IMDb > The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
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The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 51 | slideshow) Videos (see all 9)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) -- Ranch hand Pete Perkins looks to fulfill the promise to his recently deceased best friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) -- Ranch hand Pete Perkins looks to fulfill the promise to his recently deceased best friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) -- Ranch hand Pete Perkins looks to fulfill the promise to his recently deceased best friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) -- Ranch hand Pete Perkins looks to fulfill the promise to his recently deceased best friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) -- AllTrailers.net - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
7.6/10   17,291 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 18% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writer (WGA):
Guillermo Arriaga (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
3 February 2006 (USA) more
Tagline:
Nobody is beyond redemption. more
Plot:
Ranch hand Pete Perkins looks to fulfill the promise to his recently deceased best friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
4 wins & 7 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(21 articles)
Why I love the world's worst film critic | Stuart McGurk
 (From The Guardian - Film News. 30 November 2009, 6:32 AM, PST)

Pearce Joins The Hungry Rabbit Jumps
 (From EmpireOnline. 25 November 2009, 2:35 AM, PST)

User Comments:
Shades of 'Unforgiven'! more (185 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Three Burials: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Australia) (DVD box title) (UK) (DVD box title)
The 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada (USA) (alternative spelling)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (International: English title)
Trois enterrements (France)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for language, violence and sexuality.
Runtime:
121 min | Argentina:121 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival) | Turkey:107 min (TV version)
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Netherlands:12 | Ireland:15A | Brazil:14 | Argentina:16 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Canada:14A (Ontario) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Germany:12 (f) | USA:R (No. 42191) | Finland:K-13
Company:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Cameo: ['Guillermo Arriaga']a helpful Mexican vaquero more
Goofs:
Continuity: The alcohol given to Mike Norton by the Mexican bear hunters is caramel colored. Later, after the third burial, the alcohol is now dark brown. more
Quotes:
Mike Norton: [reassuring Lou Ann] Your my red hot mamma... more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Mujeres en el parque (2006) more
Soundtrack:
Workin' Man Blues more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
103 out of 124 people found the following comment useful.
Shades of 'Unforgiven'!, 30 November 2005
8/10
Author: janos451 from San Francisco

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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