El Mariachi

1993 "With a guitar in his hand and a price on his head, he wasn't looking for trouble. But trouble came looking for him."
6.8| 1h21m| R| en| More Info
Released: 26 February 1993 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

El Mariachi just wants to play his guitar and carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, the town he tries to find work in has another visitor, a killer who carries his guns in a guitar case. The drug lord and his henchmen mistake el Mariachi for the killer, Azul, and chase him around town trying to kill him and get his guitar case.

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Smoreni Zmaj Robert Rodriguez' first movie, before he came to USA, and prequel to famous Desperado. Rodriguez had no team and he shot it on his own with just about 7.000 $ budget. Movie is in Spanish, there's no famous actors and most of the roles are played by local residents. It was shot as silent film and dialogues and sound are added afterwards. Rodriguez wrote the script, gathered volunteers for roles, directed, recorded sound, did editing and everything that goes with it on his own. Something like Chaplin was doing in his time, one man show. Story is good, movie is mediocre, but considering how it's done this is amazing achievement. Then Rodriguez went to America and made other two parts of Mexico trilogy, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.I rated this movie 5/10 before I knew background story, but it's 10/10 for effort. It definitely is worth watching.
powermandan Usually a movie is considered to be low-budget if it costs less than $1 million. El mariachi was a micro-budget that costed only $7,000. Robert Rodriguez was in charge of almost everything behind the scenes with some stars in the movie helping out. The low-budget is apparent, but you turn your attention away from the cost almost right away.El mariachi spawned two international blockbusters--Desperado (the best known) and Once Upon A Time In Mexico. Desperado is part sequel and part remake, but both sequel have poor connections with one another. Since El mariachi does not spawn from anything else, it has the most forgivable flaws.In all three movies, the tragic hero (played here by Carlos Gallardo and in the sequels by Antonio Banderas) is an unnamed guitar player (known as El Mariachi) who just wants to get a chance to play and make some money. He wanders from town to town with only his guitar in search of his destiny. So far he sounds pretty generic, but he has a tender heart and very nice appeal. He stumbles into a Mexican town where he meets a bar owner named Domino. The love story between these two is fantastic. We hope that she helps him rise and become a successful musician. This love story may not be the main premise, but it is defiantly something lyrical.The main story is a case of mistaken identity involving a drug lord, his nemesis, and El. Azul is a mean, rough-and-tough Spanish criminal who breaks out of jail and is after the drug lord known as "Moco."Azul loves to wear black and always carries a guitar case that's full of guns. Moco orders his men to kill anyone that fits that description. El also loves to wear black and always carries a guitar case. We all know where this is going. Action scenes and chases occur that are more exciting than stylistic. Style is what Rodriguez was really concerned with in the sequels. With such a low budget, there wasn't very many second takes, just other camera positions. That is what makes it such a great flair. El and Azul accidentally switch cases which makes matters worse. We have grown to love El and Domino, but Azul and Moco still have unfinished business. Sadly, tragedy ensues. Desperado features a recreation of the scene, so the viewer knows what will happen. But Rodriguez did in his first shot what very few directors can ever do: make the viewer wonder what will happen next and root for the best...even after you've seen the movie! This isn't very violent as the others are, but its character and plot developments are strong, and it has a higher emotional factor than any other Robert Rodriguez movie.
gmalcangi So many of the reviewers of this listing have based their reviews on the amazing feat by Rodriguez in creating a film for $7,000.The fact of the matter is that this budget figure is little more than marketing hype, promoted by Rodriguez himself in his book "Rebel without a Crew". This book has sold significant numbers to indie film makers over the years, looking to make successful films on a shoestring and has also dramatically enhanced the reputation of Rodriguez.The truth is that Rodriguez did indeed make this film for $7,000 but the final version the public got to see, the version reviewers of this IMDb listing have seen, needed a further $300,000 spent on it to bring it up to technical and commercial standards/expectations.Even for an estimated total budget of around $325,000 this is still a decent little film, demonstrating film making talent on a limited budget and it's certainly worth a viewing but don't judge it on the basis that it cost $7,000 to make!
callanvass (Credit IMDb) El Mariachi just wants to play his guitar and carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, the town he tries to find work in has another visitor...a killer who carries his guns in a guitar case. The drug lord and his henchmen mistake El Mariachi for the killer, Azul, and chase him around town trying to kill him and get his guitar case.Boring, low-budget, and poorly acted came to mind while I was viewing this movie. Yes. I mentioned the word overrated with this infamous Robert Rodriguez trilogy, but I did enjoy Desperado to some extents. I can see why people love this movie. It has a sense of style; they did what they could with the budget they had, but for this to have 7.0 rating baffles and befuddles me to the extreme.The Acting Carlos Gallardo is OK as Mariachi, but he doesn't have the presence of Banderas, and I didn't feel the qualities needed for him to help make this movie successful.Bottom line. I'll be honest with you. I watched this one over a month ago, and I'm struggling to remember things about it. Probably tells you the impact it had on me. Perhaps this one is for you, it clearly wasn't for me.3/10