El Mariachi
Encyclopedia
El Mariachi is a 1992 Mexican-American action film
that is the debut of writer/director Robert Rodriguez
. The Spanish language
film was shot in the northern Mexican
bordertown of Ciudad Acuña
with a mainly amateur cast. The US$
7,000 production was originally intended for the Mexican home video market, but executives at Columbia Pictures
liked the film so much that they bought the American distribution rights. Columbia eventually spent several times more than the 16 mm film's original budget on 35 mm transfers, promotion, marketing and distribution.
The success of Rodriguez's directorial debut led him to create two further entries, Desperado
(1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico
(2003), in what came to be known as the Mexico Trilogy
.
to kill Azul, but because both men are dressed in black and carrying guitar cases, the hitmen mistake the mariachi for the criminal. Only Moco knows what Azul looks like. The mariachi kills four of Moco's men in self-defense. As the mariachi seeks refuge in a bar owned by a woman named Dominó (Consuelo Gómez), he falls in love with her. Unfortunately, her bar is financed by Moco.
When Azul visits the bar for a beer and information about Moco, he accidentally leaves with the mariachi's guitar case. Moco's thugs capture Azul on the street but let him go when they learn that the case he is carrying contains only a guitar. A short time later, the mariachi is captured and taken to Moco, who identifies him as the wrong man and sets him free.
Meanwhile, Azul, who has no directions to Moco's home, takes Dominó with him and orders her to take him to Moco's, or Moco will kill the mariachi. Dominó agrees in order to save the mariachi's life. When they arrive at Moco's gated compound, Azul pretends to take Dominó hostage in order to gain entry. Moco soon realizes that Dominó has fallen for the mariachi and, in a rage, shoots both her and Azul. Suddenly, the mariachi arrives to find the woman he loves gunned down. Moco then shoots the mariachi's left hand, rendering him useless as a guitar player. However, overcome with grief and rage, the mariachi picks up Azul's gun and kills Moco, taking revenge for Dominó's death. Moco's surviving henchmen, seeing their leader dead, walk off and leave Moco's body and the wounded mariachi behind.
In the final scene, the mariachi leaves the town on Dominó's motorbike, taking her dog and her letter-opener to remember her by. His dreams to become a mariachi have been shattered, and his only protection for his future are the weapons of Azul, which he took along in the guitar case.
, Coahuila
. Rodriguez had a $7,000 budget, almost half of which he raised by participating in experimental clinical drug testing while living in Austin,Texas. The opening scenes feature a shootout in a jail. It was the local Acuña jail situated on the outskirts of the town. Also, both the female warden and the male guard were both the real-life warden and guard; Rodriguez thought it convenient because it saved him the cost of hiring actors and renting clothing. The intro bar scene was shot inside the Corona Club, and exterior street scenes were shot on Hidalgo Street. The shoot out was filmed outside at "Boy's Town" the local red-light district.
Not everyone in Acuña was pleased at first: local journalists Ramiro Gómez and Jesús López Viejo were especially critical of the filming, and to win them over, Rodriguez gave them small parts in the film. Due to the high body count of the film (i.e. people whose characters had been shot could obviously not return), Rodriguez increasingly had difficulties finding adult men to play thugs; for that reason, when the Mariachi meets Moco's gang in the end scene, the gang consists mainly of teenagers.
On the El Mariachi DVD, Rodriguez devotes both a DVD commentary and an "Extras" section to explaining the tricks of filming a feature-length movie with just $7,000. Rodriguez heavily stresses the need for cost cutting, "because if you start to spend, you cannot stop anymore." This is why he cut costs at every possible opportunity, such as not using a slate
(instead, the actors signaled the number of scene and number of take with their fingers), not using a dolly
(he held the camera while being pushed around in a wheelchair
), not using professional lighting (essentially using two 200-watt clip-on desk lamps) and not hiring a film crew (the actors not used in the scenes helped out). Also, Rodriguez believed in filming scenes sequentially in one long take with just one camera: every few seconds, he froze the action, so he could change the camera angle and make the audience believe he had a couple of cameras at the same time. Also, blooper
s were kept in to save film: noted by Rodriguez were scenes when the Mariachi jumps on a bus, where Rodriguez is visible; the Mariachi bumping his weapon into a street pole; him failing to throw his guitar case on a balcony and Dominó twitching her face when she is already dead. In the end, he used only 24 rolls of film and only spent $7,225 of the $9,000 he had planned.
Rodriguez also gave insight into his low budget approach to simulate machine gun fire. The problem was that when using real guns, as opposed to the specially designed blank firing firearms used in most films, the blanks would jam the weapon after being fired once. To solve this, Rodriguez filmed the firing of one blank from different angles, dubbed canned machine gun sounds over it, and had the actors drop bullet shells to the ground to make it look like as if multiple rounds had been shot. In addition, he occasionally used water guns instead of real guns to save money. Rodriguez also describes that the squibs
they used in shootout scenes were simply condoms filled with fake blood fixed over weightlifting belts.
Rodriguez also noted the use of improvisation. The tortoise which crawls in front of the Mariachi was not planned, but was kept as a good idea. Similarly, there is a scene in which the Mariachi buys a coconut, but Rodriguez forgot to show him paying for the fruit; instead of driving back to the place to shoot additional scenes, Rodriguez decided to build in a voice-over in which the Mariachi asserts that the coconuts were for free. Improvisation was also useful to cover up continuity mistakes: at the end of the movie, the Mariachi has his left hand shot, but Rodriguez forgot to bring the metal glove to cover up the actor's hand; he solved it by packing his hand with black duct tape.
In the DVD commentary, Rodriguez describes the acting of Peter Marquardt (who portrayed gangster boss ”Moco”). As the language of the film was Spanish, which Marquardt did not master, he had to learn his lines without understanding what he was saying. The running gag
, in which Moco lights up his match using the moustache
of his henchman Bigotón, was described by Rodriguez as a means to start and end the film: the end scene is a parody
of this scene. Also, Marquardt suffered some physical discomfort in the final shooting scene. When Moco is hit in the chest, his blood squib exploded with such force that he really crumpled to the ground in pain.
Originally, the film was meant to be sold on the Latino video market as funding for another bigger and better project that Rodriguez was contemplating. However, after being rejected from various Latino straight-to-video distributors, Rodriguez decided to send his film (it was in the format of a trailer at the time) to bigger distribution companies where it started to get attention.
.
, and going on to make more Hollywood-backed films such as The Faculty
and Sin City
.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
that is the debut of writer/director Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
. The Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
film was shot in the northern Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
bordertown of Ciudad Acuña
Ciudad Acuña
Ciudad Acuña, also known simply as Acuña, is a city located in the Mexican state of Coahuila, at and a mean height above sea level of 271 meters...
with a mainly amateur cast. The US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
7,000 production was originally intended for the Mexican home video market, but executives at Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
liked the film so much that they bought the American distribution rights. Columbia eventually spent several times more than the 16 mm film's original budget on 35 mm transfers, promotion, marketing and distribution.
The success of Rodriguez's directorial debut led him to create two further entries, Desperado
Desperado (film)
Desperado is a 1995 action thriller film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film stars Antonio Banderas as the former mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover....
(1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a 2003 action film written, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is the final film in the "Mariachi Trilogy", which also includes El Mariachi and Desperado. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi...
(2003), in what came to be known as the Mexico Trilogy
Mexico Trilogy
The Mexico Trilogy or Mariachi Trilogy is a series of films— El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico—all written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez, beginning in 1992 and ending in 2003, and distributed by Columbia Tristar...
.
Plot
In a small Mexican town, a ruthless criminal, nicknamed Azul (Reinol Martínez), breaks out of jail and vows revenge on the local drug lord, Moco (Peter Marquardt), who put him there in the first place, by using a guitar case which carries a small arsenal of guns. At the same time, a young mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) arrives in the town looking for work, carrying his guitar case with his signature guitar. From the confines of his heavily guarded villa on the outskirts of town, Moco sends a large group of hitmenContract killing
Contract killing is a form of murder, in which one party hires another party to kill a target individual or group of people. It involves an illegal agreement between two parties in which one party agrees to kill the target in exchange for consideration, monetary, or otherwise. The hiring party may...
to kill Azul, but because both men are dressed in black and carrying guitar cases, the hitmen mistake the mariachi for the criminal. Only Moco knows what Azul looks like. The mariachi kills four of Moco's men in self-defense. As the mariachi seeks refuge in a bar owned by a woman named Dominó (Consuelo Gómez), he falls in love with her. Unfortunately, her bar is financed by Moco.
When Azul visits the bar for a beer and information about Moco, he accidentally leaves with the mariachi's guitar case. Moco's thugs capture Azul on the street but let him go when they learn that the case he is carrying contains only a guitar. A short time later, the mariachi is captured and taken to Moco, who identifies him as the wrong man and sets him free.
Meanwhile, Azul, who has no directions to Moco's home, takes Dominó with him and orders her to take him to Moco's, or Moco will kill the mariachi. Dominó agrees in order to save the mariachi's life. When they arrive at Moco's gated compound, Azul pretends to take Dominó hostage in order to gain entry. Moco soon realizes that Dominó has fallen for the mariachi and, in a rage, shoots both her and Azul. Suddenly, the mariachi arrives to find the woman he loves gunned down. Moco then shoots the mariachi's left hand, rendering him useless as a guitar player. However, overcome with grief and rage, the mariachi picks up Azul's gun and kills Moco, taking revenge for Dominó's death. Moco's surviving henchmen, seeing their leader dead, walk off and leave Moco's body and the wounded mariachi behind.
In the final scene, the mariachi leaves the town on Dominó's motorbike, taking her dog and her letter-opener to remember her by. His dreams to become a mariachi have been shattered, and his only protection for his future are the weapons of Azul, which he took along in the guitar case.
Cast
- Carlos Gallardo as El Mariachi
- Consuelo Gómez as Dominó
- Peter Marquardt as Moco
- Reinol Martínez as Azul
- Jaime de Hoyos as Bigotón
- Ramiro Gómez as Waiter
- Jesús López Viejo as Clerk
- Luis Baro as Dominó's Assistant
- Óscar Fabila as The Boy
Production
The film was shot in numerous locations in AcuñaCiudad Acuña
Ciudad Acuña, also known simply as Acuña, is a city located in the Mexican state of Coahuila, at and a mean height above sea level of 271 meters...
, Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
. Rodriguez had a $7,000 budget, almost half of which he raised by participating in experimental clinical drug testing while living in Austin,Texas. The opening scenes feature a shootout in a jail. It was the local Acuña jail situated on the outskirts of the town. Also, both the female warden and the male guard were both the real-life warden and guard; Rodriguez thought it convenient because it saved him the cost of hiring actors and renting clothing. The intro bar scene was shot inside the Corona Club, and exterior street scenes were shot on Hidalgo Street. The shoot out was filmed outside at "Boy's Town" the local red-light district.
Not everyone in Acuña was pleased at first: local journalists Ramiro Gómez and Jesús López Viejo were especially critical of the filming, and to win them over, Rodriguez gave them small parts in the film. Due to the high body count of the film (i.e. people whose characters had been shot could obviously not return), Rodriguez increasingly had difficulties finding adult men to play thugs; for that reason, when the Mariachi meets Moco's gang in the end scene, the gang consists mainly of teenagers.
On the El Mariachi DVD, Rodriguez devotes both a DVD commentary and an "Extras" section to explaining the tricks of filming a feature-length movie with just $7,000. Rodriguez heavily stresses the need for cost cutting, "because if you start to spend, you cannot stop anymore." This is why he cut costs at every possible opportunity, such as not using a slate
Clapperboard
A clapperboard is a device used in filmmaking and video production to assist in the synchronizing of picture and sound, and to designate and mark particular scenes and takes recorded during a production...
(instead, the actors signaled the number of scene and number of take with their fingers), not using a dolly
Tracking shot
In motion picture terminology, a tracking shot is a segment in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly, a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken...
(he held the camera while being pushed around in a wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
), not using professional lighting (essentially using two 200-watt clip-on desk lamps) and not hiring a film crew (the actors not used in the scenes helped out). Also, Rodriguez believed in filming scenes sequentially in one long take with just one camera: every few seconds, he froze the action, so he could change the camera angle and make the audience believe he had a couple of cameras at the same time. Also, blooper
Blooper
A blooper, also known as an outtake or boner is a short sequence of a film or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or news report, usually in terms of misspoken words...
s were kept in to save film: noted by Rodriguez were scenes when the Mariachi jumps on a bus, where Rodriguez is visible; the Mariachi bumping his weapon into a street pole; him failing to throw his guitar case on a balcony and Dominó twitching her face when she is already dead. In the end, he used only 24 rolls of film and only spent $7,225 of the $9,000 he had planned.
Rodriguez also gave insight into his low budget approach to simulate machine gun fire. The problem was that when using real guns, as opposed to the specially designed blank firing firearms used in most films, the blanks would jam the weapon after being fired once. To solve this, Rodriguez filmed the firing of one blank from different angles, dubbed canned machine gun sounds over it, and had the actors drop bullet shells to the ground to make it look like as if multiple rounds had been shot. In addition, he occasionally used water guns instead of real guns to save money. Rodriguez also describes that the squibs
Squib (explosive)
A squib is a miniature explosive device used in a wide range of industries, from special effects to military applications. It resembles a tiny stick of dynamite, both in appearance and construction, although with considerably less explosive power...
they used in shootout scenes were simply condoms filled with fake blood fixed over weightlifting belts.
Rodriguez also noted the use of improvisation. The tortoise which crawls in front of the Mariachi was not planned, but was kept as a good idea. Similarly, there is a scene in which the Mariachi buys a coconut, but Rodriguez forgot to show him paying for the fruit; instead of driving back to the place to shoot additional scenes, Rodriguez decided to build in a voice-over in which the Mariachi asserts that the coconuts were for free. Improvisation was also useful to cover up continuity mistakes: at the end of the movie, the Mariachi has his left hand shot, but Rodriguez forgot to bring the metal glove to cover up the actor's hand; he solved it by packing his hand with black duct tape.
In the DVD commentary, Rodriguez describes the acting of Peter Marquardt (who portrayed gangster boss ”Moco”). As the language of the film was Spanish, which Marquardt did not master, he had to learn his lines without understanding what he was saying. The running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
, in which Moco lights up his match using the moustache
Moustache
A moustache is facial hair grown on the outer surface of the upper lip. It may or may not be accompanied by a type of beard, a facial hair style grown and cropped to cover most of the lower half of the face.-Etymology:...
of his henchman Bigotón, was described by Rodriguez as a means to start and end the film: the end scene is a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of this scene. Also, Marquardt suffered some physical discomfort in the final shooting scene. When Moco is hit in the chest, his blood squib exploded with such force that he really crumpled to the ground in pain.
Originally, the film was meant to be sold on the Latino video market as funding for another bigger and better project that Rodriguez was contemplating. However, after being rejected from various Latino straight-to-video distributors, Rodriguez decided to send his film (it was in the format of a trailer at the time) to bigger distribution companies where it started to get attention.
Music
For the scene in which the Mariachi delivers a song in front of Dominó, Rodriguez hired a local exterminator. Recording the song with little more than a microphone held next to the musician, Rodriguez pitched the voice to match the voice of Mariachi actor Carlos Gallardo.Book
The story of the film'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 PlayerRebel Without a Crew
Rebel Without a Crew is a 1995 non-fiction book by Robert Rodriguez...
.
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 GiganteSábado Gigante
Sábado Gigante is a Spanish-language television show that is Univision's longest-running program and the longest-running variety TV show in the world. Sábado Gigante is an eclectic and frenetic mix of various contests, human-interest stories, and live entertainment...
, and going on to make more Hollywood-backed films such as The Faculty
The Faculty
The Faculty is a 1998 science fiction horror film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Robert Rodriguez...
and Sin City
Sin City (film)
Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez...
.