IMDb RATING
6.4/10
1.4K
YOUR RATING
An American girl on vacation in Argentina falls for a wealthy racehorse owner.An American girl on vacation in Argentina falls for a wealthy racehorse owner.An American girl on vacation in Argentina falls for a wealthy racehorse owner.
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 1 win & 3 nominations total
Kay Aldridge
- Helen Carson
- (as Katharine Aldridge)
Pepe Guízar
- Specialty
- (as Pepe Guizar)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was the first of a series of Latin American-themed movies that became very popular with American audiences in the 1940s. Darryl F. Zanuck produced the film in response to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Good Neighbor Policy" of friendship towards Latin American countries. Also, with the war in Europe starting, Zanuck hoped to develop Mexico and South America as alternative markets for his Hollywood films. However, while Down Argentine Way (1940) was a success in America, the Argentines hated it! When the film was screened in Buenos Aires, Argentine government officials refused to allow it to be shown in any theaters in their country. Among the things the Argentines objected to: (1) None of the Argentine characters in the film spoke with an Argentine Castilian Spanish accent. (2) Several Argentine characters are depicted as lazy, freeloading, or dishonest. (3) The three Argentine bankers who greet Betty Grable at the airport speak to her in fractured English, when most upper-class Argentines spoke perfect English. (4) Casiano, the horse groom played by J. Carrol Naish, wears a "gaucho" outfit ("gauchos" are Argentine cowboys, not horse ranchers). (5) Although Carmen Miranda was popular in Argentina, she was Brazilian and sang Cuban-inspired songs in Portuguese. Her presence in the movie gave the impression that Argentina is a tropical country, when it is a mountain country.
- GoofsAlthough Edward Fielding is listed in the credits as having portrayed Glenda Crawford's father, Willis Crawford, he is only seen at the Tuxedo Horse Show near the start of the film. He has no other scenes.
- Quotes
Glenda Crawford, aka Glenda Cunningham: Excuse me, I've got to go see a man about a horse.
- ConnectionsFeatured in That's Dancing! (1985)
- SoundtracksBambu Bambu
(uncredited)
Music traditional
Lyrics by Almirante and Valdo De Abreu
Performed by Carmen Miranda with Bando da Lua
Featured review
"Where There Are Rhumbas And Tangos, To Tickle Your Spine"
Nobody should expect to see Hamlet when watching Down Argentine Way. In fact the plot here is thinner and sillier than most of these fluff musical pieces. Still it's kind a fun.
Don Ameche is up from Argentina in the USA looking to sell some horses and Betty Grable is looking to buy, the horse and Ameche. But once Don hears that Betty's character has the last name of Crawford, no sale, no way, no how.
With mixed motives both looking to get even and an unspoken attraction for Don, Betty and Aunt Charlotte Greenwood take a trip to Buenos Aires for business and all different kinds of pleasure. We also meet Henry Stephenson, Ameche's father, and it does take the whole film to find just what he has against people named Crawford. The prize jumping horse of the Quintana family which is the character names of Ameche and Stephenson who gets turned into a racehorse by the old family trainer, J. Carrol Naish in another of his multitude of ethnic characterizations.
Of course this film never got out of the Hollywood back lot at 20th Century Fox Studios and there are even fewer establishing shots of Buenos Aires than usual. The two best things about Down Argentine Way are the musical score written by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon and the specialties of Carmen Miranda and the Nicholas Brothers.
This was Carmen's American debut and she opens the film with a song that was forever indelibly identified with her, South American Way. The other hit song in the film is the title song of the picture to which everyone in the cast sings and dances at some point.
The notes here say that Don Ameche's voice was dubbed. If so the guy must have been a great soundalike. Probably could fool a voice print identification. Sure sounded like Don Ameche singing from other films I've seen.
Look for a nice performance by Leonid Kinskey a rather inept gigolo with a few other sidelines.
Down Argentine Way was done before Juan Peron took power so the place was viewed favorably. The Roosevelt administration actively encouraged films to be made showing South America in a favorable light like this one with an idea towards making sure they were allies in the World War we were heading for. It's a nice piece of fluff with good songs Betty Grable's famous legs and the one and only Carmen Miranda.
Don Ameche is up from Argentina in the USA looking to sell some horses and Betty Grable is looking to buy, the horse and Ameche. But once Don hears that Betty's character has the last name of Crawford, no sale, no way, no how.
With mixed motives both looking to get even and an unspoken attraction for Don, Betty and Aunt Charlotte Greenwood take a trip to Buenos Aires for business and all different kinds of pleasure. We also meet Henry Stephenson, Ameche's father, and it does take the whole film to find just what he has against people named Crawford. The prize jumping horse of the Quintana family which is the character names of Ameche and Stephenson who gets turned into a racehorse by the old family trainer, J. Carrol Naish in another of his multitude of ethnic characterizations.
Of course this film never got out of the Hollywood back lot at 20th Century Fox Studios and there are even fewer establishing shots of Buenos Aires than usual. The two best things about Down Argentine Way are the musical score written by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon and the specialties of Carmen Miranda and the Nicholas Brothers.
This was Carmen's American debut and she opens the film with a song that was forever indelibly identified with her, South American Way. The other hit song in the film is the title song of the picture to which everyone in the cast sings and dances at some point.
The notes here say that Don Ameche's voice was dubbed. If so the guy must have been a great soundalike. Probably could fool a voice print identification. Sure sounded like Don Ameche singing from other films I've seen.
Look for a nice performance by Leonid Kinskey a rather inept gigolo with a few other sidelines.
Down Argentine Way was done before Juan Peron took power so the place was viewed favorably. The Roosevelt administration actively encouraged films to be made showing South America in a favorable light like this one with an idea towards making sure they were allies in the World War we were heading for. It's a nice piece of fluff with good songs Betty Grable's famous legs and the one and only Carmen Miranda.
helpful•201
- bkoganbing
- Mar 7, 2008
- How long is Down Argentine Way?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The South American Way
- Filming locations
- Argentina(backgrounds)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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