Amazon.com reviews for
El mariachi (1992) More at IMDbPro »

El Mariachi (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez captured the world's attention with this little 1992 film, made for only $7,500 (not counting the cost of a little prerelease polish) and originally destined for the Spanish- language video market. An enterprising studio executive saw the enormous Spielbergian talent in Rodriguez's work and decided to get El Mariachi out to the international public. A tight, inventive, highly entertaining movie from start to finish, the story concerns a guitarist mistaken for a hired killer and forced to fight a local crime boss and his army of goons. Rodriguez makes clever use of every available prop, from guitar cases to a beat-up bus to a funny-looking dog. But his promise as a director--he went on to make Desperado and From Dusk till Dawn--is evident in every scene. The DVD release pairs this film with its sequel, Desperado, and has optional full-screen and widescreen presentations, an interview with Rodriguez, theatrical trailer, Rodriguez's short film Bedhead, optional English-dubbed soundtrack, optional French and Spanish soundtracks, and optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh

El Mariachi/Desperado (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: Before Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi, Mexicans in North American action films were typically maids, drug dealers, or prison inmates. Even if the Cisco Kid was a friend of yours, you handled a dust cloth or a Mac-10 if you lasted in Hollywood longer than a New York minuto.

But when El Mariachi crossed the border in 1992, things changed. Granted, it still involved a drug lord in a shoot-em-up, bang-bang, but this time the good guy was a Mexican.

Austin-based Rodriguez made El Mariachi for a fistful of pesos and a little help from his friends. He wrote, directed, coproduced, edited, and operated the camera. Plus, he assembled a cast that had never acted before to work por nada. All for a paltry $7,000, a milagro without a beanfield war.

Desperado continues the outrageous action adventure. Working with a much bigger budget, Rodriguez returns the nameless mariachi to nonstop action. Again thrust into a world he never made, the hero takes his guitar-case arsenal deep into the criminal labyrinth of Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida), el gran chingon of the Mexican drug lords. With an amigo (Steve Buscemi) and a beautiful bookstore owner (Salma Hayek), el mariachi confronts an outrageous cast along the way, including a bartender (Cheech Marin), a drug deal pick-up guy (Quentin Tarantino), and the original mariachi (coproducer Carlos Gallardo) as a new-found compa'.

Antonio Banderas has the lead this time, and if he's not quite up to the challenge, it's probably because he's Spanish, not Mexican, a distinction not lost by anyone raised on what the popular media now calls "ethnic food."

That said, Desperado is not to be missed. Using intelligence, romance, and humor--as well as plenty of explosive, surreal violence--Rodriguez again showcases the timeless struggle between the forces of darkness and light. And, in the process, he's recasting the mold for the contemporary action hero--kids now argue about who gets to play the Mexican. --Stephan Magcosta