Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

powermandan Usually a movie is considered to be low-budget if it costs less than $1 million. El mariachi was a micro-budget that costed only $7,000. Robert Rodriguez was in charge of almost everything behind the scenes with some stars in the movie helping out. The low-budget is apparent, but you turn your attention away from the cost almost right away.El mariachi spawned two international blockbusters--Desperado (the best known) and Once Upon A Time In Mexico. Desperado is part sequel and part remake, but both sequel have poor connections with one another. Since El mariachi does not spawn from anything else, it has the most forgivable flaws.In all three movies, the tragic hero (played here by Carlos Gallardo and in the sequels by Antonio Banderas) is an unnamed guitar player (known as El Mariachi) who just wants to get a chance to play and make some money. He wanders from town to town with only his guitar in search of his destiny. So far he sounds pretty generic, but he has a tender heart and very nice appeal. He stumbles into a Mexican town where he meets a bar owner named Domino. The love story between these two is fantastic. We hope that she helps him rise and become a successful musician. This love story may not be the main premise, but it is defiantly something lyrical.The main story is a case of mistaken identity involving a drug lord, his nemesis, and El. Azul is a mean, rough-and-tough Spanish criminal who breaks out of jail and is after the drug lord known as "Moco."Azul loves to wear black and always carries a guitar case that's full of guns. Moco orders his men to kill anyone that fits that description. El also loves to wear black and always carries a guitar case. We all know where this is going. Action scenes and chases occur that are more exciting than stylistic. Style is what Rodriguez was really concerned with in the sequels. With such a low budget, there wasn't very many second takes, just other camera positions. That is what makes it such a great flair. El and Azul accidentally switch cases which makes matters worse. We have grown to love El and Domino, but Azul and Moco still have unfinished business. Sadly, tragedy ensues. Desperado features a recreation of the scene, so the viewer knows what will happen. But Rodriguez did in his first shot what very few directors can ever do: make the viewer wonder what will happen next and root for the best...even after you've seen the movie! This isn't very violent as the others are, but its character and plot developments are strong, and it has a higher emotional factor than any other Robert Rodriguez movie.

TheFilmGuy1 This film is quite well known for being made on a $7000 budget, and while that can be quite impressive... Parts of this film are far from it. But that doesn't meant this is a bad film. Not at all.First I want to cover the more amateur feeling parts of this film that bring it down. The acting can be pretty iffy at times, sometimes coming across as quite terrible. The camera work can be a bit shoddy at times as well, with certain shots containing random camera shaking that just seems to be an error rather then stylistic choice. Audio can be strange and distracting too, generally due to the fact that the film was shot silent and then the audio was recorded on set with a cheap recording device and synced later. Also, the story is pretty cheesy and is full of little plot holes that if you're paying attention will make you go "wait...what?".These cons do not completely take away from the pros however. I think there's a lot to be respected about this film, due to how cheap it was made. There are occasionally shots that are quote impressive and well thought out. While the story is kinda cheesy, it does get you interested when things start to heat up. There's almost a kind of fun aspect to the film where you see certain things and wonder to yourself how they were done on such a cheap budget. It's a great first film and is an interesting film for people who want to create their own, due to the fact that it was created so cheap and creatively. It's an example of how you can start off small, but become big.

SnoopyStyle El Mariachi plays his guitar but is mistaken for a hit men. Lot of thugs with guns keep trying to kill him. The story isn't the big draw of this movie. It's really just an excuse to shot a lot of guns and make an action movie. Robert Rodriguez signals his arrival with this well shot indie. Sure the big draw when it came out was the low low cost of production. That didn't matter when it comes to the value of the camera work. Even the most benign scenes are shot in an exciting compelling way. It's a great sample of what Rodriguez would do in Hollywood later on.I recently watched it again after almost 20 years. I have to admit that I don't remember the narration or the dubbing. They sounded odd to me. It's very distracting.

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com It is a surprise to see how far director Rodriguez has come from this movie. This particular movie involves probably the least amount of blood. But either way, it is still entertaining, even if it has English subtitles. I liked the majority of the film except for a few parts.This movie is the story of the guitar player, El Mariachi, who became the vigilante that he was from Desperado (1995) that Antonio Banderas starred in. Everything is explained. From why he became what he became, and how it happened. This movie is not particularly the jolliest of all films. Neither was Desperado (1995) but it did thread in some humor every now and then that did enlighten the spirits. This movie does have a little of it but the story is more focused on the main character itself.Carlos Gallardo plays the original Mariachi, as is his original "girl friend", Domino, played by Consuelo Gomez. Both look great together as did Banderas and Hayek did in the sequel. But because the way the story is told, love never develops. Unfortunately, that was one of the things I wish did occur. However, I can't complain because it led up to a nice sequel. Turns out though, the beginning of the Mariachi's story is quite tragic. Like I said before, it explains everything.The fact that the actors spoke Spanish throughout the movie didn't bother me at all. I am grateful that there were English subtitles because I could still follow what was happening and what was being said. I also enjoyed listening to the dialog in Spanish. It's not often you run into a foreign film when you're in a English speaking nation. Every Spanish word that I heard sounded new and attractive, no matter what mouth it came out of.The music, which had many composers, sounded alright too. It wasn't as memorable as the soundtrack provided by Los Lobos in Desperado (1995) but it still had a good beat. Something I got confused over were the dream sequences that El Mariachi had. What did they represent? Past events? Was the child a younger version of him? Why the severed head? What did that mean? These nightmares were never addressed and there for left me frustrated because I did not understand the meaning of it.The introduction of the Mariachi franchise has the same trademarks by Robert Rodriguez but is also much different. Although it's in Spanish, it's still fun to watch and listen, even if the story is tragic.