Memorable quotes for
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) More at IMDbPro »

Agent Sands: Are you a Mexi-CAN or a Mexi-CAN'T?
Cucuy: I'm a Mexi-CAN
Agent Sands: Good. Then do as I say.
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Agent Sands: [Hands the bar keep a lunch box] I couldn't find a briefcase small enough for 10,000 dollars.
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Agent Sands: Why? Why would I want that? Why would I want bubblegum?
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[El meets Cucuy in the middle of town]
Cucuy: There's cartel on every corner.
El Mariachi: Sands told me you handle protection.
Cucuy: I don't work for Sands anymore. And since I'm a Mexi-can, I can do whatever I want.
El Mariachi: Then I guess I don't work for Sands neither. Goodbye.
[Cucuy grabs his arm]
Cucuy: There's a price on your head. I'm going to collect. Why don't you just tell Barillo everything you know and then maybe he'll just cut off your hands.
El Mariachi: And if I don't?
Cucuy: Remember that old man I killed in your village? What if your whole village was next?
El Mariachi: Would you kill them?
Cucuy: Me?
[Points to his men]
Cucuy: They certainly would.
El Mariachi: Then I guess I have no choice... but to kill you all.
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[upon finding something hidden in a corpse's hollow eye socket]
Agent Sands: Well, I guess I should thank you for not sticking it up your ass.
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Left Nut: I was tortured once... I didn't like it. You know what the really fucked up part was? They tore out my left nut. That really turned me off to the whole thing.
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[last lines]
Carolina: [in Spanish]
[subtitled version]
Carolina: What do you want in life?
El Mariachi: To be free...
Carolina: Simple.
El Mariachi: No.
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[first lines]
Agent Sands: I never heard of him.
Belini: Who?
Agent Sands: The man you recommended.
Belini: The guitar fighter?
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[standing in front of Sands with no eyes]
Ajedrez: See anything you like?
[shoots her in the stomach]
Agent Sands: No.
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Agent Sands: Okay, Okay. I'm going to freak right out.
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El Mariachi: You want me to shoot the cook?
Agent Sands: No. I'll shoot the cook. My car's parked out back, anyway.
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[after giving Belini $10,000 in cash in exchange for information]
Sands: Just for my own edification, I offered you fifty. Why'd you say no?
Belini: I'm not a greedy man. Not looking to get rich quick. Besides, fifty thousand is a lot for what you wanted me to find out. Could just as well put a bullet in my head as cough it up, see? But ten? Ten thousand is civilized. Ten is something we both can live with.
Sands: Ten might still be too much.
Belini: You'd kill me over ten thousand dollars? You wouldn't dare. You wouldn't dare.
[leaves]
Sands: [whispers] Yes, I would.
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[trapped on the upper floor of a hotel by Marquez's men]
El Mariachi: Any suggestions, Ms. "Why don't we get a room on the 5th floor so we can see the beautiful sunset"?
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Agent Sands: Mexico's my beat, and I'm walking it.
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Agent Sands: Can you hear me now?... Fucking bells...
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Cab Driver: Look out there, its a fucking coup d'Ètat.
Agent Sands: I can't see, fuck-mook. I have no eyes.
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Jorge FBI: Hey!
[waves cell phone at Sands and tosses it to him. Sands catches]
Jorge FBI: See you later.
Agent Sands: Fuck you.
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Agent Sands: [talking about El Mariachi] Does it have a name?
Cucuy: We call him "El". As in "the".
Agent Sands: I know what it means, thank you.
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Soldier: The Mariachi has escaped.
Marquez: You too will escape.
[shoots him]
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Agent Sands: That spill just cost you your life.
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Agent Sands: I want you to put the hurtin', so to speak, on Marques after he's killed the president. Savvy?
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Lorenzo: Practice shooting, not drinking.
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Agent Sands: I want you to have a bite of my pork.
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[the Barillo Cartel has captured Sands]
Agent Sands: I feel its only fair to warn you, that killing me is crossing the line and you will have every single Marine from here to Guantanamo Bay up your keester mister, so just know that.
Barillo: Fortunately for you, nothing you did is worth dying for. You have only seen too much. We are going to make sure this does not happen again.
[the Doctor picks up a drill and moves it toward Sand's eyes]
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Agent Sands: [pulls out a gun] Have you ever seen one of these? Have you ever used one? Don't ever because, they're very very bad. But right now I need you to aim it at the bad guy who's following us, and shoot him in the head.
Chicle Boy: Matalo?
Agent Sands: Oh yeah. Very matalo.
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Marquez: Carolina?
El Mariachi: [in Spanish] She died.
Marquez: [in Spanish] Your daughter?
El Mariachi: [in Spanish] She died.
Marquez: [in Spanish] You?
El Mariachi: [in Spanish] Dead.
Marquez: [in Spanish] And me?
El Mariachi: [in Spanish] Alive and well.
[Marquez draws a gun, El Mariachi draws and fires, and Marquez falls wounded. El Mariachi walks up and places his gun to Marquez's head]
El Mariachi: [in Spanish] In hell.
[Kills him]
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El Presidente: Who are you guys?
El Mariachi: Sons of Mexico, sir.
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Sands: Oh yeah, things may get a wee bit dangerous there sugarbutt so... can you dig it?
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Ajedrez: [Sands burst through the door after picking the lock] You're gonna pay for that cop.
Sands: Why doesn't my key work any more?
Ajedrez: It's too small.
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Fideo: The man who wants nothing is invincible, cabron.
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El Mariachi: Go practice.
Fideo: Practice playing or shooting?
El Mariachi: What do you think?
Fideo: I don't think, I drink.
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Agent Sands: Bullfights. Bull hockey. Do you like this? The bull is stabbed, prodded, beaten. The bull is wounded. The bull is tired before the matador ever steps into the ring. Now, is that victory? Of course it is. Wanna know the secret to winning? Creative sportsmanship. In other words, one has to rig the game.
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Sands: You're a good rat. I like you.
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Agent Sands: El, you really must try this because it's puerco pibil. It's a slow-roasted pork, nothing fancy. It just happens to be my favorite, and I order it with a tequila and lime in every dive I go to in this country. And honestly, that is the best it's ever been anywhere. In fact, it's too good. It's so good that when I'm finished, I'll pay my check, walk straight into the kitchen and shoot the cook. Because that's what I do. I restore the balance to this country. And that is what I would like from you right now. Help keep the balance by pulling the trigger.
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El Mariachi: Why me?
Sands: Frankly, because you've got nothing to live for... and in a way you're already dead and Marquez is the one that killed you so why not return the favor?
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Sands: Belini... How long have you and I done business together? A long time. And in a way, I almost, could have the tiniest smidgen of respect for you. Almost. But you need to stop farting around. Now, do you have the information on Barillo or do you not?
Belini: I have what you need. I'm just enjoying this temporary position of power. That make you nervous?
Sands: You know that withholding vital information from a federal officer is a serious offence. Especially when that officer has paid handsomely for it and wouldn't think twice about ripping that patch off your eye hole and skull-fucking you to death.
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Chicle Boy: Are you going to be OK?
Agent Sands: I don't know kid, I don't know.
Chicle Boy: You will be.
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Agent Sands: You know that withholding vital information from a federal officer is a serious offense. Especially when that officer has paid handsomely for it and wouldn't think twice about ripping that patch off your eyehole and skull-fucking you to death.
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Sands: My name is Sheldon Jeffery Sands. I work for the Central Intelligence Agency. I throw shapes. I throw shapes, I set them up, I watch them fall. I'm living la vida loca.
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Billy: You want me to break his fingers?
Barillo: No. I want you to chop them off.
Billy: I was making a joke.
Barillo: I wasn't.
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Agent Sands: This is no time to screw the pooch, because this is supposed to be the big dance number, all right?
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Belini: This story is well-traveled. It might have picked up some embellishments along the way. Just read between the lines.
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Sands: You're about a quart low.
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[El Mariachi takes a piece of pork from Sands' plate and chews it]
Sands: Was I right?
[El Mariachi spits out the piece of pork in disgust]
Sands: Hmmm. Guess not.
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Agent Sands: [In Marlon Brando Voice] Failure to appear at meetings at designated times will result in forfeiture of protection... protection you will definitely need.
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Carolina: What's wrong?
El Mariachi: [sees soldiers approaching] Everything.
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Agent Sands: Look me in the eyes... and then kill me.
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Cucuy: The man I work for, Mr. Sands, is hiring El Mariachi to kill General Marquez.
Barillo: So you want to join us. First you must understand. There is the bait and there is the trade.
Cucuy: So El Mariachi is the trade?
Barillo: You are.
[Billy Chambers strangles and kills Cucuy]
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Advisor: I am not the prince, I am the man behind the prince.
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Belini: People say he was the biggest Mexican they'd ever seen... he was 5 9, 5 10 tops, it was no record, but bigger than most of us
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Advisor: [throws up after accepting a bribe] Every goddamn time.
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[the boy in Spanish]
Chicle Boy: Is someone following you?
[Sands just got his eyes removed]
Agent Sands: Well, it's a little difficult for me to tell right now, because I'm kinda having a bad day.
[Slams his head against the wall]
Agent Sands: Ouch.
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Agent Sands: [referring to the man that the Boy spots following Sands] Is he close?
Chicle Boy: Si.
Agent Sands: [gives him a gun] Ok. Smoke him... Smoke the fucker! Send him straight to fucking Broadway.
Chicle Boy: [hesitates] No Puedo.
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Agent Sands: [On The Phone] Listen, I cannot do everything by myself. I need someone to go in there with me. No! I lost my inside man, probably dead. And Cucuy, greedy turd that he is, has ratted me out and has dissapeared. Plus, I'm pretty sure the Cartel's shadowing me. Now, listen. I have got a swell bunch of guys going to intercept Marquez's army, but they've got no guns! Now listen. I want you to understand me. This is no time to screw the pooch because this is supposed to be the big dance number. Hello? Hello, are you there? Ok, ok I'm going to freak right out!
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[Enters the Restaurant and Sits Down]
Agent Sands: I will have the puerco pibil and a tequila with lime.
[Now on the phone]
Agent Sands: Yeah, I need a new line. This one's been compromised. Okay? Thank you. I'll be waiting here at La Vaca Volanda...
[Ajedrez, accompanied by Dr. Guevara and a few Cartel lackeys enter behind Sands. Ajedrez sits across from Sands]
Agent Sands: ...that's right, the flying... cow.
[He hangs up]
Ajedrez: You really didn't see it coming, did you?
[Dr. Guevara stabs Sands in the neck with a needle]
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Billy: [Billy is meeting Blascoe at the Barillo Estate] You know, if I was you, son, I'd turn around and go back right now. Go back to where I came from. Instead of selling my mind and soul to these cocksuckers. You speak English?
Blascoe: [Shakes his head no]
Billy: [sighs] I didn't think so. Come on, let's go.
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[Sands has been captured by the Barillo cartel]
Ajedrez: Sorry, baby. I told you I wasn't interested in your little scheme. Too small.
Agent Sands: [Noticing the bandaged Barillo] Oh my Christ. Is that Barillo?
Ajedrez: That's the new Barillo. The old Barillo died in surgery a few hours ago.
Agent Sands: What kind of cartel would have you running its operations?
Ajedrez: I'm his daughter.
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Jorge FBI: [Talking into his tape recorder] Barillo and Dr. Guevara should be inside of the building, having entered from the back or basement. They should be
[looks at his watch]
Jorge FBI: mid-procedure by now.
[Screeching tires, a black sedan and a black suv stop in front of the hospital, suited men armed with rifles run into the hospital, followed by more officers clad in 'AFN' vests]
Jorge FBI: Federale agents... this is going down now
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[Billy confronts Barillo in the President's Building]
Jorge FBI: Do you remember a man named Archuleta?
Barillo: Why?
Billy: [Pulling his dog out from behind his back and stepping aside to reveal Jorge] I present to you Special Agent Jorge Ramirez.
Jorge FBI: Archuleta was my partner. You killed him.
Barillo: Agent Ramirez. You have to follow certain rules...
Jorge FBI: Oh, I'm retired. Rules don't apply to me any more than they do to you.
Barillo: Mr. Chambers?
Billy: [nonchalantly] Yes, sir?
Barillo: You just going to stand there?
Billy: I'm afraid anything but standing's going to cost you extra.
Barillo: [Nods to Dr. Guevara, the reaches for his gun] You leave me no choice!
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