Review of El Mariachi (1993) by Jordan P — 10 Aug 2010
The debut feature of Robert Rodriguez, who has made a career of multitasking on all his films. He made this one for an unbelievable $7,000, and picked up for distribution by Columbia Pictures, and it would put Rodriguez on the road to make big Hollywood films, most of them from the comfort of his home town in Austin, Texas.
Set and shot in the town of Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. This has the titular wandering Mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) coming into town, and looking for work in the local bars as a mariachi like his father and grandfather did.
Meanwhile, Meanwhile, a recently escaped prisoner called Azul (Reinol MartÃnez) is seeking revenge against his former partner Moco (Peter Marquardt), who made off with a share of money. Now, Azul is killing off Moco's men using a cache of weapons he keeps hidden in a guitar case.
However, when Moco sends a group of hitmen to kill Azul, they mistake El Mariachi for the villian, sending El Mariachi on the run, but he finds refuge with local bar owner Dominó (Consuelo Gómez), but not for long though.
This shows what you can do with a little bit of imagination and creative filmmaking. It's done with a good sense of humour, and a very offbeat style, which Rodriguez has continued with throughout his career.
He continues to make movies for low-budgets, but they always come out looking more than they cost.
This review of El Mariachi (1993) was written by Jordan P on 10 Aug 2010.
El Mariachi has generally received positive reviews.
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