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The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)

7.5
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Ratings: 7.5/10 from 26,671 users   Metascore: 77/100
Reviews: 190 user | 166 critic | 35 from Metacritic.com

Ranch hand Pete Perkins looks to fulfill the promise to his recently deceased best friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico.

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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Melquiades Estrada (as Julio César Cedillo)
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Rachel
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Rosa
Ignacio Guadalupe ...
Lucio
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Mariana
Irineo Alvarez ...
Manuel (as Irineo Álvarez)
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Juan
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Border Patrolman
...
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Storyline

A man is shot and quickly buried in the high desert of west Texas. The body is found and reburied in Van Horn's town cemetery. Pete Perkins, a local ranch foreman, kidnaps a Border Patrolman and forces him to disinter the body. With his captive in tow and the body tied to a mule, Pete undertakes a dangerous and quixotic journey into Mexico. Written by Anonymous

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

mexico | promise | journey | cemetery | friend | See more »

Taglines:

For justice. For loyalty. For friendship. See more »


Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, violence and sexuality | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Official Sites:

Country:

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Language:

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Release Date:

3 February 2006 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Los tres entierros de Melquiades Estrada  »

Filming Locations:

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Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£82,586 (UK) (31 March 2006)

Gross:

$5,023,275 (USA) (2 June 2006)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

| | (TV)

Sound Mix:

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Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Director/Actor Jones gave each cast member a copy of Albert Camus' "The Stranger" to read so that they would understand alienation, a big theme in both the novel and the film. See more »

Goofs

Pepper's hair doesn't change in length for the entire stretch of his kidnapping. See more »

Quotes

[Pete is forcing Mike to sleep besides the body of Melquiades Estrada]
Mike Norton: Hey! Hey, you!
Pete Perkins: My name is Pete.
Mike Norton: Well, Pete, the ants are eating your friend.
See more »

Crazy Credits

The title of the film and the various title cards are in both English and Spanish. See more »


Soundtracks

"I Wonder Who'll Turn Out The Lights (In Your World Tonight)"
(2004)
Written by Mack Vickery (as Vickery) / Wayne Kemp (as Kemp)
Performed by Bobby Flores
© Sony / ATV Tree Publishing
(from the Bobby Flores album "Festival Favorites" on Yellow Rose Records)
Drums: Jim Loessberg, Bass: Jake Hooker, Piano: Randy Reinhard, Steel Guitar: Dicky Overbey,
Guitars, Vocals: Bobby Flores
Recorded at B.G.M. Studio in San Antonio, TX.
Recorded for Yellow Rose Records, LLC.
Exec. Producer: Al Michalczak,
Produced by Bobby Flores, Mixed by Bill Green & Bobby Flores
See more »

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User Reviews

 
Shades of 'Unforgiven'!
30 November 2005 | by (San Francisco) – See all my reviews

Ay, carramba! A diablo of a marketing challenge: a bilingual movie, with an impossible-to-remember title, a story of white trash, Mexican wetbacks (that's the film's language), cruel Border Patrol "cowboys," and Tommy Lee Jones as the director and the uniquely memorable lead character... and a film that's one of the year's best.

"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" opens with a somewhat confusing sequence of flashbacks, and for the first half hour, you wish you were watching something more "orderly," but you'll be hooked anyway. For the next hour and a half, however, there is a crescendo of images and situations hitting the viewer over the head, amazing and moving.

Taking the corpse of a friend - and his very much alive killer - back to Mexico for a "proper burial" and to mete out justice, Jones' voyage is a quirky, epic adventure, based on the brilliant writing of Guillermo Arriaga (of "21 Grams"), and filmed to perfection by Chris Menges (of "The Killing Fields" and "The Mission").

Besides Jones (who won the 2005 Cannes Festival best actor award for this), "3 Burials" features fabulous performances by Barry Pepper ("25 Hours"), Julio Cedillo, and a large group of remarkable supporting actors on both sides of the border.

Jones says something in the production notes that could sound arrogant or affected... except that it's true: "Some visual influences have been the kabuki theater, the art of Donald Judd and Dan Flavin, and the films of Akira Kurasawa, Sam Peckinpah, and Jean-Luc Godard." Amen.


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Recent Posts
Why was there no Jimenez and why the fake family picture? decflatte
Pity For Mike (Pepper)? muse83
Why didn't he shoot? mastholte
The most heartbreaking scene ever.... thirtymiles
Tommy Lee Jones's Spanish TheFlickChick
Manslaughter or murder? albertoribas

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