El Mariachi

A film about a mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) made in 1992 and directed by Robert Rodriguez.

It's a nice film, with lots-o-guns and killings and more of those things. Just a shame that it was in Spanish, which I don't speak. It features some weird, yet cheap, scenes and moments. A couple of seconds in fast-forward, or a totally messed-up-makes-no-sense kind of dream.

The mariachi comes into a town and is mistaken for a murderer. Due to a mix-up with guitar cases and several other coincidental factors, Moco's (Peter Marquardt) gang of assassins comes after the mariachi to kill him.

Of course el mariachi defends himself, killing a few bad guys in the process, which leads to agitation with Moco's grunts.

In my opinion, it's not worth a lot of money to see, but certainly a good way to waste a spare evening. A lot like Desperado.

I wouldn't pay to see the movie at a theatre, but if you have a DVD player I heartily recommend getting the Desperado/El Mariachi double feature (Columbia Tristar, 1995), which is quite good value for money. You should really take the time to watch the movie (well, both movies actually) with the directors commentary on, because Robert Rodrigues can be very entertaining at times.

Fun facts you didn't know:

• The bar scene was filmed in the same bar as the one in Desperado, and the bartender was played by a newscaster from a local TV station. He was the closest they got to a professional actor.
• The dolly shots in the movie were done by placing Rodrigues with the camera in a wheelchair, then having a guy pushing him.
• Some of the guns used in the movie were real guns borrowed from a local police station (this wasn't a problem, apparently). An officer was assigned to look after the guns but was badly hung over and can be seen sleeping on a bench in one scene.