Brief Summary:
The movie starts out in some small jail cell in the middle of Mexico. In this strange location a henchman known as Azul is supposedly being imprisoned. His former boss Mauricio, referred to as Moco played by Peter Marquardt, has gypped Azul of some money he owed him for a job they did together. In order to avoid giving Azul his payments, Moco sends his men to this remote jail cell in order to eliminate him. They are unaware that Azul was prepared for such an ambush and uses the jail cell as a trap to kill Moco’s men. Azul then vows to get his money from Moco or more blood will be shed. Moco then orders more of his henchmen to be on the look out for Azul. However, since none of Moco’s men have not seen Azul, Moco tells them he always wears black and carries a guitar case with him filled weapons. Unfortunately, these features are similar to our young and innocent mariachi. The original Mariachi, played by Carlos Gallardo, is a struggling mariachi who is in search of a permanent job where he can sing and play his guitar. His father, grandfather, and great grandfather, were all great mariachis in the past and the current mariachi wants to follow in their footsteps. He stumbles into a small town in Mexico believing his luck has turned and he will be able to find work.

El Mariachi goes from bar to bar hoping to find work only to be rejected left and right. He also meets a young woman, Domino, played by Consuelo Gomez, who is the owner of a bar with a mysterious past that rejects his offer to work as a mariachi for her. In an unusual twist of fate Azul is also residing in this small town looking for more of Moco’s men to kill. Moco’s men go about town mistaking El Mariachi for Azul and try to kill him. El Mariachi kills four of Moco’s men out of self defense and tries begs for room and board at Domino’s bar. She lets him stay and from here things get very interesting. Azul comes in asking about Moco and accidently switches his guitar case with El Mariachi’s. This is how El Mariachi ends up with guns in his guitar case as in the preceding movies. Thus the saga of El Mariachi begins.

TheHurwitz’s review:

After watching this movie, 11 years after its creation, I am astounded at how well this movie turned out considering its seven dollar budget. This movie provides great background to El Mariachi and how he stumbled into the world of death and deception. Unlike “Desperado” and “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” the dialog of “El Mariachi” is all in Spanish. The DVD offers English, Spanish, French, and Korean subtitles. The Spanish dialog helps to give “El Mariachi” a much more realistic feel as well as the ability to have the locals in Mexico help in the making of the movie by making small acting cameos. The scenery and camera angles as well as lighting are all top notch and ground breaking since Robert Rodriguez chose to experiment in this movie since it was one of his first. The acting is very well done for a bunch of unknown actors. It also helped that Rodriguez chose to keep the dialogue to a minimum to allow the viewers to appreciate these small nuances. The original mariachi is somewhat different from the mariachi played by Antonio Banderas. He appears very young and naïve about certain things but still carries similar charm but has much less bravado than Banderas’ version. This is not a bad thing. It makes the first mariachi more realistic and puts more credit to his possible existence.

There is much less blood shed and pyrotechnics in “El Mariachi” as compared to its 2 predecessors. Without these effects it really helps the viewers to focus more on the characters and story. The story is very compelling and is the perfect example of how unusual things can get when you are put in the wrong place at the wrong time. The movie’s sound is quite an accomplishment when looking at the movie’s budget. It varies from mellow mariachi melodies to intense orchestras and quick hitting instrumentals. The only gripe I have about this movie are the unusual dreams El Mariachi has throughout the movie. They are somewhat confusing to follow and don’t really give the audience a clear view of what they are trying to portray. If I were to guess anything I would think they were there to let El Mariachi know of his destiny of being a famous hit man. This gripe is very minor and takes nothing away from the story or acting.

Along with this extraordinary film come some extras on the DVD. As mentioned before it allows the movie to be subtitled in various languages. It includes trailers from Robert Rodriguez’s other films such as “Desperado”, “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”, and “The Mask of Zorro.” There is also director’s commentary and a small segment called “10-Minute Film School” in which Rodriguez explains how he was able to make “El Mariachi” with such limited resources. This section is very interesting as well as inspiring for young directors as Rodriguez was at the time he made this movie (age 23). There is also a short film that Rodriguez made with his family called “ BEDHEAD” which actually stars members of his own family and is quite comedic. And as expected there is a sneak preview of his current hit “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” all jam packed into a single DVD. Unfortunately, it does not provide different audio set ups for those who prefer to listen to the movie in anything outside of Dolby Digital. This may be deterring for those who like to listen in Pro Logic 2.

Overall, “El Mariachi” is a movie which helps to provide great depth into the El Mariachi character that is so well known in Hollywood. The great story and impressive use of an extremely limited budget make this movie stand out amongst its predecessors. Those who have not heard of or seen “El Mariachi” should take the opportunity to behold this great action/romance. I grade this small budget film a big budget A.