The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) on Netflix
Pete Perkins, a Texas ranch foreman, promised his friend Melquiades Estrada that he would bury him in his Mexican hometown. When Melquiades dies, Pete sets out to keep the promise.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.3/1043,479 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes85%
Trailer
Plot summary
Melquiades Estrada is a Mexican cowboy working in Texas, and Pete Perkins, the foreman of a nearby ranch, is his closest friend. After Melquiades is found shot dead and buried in the desert, the sheriff's office reburies him in a local cemetery, and Pete's request for the body is refused because he is not a relative. Pete had promised Melquiades that if he died in Texas he would be buried in his hometown of Jiménez, so he takes a border patrolman prisoner, forces him to dig the body up, and rides south with the corpse on a mule and the man in tow. Sheriff Frank Belmont learns of the kidnapping, and officers and the Border Patrol begin searching for the pair.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was inspired by the real-life killing in Texas of a teenager by United States Marines during a military operation near the United States-Mexico border, as well as by the novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, which contains the same plot premise.
- At the Cannes Film Festival the film won Best Actor for Tommy Lee Jones and Best Screenplay for Guillermo Arriaga, and Tommy Lee Jones was also nominated for the Golden Palm.
- Filming locations in Texas included Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, Lajitas, Midland, Monahans, Odessa, Van Horn and Redford, and the film was the directorial debut of Tommy Lee Jones.
