EL MARIACHI
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Date Released: Limited Release begins 3/93 Running Length: 1:24 Rated: R (Mature themes, violence)
Starring: Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gomez, Peter Marquardt, Reinol Martinez Director: Robert Rodriguez Producers: Robert Rodriguez and Carlos Gallardo Screenplay: Robert Rodriguez Released by Columbia Pictures Spanish with English Subtitles
The title character of EL MARIACHI is the mariachi (Carlos Gallardo), an itinerant musician who goes from town to town in Mexico looking for a new place to play his music. Dressed in black and carrying his guitar in a case, he inquires at various bars and restaurants if they will hire him. Unfortunately for the mariachi, Azul (Reinol Martinez) has just broken out of prison and is on his way to kill crime boss Roco (Peter Marquardt). No one except Roco has seen Azul, so the description of the escaped criminal is sparse: he dresses in black and carries a guitar case (which, instead of containing a musical instrument, has a selection of knives and guns). An obvious case of mistaken identity arises as Roco's thugs think the mariachi is Azul. Suddenly, the simple musician is on the run from men trying to gun him down. Fortunately for the mariachi, he finds a sympathetic ear in the person of Domino (Consuelo Gomez), but her introduction into his life only adds new and previously unforeseen complications.
EL MARIACHI is the $7000 wonder. For less money than many television commercials are budgeted at, Robert Rodriguez took his crew down to Mexico and filmed a tightly-gripping, eminently entertaining thriller that outdoes most of what Hollywood is putting out today at costs three orders of magnitude greater. This is proof positive, if any be needed, that film quality should not be measured by the amount of money put into a production.
EL MARIACHI is an old-fashioned thriller based on a case of mistaken identity. It's the kind of film that Humphrey Bogart might have been at home in. The only noticeable difference between this movie and something produced in the 1940s is the level of graphic violence. Rodriguez doesn't pull any punches when it comes to showing people getting shot. There's enough blood and gore in this film to earn it an R rating.
The script is clever, and, although the plot occasionally relies upon contrivances, these instances are no more frequent or glaring than in most other modern action films. They are perhaps more noticeable in EL MARIACHI because of the consistently high quality of the writing.
Thrillers are expected to deliver a lot of pulse-pounding action, and EL MARIACHI complies without difficulty. The elements of exploitation in this film, while present, are kept to a minimum - on Rodriguez' budget, anything else would have been impossible. For the most part, the characters are not three-dimensional, but they have enough quirks to give them more personality than the average stock action film creation. Numerous moments of irony and humor keep the movie from descending too deeply into grimness.
On only a few occasions is it obvious that Rodriguez is a novice director working on a limited budget. For the most part, EL MARIACHI appears like a professional film produced for a sizable amount of money. It doesn't look Hollywood - the subtitles and the cleverness of the script make that much obvious - but neither does it look like the $7000 creation of a film student.
The actors, all of them complete unknowns (and friends of Rodriguez), have some ability, especially Consuelo Gomez. But whether they make another film appearance or not, we can only look forward with baited breath for the director's next project. If he can do as much, or more, with a bigger budget (Columbia has signed him to a contract), we may be in for a real treat. Until then, EL MARIACHI is an excellent introduction to the talent of Robert Rodriguez, and a truly remarkable film in its own right.
Rating: 8.6 (A-, ***)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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