El Mariachi (1992)

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Directed by Robert Rodriguez.

Starring Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gomez, Peter Marquardt, Reinol Martinez.

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Filmed in two weeks on a budget of 7,000 dollars, El Mariachi was one of the singular pleasures of the 1993-1994 movie season. Kind-spirited guitarist El Mariachi (Carlos M. Gallardo) simply wants to wander through life as his father and grandfather did, with a song in his heart and a smile on his lips. He wanders into a small mob-run town, guitar case in hand. It so happens that the local criminal element is awaiting the arrival of vicious hit man Azul (Reinol Martinez), who is well known for carrying his weapons in...a guitar case. Just when you think you've got a lock on what's going to happen next, director Robert Rodriguez throws us for a loop, unexpectedly alternating whimsical comedy with graphic violence. Rodriguez later retooled the plot of El Mariachi for his far more expensive (and far less satisfying) Antonio Banderas vehicle Desperado (1995). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Non-review review #3
by Zularian in Zularian Blog

liked it.

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"I am feeling a bit grumpy at the moment so I am going to revisit the subject of my first post -- that of a director pilfering through their own material. There are a number of excellent examples of this but I am going to limit myself to two directors. The reason for this is that both of these men, Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith have had a very large impact on me. My current career path has been shaped largely by these directors which is why their transgressions pain me so. First, Mr. Smith. Once upon a time there was a directory who made a crappy (production-wise) little movie called Clerks. It is not a pretty movie nor is it an interesting-looking film. Clerks has very few merits except the fact that it is quite funny and original and it somehow manages to convey the joy and exuberence of it's creator. There is a quality to Clerks, a "I just wanted to make a movie" attitude that is infectious. This film feels to me to emboy the very spirit of Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane ... " [More]

Re:More than one trilogy
by leeroy711 in Movie Games

liked it.

"Antonio Banderas in El Miriachi trilogy and Spy Kids trilogy. (Both Rob Rodriguez) El Mariachi (1992) Desperado (1995) Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) Spy Kids (2001) Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (2002) Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003) " [More]

Re:Why I got into foreign films
by indieabby88 in Friends of Foreign Flicks

hasn't rated it.

"I totally agree! One of the biggest perks of foreign films for me is when I'm learning about a different culture while simultaneously being entertained. I always cite "To Live" and "Raise the Red Lantern," two movies I saw in my History of East Asia class, as prime examples. I wouldn't say that's specifically why I got into watching foreign movies, but it's one reason why I enjoy them. I watch foreign films for the same reason I watch any other movie: simply because it looks interesting. For me, a movie is a movie, no matter where it comes from, and I feel like what makes a movie appealing should go beyond whether or not you have to read subtitles. I can't stand it when someone refuses to watch a foreign film because they "don't like reading." For a while in high school and my first year in college, I got really into Spanish, Mexican and South American films. We watched a lot of spanish-language movies in my high school spanish class, like "The Sea Inside," "El Norte" and "The Offi ... " [More]

SXSW panel: Latino cinema knows ...
by lopezdash in The Movie Blog

hasn't rated it.

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"March 10, 2008By Laura Tillman Along with films and music, Austin's annual South by Southwest festival offers pass-holders the chance to attend intimate panel discussions with experts and some of their favorite artists. Monday, three of the festival's Latin American born filmmakers joined moderator Charles Ramirez Berg, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss "New Trends in Latino Cinema." About 30 seconds into the talk, however, they realized they might not have much to say on the given subject."I think there is a change in that Latino filmmakers are getting away from being so easily identified or grouped together and I think that's good," said Berg, who initially organized the event as a conversation between himself and producer Elizabeth Avellan. Avellan, who worked with her husband Robert Rodriguez on films like "El Mariachi," "Desperado," and "Sin City," recommended that Peruvian director Ric ... " [More]

Re: Top Five Movies with Budget ...
by tinokiev in Top 5

loved it.

"El mariachi !! -- rodriguez spent 2.000 $Clerks, The Blair Witch ProjectThe Idiots " [More]

Inspiring Indie Classic!
by El_Aaron in El_Aaron Blog

liked it.

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"If you want to see an extraordinarily amzing Low-Budget feature, then watch this! This is my favourite Indie film. It's even better than Clerks (sorry Kevin). It's interesting how Robert Rodriguez made it. He got a 16mm movie camera (an Arriflex I believe) and shot the film in Mexico. After each shot, he recorded the sound on a portable cassette recorder. When he edited it, he transferred the film to video. If his sound went out of sync, he would insert another sound, a static or a close-up or reaction shot. He tried to sell the final cut to the Spanish Video Market, but they didn't want it. However, an executive from Columbia Pictures wished to buy the film. The film also won Sundance Film Festival in 1993. That's how it's interesting and inspiring. " [More]

Rediculous fun.
by matt_od in matt_od Blog

liked it.

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"This film is a lot of fun to watch, but it's especially fun if you are a filmmaker yourself. The fact that Rodriguez pulled this thing off for only seven thousand dollars goes a long way to show just how resourceful he is.At the beginning I found the camera work and editing style a bit jarring and rather irritating, but you quickly find yourself pulled into the world of the film and you just accept the style as quirky.I believe that most of the dream sequences don't really have that much meaning to Rodriguez and was another case of him trying to make the film seem more important than it ought to be, but it still works. Those sequences end up coming off a bit comical.And to correct the reviewer below me, Desperado is not a remake of El Mariachi. Desperado is a sequel. There are even flashbacks in Desperado to events that occurred in Mariachi. I don't see how you could think it was a remake unless you haven't seen one or the other. " [More]

Re: What If Hitchcock Could Use ...
by Risselada in PulpFiction1975

liked it.

"There actually have been a huge number of instances of directors remaking their own work.Yasujiro Ozu essentially remade most of his movies over and over from what I hear, some officially like A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) and Floating Weeds (1959)Quite recently it seems as though directors of foreign movies that are successful, often remake their films in English with American stars. Here's a few examples.Robert RodriguezEl Mariachi (1992)Desperado (1995)George SluizerThe Vanishing (1988)The Vanishing (1993)Takashi ShimizuJu-On: The Grudge (2003)The Grudge (2004)Michael HanekeFunny Games (1997)Funny Games (2008)Hideo NakataRingu 2 (1999)The Ring Two (2005)Consider the fact that Evil Dead 2 is essentially a remake of The Evil Dead. I hear that is because Raimi wanted to use footage from The Evil Dead in the beginning of Army of Darkness but he lost the rights. So he decided to just remake the whole movie first. I'm not sure if this is actually true.A lot of filmmaker ... " [More]

Re: Classics thrown into the pr ...
by Risselada in PulpFiction1975

liked it.

"A remake of a remake? Go figure. But what would be more interesting, Will Smith as The-Man-With-No-Name or Yojimbo. Will Smith and the latter both seem more excitable. Now I wouldn't call Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a remake of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as you seem to be implying. If the the "Charlie" movie had been obviously derived from screenplay of the "Willy" movie, I may agree with you. But they both seem to be totally separate adaptations from the original novel. However, I'm not saying that just because it isn't technically a remake means that they should have filmed another movie based on a book that already had such a memorable film already made of it. Mary Poppins was also originally a book too. Or maybe a series of them. Whatever that means. Although Psycho was also originally a book, from what I hear the newer version was obviously a remake of the original screenplay. I also hear one of the most strictly shot for shot remakes as well. Planet ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

With its almost nonexistent production cost and unanticipated success, Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi has become a legend among independent filmmaking. The work of an unheard-of 23-year-old director who reportedly acted as a drug-test guinea pig to finance his project, the film represented the ultimate rags-to-riches fantasy, a Blair Witch Project for the early '90s. If El Mariachi gained fame for the circumstances of its making, it endured on its merits as a film. Simple, unpretentious, and addictive, its strengths rest largely on Rodriguez' storytelling abilities, specifically his skill at weaving a sustained narrative out of the simplest plot contrivance. Bare-boned, charming, and crackling with unforced freneticism, El Mariachi is a reminder of the cinema's simpler pleasures, where bad guys carry guns and grudges, good guys carry guitar cases that contain only guitars, and justice is served sunny side up with a helping of deadpan humor. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Tags: drugdealer , fun , guitar , ontherun , Mexican-American
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