The Bullfighters

1945
6.2| 1h1m| en
Details

Bumbling detective Stan Laurel disguises himself as a famous matador in order to hide from the vengeful Richard K. Muldoon, who spent time in prison on Stan's bogus testimony.

Director

Producted By

20th Century Fox

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Reviews

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
Beanbioca As Good As It Gets
AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Lee Eisenberg By 1945, it was clear that the film careers of Laurel and Hardy were winding down. Their second to last feature was "The Bullfighters", wherein they play detectives who go to Mexico to arrest a larcenist. As it happens, not only is Stan a dead ringer for a noted bullfighter, but a man whom the guys helped imprison is seeking revenge.There are some funny scenes, but the movie isn't quite like their 1930s movies. On top of that, the casting of white people as Mexicans is politically incorrect. And of course, it's hard to enjoy the bullfighting scenes, knowing what a cruel sport it is. I always root for the bull. If the bullfighter gets injured...well, he knew the risks.Anyway, it's OK, not great.
bkoganbing Way back in the day before Laurel teamed with Hardy, Stanley was quite the comic silent screen star and many of his short subjects were satires of current big screen productions. One of the best of them was Mud And Sand where Stan Laurel did a spoof of Rudolph Valentino and his role in Blood And Sand. 20th Century Fox also now owned the rights to Blood And Sand because of the great Tyrone Power sound version that had come out a few years earlier.So in their farewell film before the disastrous comeback with Utopia, Stan and Ollie did The Bullfighters where Laurel got to be a bullfighter again. And he plays a dual role the great Don Sebastian of Spain and just plain Mr. Laurel who with Mr. Hardy are a pair of private eyes from Peoria.Now if you can wrap your minds around the concept of ANYBODY hiring these two as detectives, The Bullfighters is an amusing enough film though not up to the standards of their Hal Roach work. They're in Mexico on an extradition job to bring back Carol Andrews and of course in their usual fashion make a holy hash of that.But promoter Richard Lane notices Stan's resemblance to Don Sebastian and since this guy whom he has brought over and promoted is being held up at the border. They've got a problem however in Ralph Sanford who got sent up the river on the mistaken testimony of these two lugnuts and threatens to skin them alive.The Bullfighters is amusing, especially in that last sequence when both of Laurels personas show up in the bullring with the PI from Peoria getting well fortified for the occasion. I can't blame Stan it's the only way I would go in a bull ring.You'll have to see The Bullfighters to see if Sanford makes good on his threat.
mark.waltz Going "Down Mexico Way" as private investigators, the boys once again are part of a case of mistaken identity with Laurel believed to be a famous (!) Spanish bullfighter. They discover that one of their old cases has come back to haunt them, a man they sent to jail for a crime he did not commit. In trying to hide from them, they decide to utilize the fake bullfighter persona, but as predicted, the real bullfighter arrives. This creates an hour of farce, some funny, but most tired. I still couldn't help but laugh at a repeat of the egg sequence from 1934's "Hollywood Party" in which a bowl of eggs is conveniently set down on a bar where it is used as a weapon between the boys and their foil (in this case the blonde Carol Andrews). There's also a similar bit with water used instead of eggs in the hotel lobby. Their antics here seem a bit tired, although there is a clever usage of special effects for the final gag that will literally leave you "rattling" with laughter.
Erik-132 Of course, this Laurel & Hardy feature is not another "Way Out West" (1937), but it's still worth watching. Their final Hollywood picture is far better than the other Fox and MGM products that the Boys did in the forties. Despite some boring sequences there is much more room for comedy - and Laurel & Hardy know to use it. Even Stan's make-up, which he was forced to change in the former Fox movies and that made him look much older, resembles his appearance in the old Roach days. One may wonder why producers in the forties after this movie did not realize, that these two genuine clowns had still the power to carry a whole picture. It's always sad to think of the fact, that there was only one more Laurel & Hardy film to be done after "The Bullfighters".