Mexican Hayride is a 1948 film by Abbott and Costello, and their fourth under Universal Studios after its reorganization into Universal-International. It's also a loose remake of the 1944 Broadway musical of the same name, but without any of the songs from that version.
Con artist Harry Lambert (Abbott) has fled to Mexico to escape the police after pulling a scam in Iowa, leaving his unwitting accomplice Joe Bascom (Costello) to take the fall, unaware that Bascom has also fled to Mexico. Pursued by the police, Bascom is inadvertently named a goodwill ambassador as part of "Amigo Americano Week". Adapting the name Humphrey Fish, he's tricked by Lambert and some associates into another scheme involving selling stock in a phony silver mine, and must figure out a way to get out of the whole mess while proving he's as much a victim as the people back in Iowa.
This film contains examples of:
- Ate the Spoon: In his disguise as an old Mexican woman, Bascom makes enchiladas with a super-hot sauce that's able to burn through the chains of Lambert's handcuffs, allowing the two to escape after some further shenanigans.
- Baby as Payment: Subverted — in Taxco, Bascom (in his role as ambassador) has received miscellaneous items from various people, and mistakenly thinks a woman is trying to gift him her child for the same reason, quickly excusing himself. She was actually trying to hand him a bottle of perfume and was just holding her son at the same time. Later, she actually catches up to him, corrects the mistake and gives him the bottle.
- Batman Gambit: Overlapping with Paranoia Gambit, Dagmar pulls one off by making Bascom think Lambert may have already stolen the money he's earned, tricking him into checking the hiding place and spying on him as he does it, then swiping it from him while he's out of the room (in this case, so she can protect it herself).
- Beastly Bloodsports: During the climax, Bascom ends up getting caught up in a bullfight. Unlike most cases, it's played for laughs, as he spends most of the time just trying to escape the bull, and even ends up dancing with it for a bit when they both hear samba music and start reacting to it. Then the bull ends up with Dagmar's hat, which holds the money she stole from him, and Lambert ends up caught up in the whole mess too in an attempt to try and get the hat back. Ultimately, nobody is actually hurt, as Bascom ends up just riding the bull back into its pen.
- Clear My Name: After Lambert left him holding the bag in a phony oil field scheme, Bascom has been mistaken for the real swindler, forcing him to flee the authorities and try to prove his innocence. He ultimately ends up doing so after returning the money earned by Lambert's newest scam, with Dagmar helping get him off the hook for the oil field scam too.
- Disguised in Drag: After escaping from nearly being arrested, Bascom encounters the same police the next day while disguised as an old Mexican woman running a food cart, and ends up helping get Lambert away from the cops so that he can help Bascom retrieve the money that Dagmar stole from him.
- Dreadful Musician: While trying to blend in with some other musicians in a mariachi band, Bascom plays a trombone, only to mangle his attempts at doing so. He's not any better with a piccolo when he tries that instead.
- Fugitive Arc: The film's plot revolves around Lambert and Bascom having fled to Mexico, separately, to escape the police after Lambert tricked Bascom into helping him with a swindle.
- Hypocritical Humor: When Bascom is interviewed after becoming a goodwill ambassador, the reporter is a Motor Mouth who constantly interrupts and talks over him... and at the end of the scene, tells him "Next time a reporter asks you for an interview, don't talk so much!"
- Involuntary Dance: After having previously sambaed in a dance marathon for 68 hours to win the money to get to Mexico, Bascom finds himself compelled to dance whenever he hears samba music.
- Mondegreen Gag: While getting interviewed, Bascom mishears "consonants" as "continents", and starts naming "North America" and more before getting cut off.
- Motor Mouth: The reporter interviewing Bascom after he becomes "goodwill ambassador", who talks over Bascom constantly and then tells him "Next time a reporter asks you for an interview, don't talk so much!"
- Mythology Gag:
- Early on, Bascom references the Who's on First? gag when he tells Lambert that "If you're getting tired of the 'who's, I've got a 'what' for ya... on second base."
- Later, he and Lambert repeat the "Did you ever go to school, stupid?" "Yessir, and I come out the same way" joke from Little Giant.
- Reflexive Response: After having been sambaing non-stop for over three days pre-film, Bascom can't help but dance uncontrollably every time he hears samba music.
- Take Off Your Clothes: At one point after Bascom assumes his alias of Humphrey Fish, Lambert ends up telling Bascom to take off some of his clothes and ultimately stripping most of them off by force, since Bascom's clothes all have his real initials on them and could expose his identity.
- The Vamp: Played with by Dagmar, who tries to seduce Bascom in order to apparently steal the money he's earned by selling stock in a phony silver mine. He's turned off by her coming on so strong though, and she later turns out to be legitimately trying to help him avoid being robbed by his partner.
- Violin Scam: The plot kicks off because Lambert had tricked Bascom into helping him sell shares in a phony oil well and later a phony silver mine with the promise of earning a great deal of money from it as a result.
