Desperado (1995)

Former musician and gunslinger El Mariachi arrives at a small Mexican border town after being away for a long time. His past quickly catches up with him and he soon gets entangled with the local drug kingpin Bucho and his gang.

Director:

Robert Rodriguez

Writer:

Robert Rodriguez

Stars:

Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Joaquim de Almeida

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Antonio Banderas	...	El Mariachi
Salma Hayek	...	Carolina
Joaquim de Almeida	...	Bucho
Cheech Marin	...	Short Bartender
Steve Buscemi	...	Buscemi
Carlos Gómez	...	Right Hand (as Carlos Gomez)
Quentin Tarantino	...	Pick-up Guy
Tito Larriva	...	Tavo
Angel Aviles	...	Zamira
Danny Trejo	...	Navajas
Abraham Verduzco	...	Niño
Carlos Gallardo	...	Campa
Albert Michel Jr.	...	Quino
David Alvarado	...	Buddy
Angela Lanza	...	Tourist Girl

Storyline

Director Robert Rodriguez picks up where his successful independent debut El Mariachi left off with this slam-bang South of the Border action saga. Bucho (Joaquim DeAlmeida) is a wealthy but casually bloodthirsty drug kingpin who rules a seedy Mexican border town. Bucho and his men make the mistake of angering El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), a former musician who now carries an arsenal in his guitar case. Bucho was responsible for the death of El Mariachi's girlfriend and put a bullet through his fretting hand, making him unable to play the guitar. Bent on revenge, the musician-turned-killing machine arrives in town to put Bucho out of business, though he finds few allies except for Carolina (Salma Hayek), who runs a bookstore that doesn't seem to attract many readers. Desperado features supporting performances from Cheech Marin as a cynical bartender, Steve Buscemi as the cantina patron who sets up the story, and Quentin Tarantino as a man with a really terrible joke to tell.

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Plot Keywords:

contemporary western | mexican | one against many | lone wolf | musician | 

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Taglines:

The explosive new film from Robert Rodriguez

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, a strong sex sequence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The MPAA originally gave the movie an NC 17 rating. Many deaths and action scenes had to be heavily cut down for an R rating. These include the death scenes of Pick Up guy and his friend at the bar and the death of Danny Trejo's character. By far the most major excision came at the end of the film, which originally contained a large-scale shootout between El Mariachi, Carolina, Bucho and his thugs at Bucho's mansion. However, owing to the amount of footage the MPAA demanded be removed from the scene, Rodriguez elected to remove the sequence in its entirety, giving the film its final fade-out ending. Two additional scenes were also deleted featuring the "crotch-gun" (seen in the guitar case). Originally, the gun was used by El Mariachi during the second bar shootout when he uses it to shoot the pony tailed thug in the balls before whipping out his pistols from his sleeves and finishing him off. In a second deleted scene, the crotch gun went off accidentally while Banderas is in bed with Hayek, blowing a hole through the guitar that they were playing.

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Goofs

As the new guy is shooting down the knife thrower, the last 2 shots are heard, however the gun looks empty and with the slide open.

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Quotes

[El has just walked out of the confessional booth]
Priest: Did you want confession?
El Mariachi: Heh? Well, maybe later, Father. 'Cause where I am going, I'd just have to come right back.

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Alternate Versions

Finnish video version is cut by 38 seconds.

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Connections

Referenced in 14 Blades (2010)

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Soundtracks

Chinese Surprize
Written by David Hidalgo & Louie Perez (as Louis Perez)
Performed by Latin Playboys
Courtesy of Slash/Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Robert Rodriguez's sequel-cum-remake of El Mariachi.

Desperado (1995) was a fun and big budgeted version of Desperado. Robert Rodriguez has fun with the film and the characters from El MARIACHI. Antonio Banderas stars as the mythical El Mariachi whilst Salma Hayyek co-stars as his love interest. Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Steve Buscemi and Quentin Tarantino are among the other stars who make guest star appearances.

El Mariachi is hiding out in another small desert town. He's become a legendary vigilante who's still seeking out justice for his dead girlfriend. He has a companion (Steve Buscemi) who helps him out find those who were connected to the boss from the first film. During one of his hits, a hired gun from another crime family comes into town (Danny Trejo). He also fits the description of El Mariachi (somewhat). A local book dealer (Salma Hayek) crosses paths with the legendary crime fighter. Who is the man behind all of El Mariachi's sorrow? Why is he so desperate to single handedly trying to crush the crime in the area? How does he do it by himself? Is he that good? To find out the answers for all of these questions you'll just have to watch DESPERADO.

A fun second parter to EL MARIACHI. Unlike most sequels, you don't need to watch the first film to enjoy this one. It's just another entertaining film that'll burn some time. Enjoy!

Highly recommended.

Details

Country:

USA Mexico

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

25 August 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

El Mariachi 2

Filming Locations:

Coahuíla, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,910,446, 27 August 1995

Gross USA:

$25,405,445

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$25,405,445

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Los Hooligans Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (as Dolby Stereo SR) SDDS (8 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1