Editing Saludos Amigos

{{Short description|1943 film}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| image          = Saludosposter.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = '''Supervising Director'''{{Plainlist|
* [[Norm Ferguson (animator)|Norm Ferguson]]
}}
'''Sequence Directors'''{{Plainlist|
* [[Wilfred Jackson]]
* [[Jack Kinney]]
* [[Hamilton Luske]]
* Bill Roberts
}}
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Walt Disney]]
* Norm Ferguson
}}
| story          = {{Plainlist|
* [[Homer Brightman]]
* William Cottrell
* [[Richard Huemer]]
* [[Joe Grant]]
* Harold Reeves
* [[Ted Sears]]
* Webb Smith
* [[Roy Williams (artist)|Roy Williams]]
* [[Ralph Wright]]
}}
| based_on       = {{based on|''[[Donald Duck universe|Donald Duck]]''|[[Walt Disney]]|[[Dick Lundy (animator)|Dick Lundy]]}}
| starring       =
| music          = {{Plainlist|
* [[Paul Smith (composer)|Paul Smith]]
* [[Edward H. Plumb]]
}}
| studio         = [[Walt Disney Productions]]
| distributor    = [[RKO Radio Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1942|8|24|Rio de Janeiro|1943|2|6|Boston|1943|2|19|United States|ref3=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=646|title=Saludos Amigos: Detail View|publisher=American Film Institute|access-date=April 22, 2014}}</ref>}}
| runtime        = 42 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = {{Plainlist|
* English
* Portuguese
* Spanish
}}
| budget         =
| gross          = $1 million (worldwide rentals)<ref name="Jewell">{{Cite journal |year=1994 |title=Richard B. Jewell's RKO Film Grosses, 1929–51: The C. J. Trevlin Ledger: A Comment. |journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television |volume=14 |issue=1}}</ref>
}}
'''''Saludos Amigos''''' (Spanish for "Greetings, Friends") is a 1942 American live-action/animated<ref>[https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/donald-duck-diplomat "Donald Duck: An American Diplomat?"] The National Museum of American History. Published April 12, 2019. Accessed November 5, 2023.</ref><ref>Gilderhus, Mark T. "The Monroe Doctrine: Meanings and Implications." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'', vol. 36, no. 1, 2006, pp. 5–16. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27552742.</ref> [[anthology film]] produced by [[Walt Disney]] and released by [[RKO Radio Pictures]]. Set in [[Latin America]], it is made up of four different segments; [[Donald Duck]] stars in two of them and [[Goofy]] stars in one. It also features the first appearance of [[José Carioca]], the [[Malandragem|malandro]] Brazilian parrot.<ref name=grupo>{{Cite AV media |year=2008 |title=[[Walt & El Grupo]]}}</ref> ''Saludos Amigos'' premiered in [[Rio de Janeiro]] on August 24, 1942. It was released in the United States on February 6, 1943.

The film was a success, helping launch the international popularity of Donald Duck and leading Disney to  produce ''[[The Three Caballeros]]'' (1944), another government-funded film aimed at Latin American goodwill.

==Background==
[[File:OCIAA-Nelson-Rockefeller.jpg|thumb|left|[[Nelson Rockefeller]], [[Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs|Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs]] (1940)]]
In early 1941, before U.S. entry into [[World War II]], the [[United States Department of State]] commissioned a Disney goodwill tour of South America, intended to lead to a movie to be shown in the US, [[Central America|Central]], and [[South America]] as part of the [[Good Neighbor Policy]]. This was being done because several Latin American governments had close ties with [[Nazi Germany]],<ref name=grupo/> and the US government wanted to counteract those ties. [[Mickey Mouse]] and other Disney characters were popular in Latin America, and Walt Disney acted as ambassador. The tour, facilitated by [[Nelson Rockefeller]], who had recently been appointed as [[Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs|Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs]] (CIAA), took Disney and a group of roughly twenty composers, artists, technicians, etc. from his studio to South America, mainly to [[Brazil]] and [[Argentina]], but also to [[Chile]], [[Bolivia]] and [[Peru]].<ref name="Dale2007">{{Cite journal| last=Adams| first=Dale| title=Saludos Amigos: Hollywood and FDR's Good Neighbor Policy| journal=Quarterly Review of Film & Video| volume=24| issue=3| year=2007| pages=289–295| issn=1050-9208| doi=10.1080/10509200500486395| s2cid=191453804}}</ref>

The film itself was given federal loan guarantees, because the Disney studio had over-expanded just before European markets were closed to them by the war, and because Disney was struggling with labor unrest at the time (including [[Disney animators' strike|a strike that was underway]] at the time the goodwill journey began).<ref name=grupo/>

The film included live-action documentary sequences featuring footage of modern Latin American cities with skyscrapers and fashionably dressed residents. This surprised many contemporary US viewers, who associated such images only with US and European cities, and contributed to a changing impression of Latin America.<ref name=Dale2007/> Film historian Alfred Charles Richard Jr. has commented that ''Saludos Amigos'' "did more to cement a community of interest between peoples of the Americas in a few months than the State Department had in fifty years."<ref>Richard, Alfred Charles Jr. Censorship and Hollywood's Hispanic Image: An Interpretive Filmography, 1936–1955. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1993, p274, cited in {{Cite journal| last=Adams| first=Dale| title=Saludos Amigos: Hollywood and FDR's Good Neighbor Policy| journal=Quarterly Review of Film & Video| volume=24| issue=3| year=2007| pages=289–295| issn=1050-9208| doi=10.1080/10509200500486395| s2cid=191453804}}</ref>

The film also inspired Chilean cartoonist [[René Ríos Boettiger]] to create [[Condorito]], one of Latin America's most ubiquitous cartoon characters. Ríos perceived that the character ''Pedro'', a small, incapable airplane, was a slight to Chileans and created a comic that could supposedly rival Disney's comic characters.<ref>{{Cite web |last=updated |first=Lili Loofbourow last |date=2018-01-17 |title=The Sterilization of Condorito |url=https://theweek.com/articles/747423/sterilization-condorito |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=theweek |language=en}}</ref>

'''Plot'''

The film features segments of 5 countries in South America: Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. Each country has its own segment except for Bolivia and Peru, because both countries are represented in the Lake Titicaca segment.

==Film segments==
This film features four different segments, each of which begin with various clips of the Disney artists roaming the country, drawing cartoons of some of the local cultures and scenery they see.

===''Lake Titicaca''===
In this segment, the Disney artists make a cartoon where [[Donald Duck]] visits [[Lake Titicaca]] in [[Bolivia]] and [[Peru]] and meets some of the locals, including an obstinate [[llama]] as an American tourist. When Donald tries to ride the llama over a bridge, he ends up falling into the sea and rows away in pots and pans.

===''Pedro''===
''Pedro'' is a story about a small anthropomorphic airplane from an airport near [[Santiago]], [[Presidential Republic (1925–1973)|Chile]], engaging in his first flight to retrieve [[air mail]] from [[Mendoza, Argentina|Mendoza]], with disastrous consequences. He manages to safely return to the airfield with the mail, which happens to be a single postcard. [[RKO Pictures]] released this particular segment as a theatrical short on May 13, 1955.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://affichesdisney.canalblog.com/archives/pedro/index.html|access-date=December 3, 2010|title=Pedro|language=fr}}</ref>

Chilean cartoonist [[René Ríos Boettiger]] (known popularly as "Pepo") was disappointed with how the character Pedro represented his country. In response, he developed the character ''[[Condorito]]'', who went on to become one of the most iconic comic magazine characters in Latin America.

===''El Gaucho Goofy''===
In this segment, American [[cowboy]] [[Goofy]] gets taken from [[Texas]] to the [[Argentina|Argentinian]] [[pampa]]s by the Narrator to learn the ways of the native [[gaucho]]. This segment was later edited for the film's Gold Classic Collection VHS/DVD release to remove one scene in which Goofy is shown smoking a [[cigarette]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Gerald Wurm |url=http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittbericht.php?ID=1996 |title=Mehr als 4000 detaillierte Zensurberichte zu Filmen, Spielen, Comics, Serien und Musikvideos |publisher=Schnittberichte.com |date=May 15, 2008 |access-date=November 26, 2012}}</ref> This edit appears again on the Classic Caballeros Collection DVD.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ultimatedisney.com/classiccaballeroscollection.html |title=Saludos Amigos & The Three Caballeros: Classic Caballeros Collection DVD Review |publisher=Ultimatedisney.com |access-date=November 26, 2012}}</ref> This sequence has since been restored as the unedited version has been much requested. The fully unedited version is available as a bonus feature on the ''[[Walt & El Grupo]]'' DVD release<ref name="dvdizzy.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdizzy.com/waltandelgrupo.html |title=Walt & El Grupo DVD Review |publisher=Dvdizzy.com |access-date=November 26, 2012}}</ref> and fully unedited and restored on ''Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros 75th Anniversary Edition 2-Movie Collection'' Blu-ray. When the film was released on Disney's streaming platform [[Disney+]], the edited version of the sequence was used despite disclaimers of the film being presented in its original format with "outdated cultural depictions" and tobacco usage, but it has since been changed to the unedited version.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Novak |first1=Matt |title=Disney+ Edits Out Goofy's Smoking Scene in Supposedly Uncut Version of Classic Movie |url=https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/disney-edits-out-goofys-smoking-scene-in-supposedly-un-1840784065 |website=Gizmodo |date=6 January 2020 |publisher=G/O Media |access-date=April 16, 2020}}</ref>

===''Aquarela do Brasil''===
''Aquarela do Brasil'' (Portuguese for "Watercolor of Brazil"), the finale of the film, views Disney artists creating pictures that magically turn into different pictures. One of them is a flower, which turns into Donald Duck after a bee goes into his mouth. When the bee flies out of his mouth, Donald sees a paint brush creating a brand-new character, [[José Carioca]] from [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Vargas Era|Brazil]], who shows Donald Duck around South America, lets him have a drink of [[cachaça]] with him, which is so spicy for Donald that he starts hiccuping, and introduces him to the [[samba]] (complete with the songs "[[Aquarela do Brasil]]" and "[[Tico-Tico no Fubá]]"). After that, the film ends.

== Cast and characters ==
The voice cast was all uncredited, as was the practice at the time for many animated films.
[[File:Saludos Amigos - Tràiler (sense Goofy, Donald ni José Carioca).ogv|250px|thumbnail|right|Trailer of the film, with images of some characters deleted.]]
* [[Lee Blair (artist)|Lee Blair]] – himself
* [[Mary Blair]] – herself
* [[Pinto Colvig]] – Goofy
* [[Walt Disney]] – himself
* [[Norm Ferguson (animator)|Norman Ferguson]] – himself
* [[Frank Graham (voice actor)|Frank Graham]] – himself
* [[Clarence Nash]] – Donald Duck
* [[José do Patrocínio Oliveira]] – José Carioca (Used in the Brazilian Portuguese version)
* Fred Shields – narrator
* [[Frank Thomas (animator)|Frank Thomas]] – himself
* [[Stuart Buchanan]] – flight attendant

== Music ==
{{Infobox album
| name       = Saludos Amigos
| type       = Studio album
| artist     = [[Edward H. Plumb]], [[Paul Smith (composer)|Paul J. Smith]], and [[Charles Wolcott]]
| cover      =
| alt        =
| released   = 1943
| recorded   = 
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = 
| length     =
| label      = [[Walt Disney Records|Disneyland Records]]
| chronology   = [[Walt Disney Records discography|Walt Disney Animation Studios]] soundtrack
| prev_title   = [[Bambi#Music|Bambi]]
| prev_year    = 1942
| next_title   = [[The Three Caballeros#Music|The Three Caballeros]]
| next_year    = 1945
}}

The film's original score was composed by [[Edward H. Plumb]], [[Paul Smith (composer)|Paul J. Smith]], and [[Charles Wolcott]]. The title song, "Saludos Amigos", was written for the film by Charles Wolcott and [[Ned Washington]]. The film also featured the song "[[Aquarela do Brasil]]", written by the popular Brazilian songwriter [[Ary Barroso]] and performed by [[Aloísio de Oliveira]], and an instrumental version of "[[Tico-Tico no Fubá]]", written by [[Zequinha de Abreu]]. "Aquarela do Brasil" was written and first performed in 1939, but did not achieve much initial success. However, after appearing in this film it became an international hit, becoming the first Brazilian song to be played over a million times on American radio.

The film's soundtrack was first released by [[Decca Records]] in 1944 as a collection of three 78rpm singles.

===Track listing===
* Side 1: "Saludos Amigos" b/w Side 2: "Inca Suite"
* Side 3: "Brazil ("Aquarela do Brazil")" b/w Side 4: "Argentine Country Dances"
* Side 5: "Tico-Tico" b/w Side 6: "Pedro from Chile"

==Release==
===Theatrical===
''Saludos Amigos'' premiered in Rio de Janeiro on August 24, 1942. It was released in the United States on February 6, 1943. It was theatrically reissued in 1949, when it was shown on a double bill with the first reissue of ''[[Dumbo]]''.

The film returned rentals to RKO by 1951 of $1,135,000 with $515,000 being generated in the U.S. and Canada.<ref name="Jewell" />

===Home media===
In 1995, the film was released on Laserdisc under the "Exclusive Archive Collection" series.

It was later released on both VHS and DVD on May 2, 2000 under the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection banner,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/dvd/saludos-amigos-7857 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719235815/http://www.allmovie.com/dvd/saludos-amigos-7857 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 19, 2012 |title=Allmovie entry |publisher=Allmovie.com |access-date=November 26, 2012 }}</ref> and again on DVD on April 29, 2008 under the ''Classic Caballeros Collection'' banner.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/dvd/classic-caballeros-collection-saludos-amigos-the-three-caballeros-186927 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719130227/http://www.allmovie.com/dvd/classic-caballeros-collection-saludos-amigos-the-three-caballeros-186927 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 19, 2012 |title=Allmovie entry |publisher=Allmovie.com |access-date=November 26, 2012 }}</ref>  The film received a third DVD release on November 30, 2010, as a bonus Feature on the ''[[Walt & El Grupo]]'' DVD.<ref name="dvdizzy.com"/>  A fourth release, the first on Blu-ray, was released on January 30, 2018 as ''Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros 75th Anniversary Edition 2-Movie Collection)''.

== Reception ==
The film holds an 80% approval rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 15 reviews, with an average score of 6.40/10. The site's consensus reads, "One of Disney's lesser-known animated films, ''Saludos Amigos'' may be slight stuff, but it's still a spirited, energetic travelogue."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saludos_amigos|title=Saludos Amigos (1942)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]]|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}}{{RT data|edit}}</ref>

==Awards and nominations==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| rowspan="3"| [[16th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Scoring of a Musical Picture]]
| [[Edward H. Plumb]], [[Paul Smith (composer)|Paul Smith]] and [[Charles Wolcott]]
| {{nom}}
| rowspan="3" align="center"| <ref name="Oscars1944">{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1944 |title=The 16th Academy Awards (1944) Nominees and Winners |access-date=August 14, 2011|work=oscars.org}}</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song]]
| "Saludos Amigos" <br> Music by Charles Wolcott; <br> Lyrics by [[Ned Washington]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound Recording]]
| [[Sam Slyfield|C. O. Slyfield]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[National Board of Review Awards 1943|National Board of Review Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[National Board of Review Award for Best Documentary Film|Best Documentary]]
| {{won}}
| align="center"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://nationalboardofreview.org/award-years/1943/ |title=1943 Award Winners |website=[[National Board of Review]] |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
|}

==See also==
* ''[[Walt & El Grupo]]'', a documentary film about the making of ''Saludos Amigos'' and ''The Three Caballeros''
* [[1942 in film]]
* [[List of American films of 1942]]
* [[List of Walt Disney Pictures films]]
* [[List of Disney theatrical animated features]]
* [[List of animated feature films of the 1940s]]
* [[List of films with live action and animation]]
* [[List of package films]]
* ''[[South of the Border with Disney]]''

==Further reading==
*  Berndt Morris, Elizabeth; Morris, Charles  [https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/15542 Walt Disney and Diplomacy: The Musical Impact of Aquarela do Brasil]  Latin American Music Center
* Kaleb E. Goldschmitt  [https://mla.hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:16523/ From Disney to Dystopia: Transforming "Brazil" For A U.S. Audience] [[Modern Language Association]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website}}
* {{AFI film}}
* {{TCMDb title}}
* ''[https://www.allmovie.com/movie/vm1000820 Saludos Amigos]'' at [[AllMovie]]
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* {{Metacritic film}}
* {{Mojo title}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{DisneyAtoZ|saludos-amigos-film}}

{{TV series and movies set in the Mickey Mouse universe}}
{{Disney theatrical animated features}}
{{Hamilton Luske}}
{{Walt Disney Animation Studios}}
{{Donald Duck in animation}}
{{Goofy in animation}}
{{José Carioca in animation}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:1942 American animated films]]
[[Category:American films with live action and animation]]
[[Category:1942 films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:American anthology films]]
[[Category:American aviation films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Donald Duck films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Norman Ferguson]]
[[Category:Films directed by Wilfred Jackson]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jack Kinney]]
[[Category:Films directed by Hamilton Luske]]
[[Category:Films directed by Bill Roberts]]
[[Category:Films produced by Walt Disney]]
[[Category:Films scored by Charles Wolcott]]
[[Category:Films scored by Paul Smith (composer)]]
[[Category:Films scored by Edward H. Plumb]]
[[Category:Animated films set in Argentina]]
[[Category:Films set in Bolivia]]
[[Category:Animated films set in Brazil]]
[[Category:Animated films set in Chile]]
[[Category:Animated films set in Peru]]
[[Category:Films set in Rio de Janeiro (city)]]
[[Category:Films set in South America]]
[[Category:Goofy (Disney) films]]
[[Category:Animated anthology films]]
[[Category:Self-reflexive films]]
[[Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios films]]
[[Category:1940s children's animated films]]
[[Category:Films about gauchos]]
[[Category:1940s children's fantasy films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Ralph Wright]]
[[Category:Animated films set in South America]]
[[Category:English-language fantasy films]]
[[Category:Portuguese-language American films]]
[[Category:Spanish-language American films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Homer Brightman]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by William Cottrell]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Dick Huemer]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Joe Grant]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Harry Reeves]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Ted Sears]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Webb Smith]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Roy Williams]]
[[Category:Good Neighbor policy]]