The Gauchos are characters featured in The Flying Gauchito, a segment of Disney's 1945 animated feature film The Three Caballeros.
Background[]
Development[]
During Walt Disney and his production crew's trip to Argentina when studying culture within the country, the team met artist Florencio Molina Campos who showed Walt about the culture of gauchos. Campos showed the team hundreds of sketches of the Pampas ands its colorful people as well as gauchos, causing the team to become excited to see gauchos in-person where they drove herds of cattle across the Pampas. At the time the Disney crew was studying gauchos, they studied on how gauchos took care of horses, especially feral horses. Eventually, this gave the Disney team ideas of creating stories centered around gauchos as well as gaucho culture such as El Gaucho Goofy and The Flying Gauchito - the former with Goofy imagined as if he were a gaucho and the second featuring a gaucho protagonist (which also featured generic gauchos) respectively during the team's trip to Latin America.[1]
Role in the film[]
During a fiesta, various gauchos danced around in a village, such as the Zamba and Gato danced around. While all the other gauchos danced, Gauchito and Burrito stood in a shade of a tree as well as watching them toss coins into a frog's mouth (which he feels disinterested about it). Gauchito also watched the other gauchos doing a sports ball game called "bocce", but also felt disinterested - although he had a better idea in mind: a race where gauchos would win 1,000 pesos. As the race was about to began, the gauchos made fun of Gauchito and his pet donkey when they arrived just before the race begins. As the announcer begins the race, the gauchos advanced further than Gauchito and his burro.
During the race, the other gauchos laughed at Gauchito and his burro, although they ignored them, so Gauchito commands him to go ahead of them. As the gauchos raced together in the form of a dust cloud, they eventually passed by Gauchito and Burrito. Gauchito then removes the saddle after untying the rope with a knife, causing Gauchito and Burrito to fly past the other gauchos and reach in first place. The other gauchos all began to cheer for Gauchito and Burrito arriving in first place to win the grand prize, but not before Burrito takes Gauchito with him while ignoring the other gauchos began to shout at him. The gauchos are never seen again afterwards.
Trivia[]
- The only gauchos who spoke in the segment were one of them who shouts "A caballo!" ("On horseback!") and the gaucho announcer who shouts, "Listos, larguen!" ("Ready, go!") respectively.
