on this boat they encounter a suicide a woman wishing to end it all because of a confused Mind Set.
This woman of course is played by Dorothy Lamour and she's being hypnotised.
By an incredibly evil woman who looks like she belongs in a horror film*.
We get our standard love triangle where Bing and Bob both try to pan for her affection and she most clearly only has interest in one of them.
In this case it's Bing Crosby (which is the winning Choice 90% of the time.)
But it doesn't matter as every time she gets close to being intimate with either of them she gets hypnotised by her evil stepmother, tells the two that she hates them and then report them to the police or tries to ruin one of their schemes.
As the story progresses Bing Crosby and Bob Hope's characters get more involved in daughter's the Amorous characters story as to stop her from getting married to this random guy that she really doesn't know. The whole thing revolving around these mysterious papers which will lead to some sort of financial gain for the evil stepmother woman. Or at least I think she's a stepmother.
Honestly it doesn't matter. Most of this movie is just a giant set up for various set pieces where people seen or run around doing ridiculous slapstick routines or even just banter weight each other in some of the more amusing comedic moments. It's just a fun time all around and I was incredibly happy to go through this one.
What's weird about this film is that it doesn't really make fun of it set location.
All the other road to pictures make fun of either the Customs, the people or even just a general landscape of whatever place they're going to.
But they don't really devolve into any of that here. It's got a couple of scenes of fun Portuguese dancing butt that's more down to just basic Hollywood hijinks than anything to do with Brazil.
I will say that if you do decide to give this movie a chance try to stick it out at least until the half-hour mark if you feel like it's dragging a bit.
As I think the movie really starts to take off once everybody actually ends up in Brazil. It's not to say that the boat scene isn't any fun but they do seem to bit more limited there.
But once they're on the mainland especially with that quartet of Portuguese singers than the whole thing really starts to stream together.
The musical cues become more frequent, the slapstick becomes more amusing and the humour really starts to take off.
I found myself chuckling almost every minute towards the end. It has this massive buildup to all these ridiculous events that are supposed to take place right at the end and then it cuts away from half of them and that's 50% of the joke right there.
We also get a small appearance by Tor Johnson playing a strong man in the beginning of the film. Always find amusing to bring the guy up.
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