A traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.A traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.A traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
67K
YOUR RATING
- Awards
- 7 wins & 4 nominations
Videos1
Ramiro Gómez
- Cantineroas Cantinero
- (as Ramiro Gomez)
Jesús López
- Viejo Clerkas Viejo Clerk
- (as Jesus Lopez)
Luis Baró
- Domino's Assistantas Domino's Assistant
- (as Luis Baro)
Poncho Ramón
- Azul's Ratas Azul's Rat
- (as Poncho Ramon)
Fernando Martínez
- Azul's Ratas Azul's Rat
- (as Fernando Martinez)
Jaime R. Rodríguez
- Moco's Menas Moco's Men
- (as Jaime Rodriguez)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
El Mariachi just wants to play his guitar and carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, the town he tries to find work in has another visitor...a killer who carries his guns in a guitar case. The drug lord and his henchmen mistake El Mariachi for the killer, Azul, and chase him around town trying to kill him and get his guitar case. —Josh Pasnak <chainsaw@intouch.bc.ca>
- Taglines
- With a guitar in his hand and a price on his head, he wasn't looking for trouble...but trouble came looking for him.
- Genres
- Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
- Rated R for strong violence
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaRobert Rodriguez was producer, director, writer, special-effect man, etc, the only job he didn't do was act, as there would be no one else to operate the camera.
- GoofsFairly early in the movie, Azul insists he only killed six of Moco's men, while Moco insists ten and the other four are credited to El Mariachi. Actually, Azul is responsible for the death seven of the men (the three hitmen in the opening, four in the bar) and Mariachi is responsible for three (two in the truck, one beside, leaving one unconscious).
- Quotes
[last lines]
El Mariachi: [voiceover] All I wanted was to be a mariachi, like my ancestors. But the city I thought would bring me luck brought only a curse. I lost my guitar, my hand, and her. With this injury, I may never play the guitar again. Without her, I have no love. But with the dog and the weapons, I'm prepared for the future.
- Crazy creditsTurtle... Tito La Tortuga
- Alternate versionsIn addition to the subtitled version, Columbia had an English dubbed version prepared for home video release in the United States.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Anti-Hero's Journey (2004)
- SoundtracksGanas De Vivir
Written and Performed by Juan Francisco Suarez Vidaurri (as Juan Suarez)
Top review
Its a good small budget film
I have loved some of Robert Rodriguez's later works like Sin City, so I was pretty excited to see this movie.
The movie is extremely small budget and it really feels like it is more expensive than that. I mean, Robert Rodriguez makes this movie look like it had much more money spent on it, and that is because of his creativity and resourcefulness.
The directing is really good. I loved many of the shots and scenes in this movie and the way they are edited.
My problem with the film or at least my dilemma is... I just find this movie OK. The main actor and character itself is pretty lousy, the movie is too long for its own good, and the story is just OK.
Many people argue that this might be justified because of the low budget. But I do believe that all of the story problems don't have anything to do with the budget. It is not as if I don't like low-budget films, I LOVE "The Evil Dead" and other low-budget films. I just find this movie uneventful, and sometimes boring.
I think this film is the kind of film you should only watch once and move on with your life. I do recommend you to watch it though.
The movie is extremely small budget and it really feels like it is more expensive than that. I mean, Robert Rodriguez makes this movie look like it had much more money spent on it, and that is because of his creativity and resourcefulness.
The directing is really good. I loved many of the shots and scenes in this movie and the way they are edited.
My problem with the film or at least my dilemma is... I just find this movie OK. The main actor and character itself is pretty lousy, the movie is too long for its own good, and the story is just OK.
Many people argue that this might be justified because of the low budget. But I do believe that all of the story problems don't have anything to do with the budget. It is not as if I don't like low-budget films, I LOVE "The Evil Dead" and other low-budget films. I just find this movie uneventful, and sometimes boring.
I think this film is the kind of film you should only watch once and move on with your life. I do recommend you to watch it though.
helpful•31
- patomartinezfgo
- May 20, 2017
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $7,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $2,040,920
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $312,528
- Feb 28, 1993
- Gross worldwide
- $2,040,920
- Runtime1 hour 21 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content

Recently viewed
Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.