The Matador (2005)

A globetrotting hitman and a crestfallen businessman meet in a hotel bar in Mexico City in an encounter that draws them together in a way neither expected.

Director:

Richard Shepard

Writer:

Richard Shepard

Stars:

Pierce Brosnan, Arlin Miller, Greg Kinnear

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pierce Brosnan	...	Julian Noble
Arlin Miller	...	Radio DJ (voice)
Azucena Medina	...	Young Denver Fling
Jonah Meyerson	...	Ten Year Old Boy
Wiveca Bonerais	...	Ten Year Old Boy's Mother
Greg Kinnear	...	Danny Wright
Hope Davis	...	Carolyn 'Bean' Wright
Adam Scott	...	Phil Garrison
Portia Dawson	...	Genevive
Roberto Sosa	...	Skinny Mexican Man
Antonio Zavala Kugler	...	Hotel Bartender 1
Ramon Alvarez	...	Shooting Stand Owner
Luz Maria Molina	...	School Girl
Philip Baker Hall	...	Mr. Randy
Carolyn Horwitz	...	Cantina Turista #1

Storyline

A chance encounter between a travelling salesman and a lonely hitman triggers a strangely profound relationship which provokes each to act in ways neither would have imagined possible. Fate steps in to form a friendship between two men from irreconcilable worlds that will alter the lives of both forever.

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Plot Keywords:

mexico city | bar | hitman | mexico | drink | 

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Taglines:

A hitman and a salesman walk into a bar...

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [us] Official site [ru]

Country:

USA Germany Ireland

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

27 January 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Matador

Filming Locations:

Centro Histórico, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$37,999 (Argentina) (17 March 2006)

Gross:

$12,570,442 (USA) (17 March 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stratus Film Co., DEJ Productions, Equity Pictures Medienfonds GmbH & Co. KG II

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Hope Davis was pregnant during the filming of the movie.

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Goofs

When Julian and Danny are at the bullfight, Danny is wearing a light blue shirt and khaki pants. Afterwards when they're both having a drink at the outdoor cafe, Danny appears to be wearing a yellow button down shirt under his jacket with dark blue pants. The scene immediately after, when Danny is sitting on the floor listening to a message from his partner, he is back to wearing the light blue shirt and khaki pants.

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Quotes

Julian Noble: I need a break. There's no retirement home for assassins is there? Archery at four. Riflery at five.

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Crazy Credits

"The filmmakers do not condone bullfighting, but respect its long tradition in the Mexican culture. It was extremely important to the producers that no bulls were harmed because of the production of 'The Matador'. In no way did the producers of this film create, arrange or organize any of the bullfights seen within this movie. Sequences staged by the producers employed fake and computer-generated bulls exclusively. Absolutely no animals were harmed by the production of this movie."

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #18.37 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Bandido"
Written by Daniel Indart
Performed by Mariachi La Estrella
Courtesy of LMS Records

User Reviews

The sweetest hit-man-buddy movie I've ever seen.

THE MATADOR is hit-man movie lite....if you can say that about a hit-man movie. The violence is never really shown but often introduced. At first I was scared I was in for another retread of mid-90s gangster-hit-man-hipster-dark comedy BUT was happily surprised when I realized this is just a sweet and humorous story about friendship. Nothing terribly exciting happens in this film but every bit of it is kept me grinning. The three leads have the best chemistry the big screen has offered in recent years and it looks like they had a great time making this film together. The writing is sharp though at times it felt as if the script had been adapted from a stage play because of the one set dialog scenes. This is a good film that I probably won't remember for too long but at the time it was a complete joy. Good film.