El Mariachi (1992) on Netflix
R19921h 21mActionCrimeThriller
A wandering mariachi comes to a Mexican border town seeking work. A criminal named Azul escapes jail with a guitar case of guns, and Moco's men mistake the mariachi for him.
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- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.8/1075,415 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
Azul, a criminal, breaks out of jail in northern Mexico carrying a guitar case filled with guns. He wants revenge on the drug lord Moco. In the border town of Acuña, a young mariachi arrives with his own guitar case, hoping to find work and follow his father and grandfather's path. Moco commands his men from a guarded villa outside town. Moco's men, led by Bigotón, are sent to kill Azul. Because the mariachi wears black and carries a guitar case, they mistake him for the fugitive. Chased through the streets, the mariachi takes shelter in a bar owned by Dominó. She hides him upstairs, though Moco finances the bar and is courting her.
Cast
- Jesús Lópezas Viejo Clerk (as Jesus Lopez)
- Luis Baróas Domino's Assistant (as Luis Baro)
- Oscar Fabilaas The Boy
- Poncho Ramónas Azul's Rat (as Poncho Ramon)
- Manuel Acostaas Bodyguard
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about El Mariachi (1992)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Robert Rodriguez made El Mariachi on a $7,000 budget, and raised almost half of the money by taking part in experimental clinical drug testing while living in Austin, Texas.
- El Mariachi is recognized by Guinness World Records as the lowest-budgeted film ever to gross $1 million at the box office.
- Because so many characters are killed off in El Mariachi, Rodriguez ran out of adult men willing to play thugs, so the gang the Mariachi faces at the end is made up mainly of teenagers.
- The opening jail shootout was filmed in the real Acuña jail, and the town's actual female warden and male guard played themselves, which saved Rodriguez the cost of hiring actors and renting costumes.
- Rodriguez went without a slate and a dolly on El Mariachi: the actors signaled the scene and take numbers with their fingers, and he held the camera while being pushed around in a wheelchair.
- Real guns jammed after one blank, so Rodriguez filmed a single blank firing from different angles, dubbed canned machine gun sounds over it, and had actors drop shells; he also used water guns to save money.
- Peter Marquardt, who played gang boss Moco, did not master Spanish, so he had to learn his lines without understanding what he was saying.
- For the song the Mariachi performs for Dominó, Rodriguez hired local entertainer Juan Francisco Suarez Vidaurri, recorded him with little more than a hand-held microphone, and pitched the voice to match actor Carlos Gallardo's.
