El Mariachi
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Template:Infobox Film El Mariachi is a 1992 motion picture production directed by Robert Rodriguez as the first chapter in his Mariachi Trilogy.
It was a commercial and artistic success, inspiring a new wave of young producers to film low-budget movies such as Clerks. and The Blair Witch Project.
It was shot in the northern Mexican border town of Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila completely in Spanish, using primarily amateur actors and on a budget of only USD $7,000. It was initially intended only for the Hispanic home video market, and Rodriguez never thought an American release was a possibility. Executives at Columbia Pictures liked the film so much that they bought the rights to it for American distribution. Columbia eventually spent several times more than the film's original production budget on 35 millimeter film transfers (it had been shot on 16 millimeter), a marketing campaign and the eventual distribution/release of the film. It was so well received that they eventually chose to finance the second part of the trilogy, Desperado and then the final chapter, Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
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Plot
It tells the story of an out of work musician (the Mariachi) traveling through Mexico. He arrives in the small border town of Acuña, hoping to find work in some of the local Cantinas and clubs. Unfortunately for "El", local drug dealers mistake him for a recently escaped convict who is looking for revenge against them and has been shooting up locals with a guitar case filled with hand-guns. As the story progresses, "El" falls in love with a woman who helps him hide from those who are trying to kill him, and eventually sees her die at the hands of those same men. He seeks revenge for all he has been put through.
Cast
- Carlos Gallardo, El Mariachi
- Consuelo Gómez, Domino
- Peter Marquardt, Moco
- Reinol Martínez, Azul
- Jaime de Hoyos, Bigoton
- Ramiro Gómez, waiter
- Jesús López Viejo, clerk
- Luis Baro, Domino's assistant
- Óscar Fabila, the boy
Awards
El Mariachi won multiple international awards, and writer/producer/director Rodriguez went on to gain international fame, being interviewed on such shows as Sábado Gigante, etc; and going on to make more, Hollywood-backed movies, such as The Faculty and Sin City (film).
Trivia
- The second film, Desperado, helped enhance the fame of Antonio Banderas and introduced Salma Hayek to English-speaking audiences.
- The story of El Mariachi's production inspired Rodriguez to write the book Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player.
Budget
Rodriguez' detractors are critical of his statement that El Mariachi was made for $7,000. While that was indeed the budget for the film when it was produced for the Mexican direct to video market, critics point out that when the film was turned into a theatrical-release film, it had to be converted to 35mm with subtitles added and sound remixed, greatly increasing its production cost.