Mexico Trilogy
Encyclopedia
The Mexico Trilogy or Mariachi Trilogy (also Desperado Trilogy on some DVD releases) is a series of films— El Mariachi
, Desperado
and Once Upon a Time in Mexico
—all written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez
, beginning in 1992
and ending in 2003
, and distributed by Columbia Tristar
. The films tell the continuing story of the movies' main character, "El Mariachi".
home video market to hone his skills as a director. Quentin Tarantino
, a friend of Rodriguez, is reported to have said to Rodriguez that El Mariachi and Desperado were the start of his Dollars Trilogy
, the trilogy of Western films
directed by Sergio Leone
consisting of A Fistful of Dollars
, For a Few Dollars More
, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
. Rodriguez agreed on this idea, and the resulting conclusion of the trilogy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico
, has many similarities with its Spaghetti Western
counterpart. This is often the explanation of, and reason behind, the inclusion of much more screen-time and story centered around different characters other than El Mariachi within Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
). Reportedly Rodriguez got some funds for the film by offering himself up as a human guinea pig to science labs. Other finances came in the form of prize money won by his short student film, Bedhead
, at film festival competitions.
Executives at Columbia Pictures
liked the film so much that they bought the rights to it for American distribution and eventually spent several times more than the film's original production budget on 35 millimeter film transfers, a marketing campaign and the eventual distribution/release of the film. It was so well received that they eventually chose to finance the second part of the trilogy, Desperado
, and subsequently the final chapter, Once Upon a Time in Mexico
.
El Mariachi
tells the story of an out-of-work musician, known simply as El Mariachi (Carlos Gallardo), traveling through Mexico. He arrives in a small border town, hoping to find work in some of the local cantinas and clubs. Unfortunately for the man, local hoodlums mistake him for a recently-escaped convict who has been hunting down his former associates with a guitar case filled with weapons. As the story progresses, Mariachi falls in love with a woman who helps him hide from those who are trying to kill him, and eventually sees her die at the hands of those same men. He seeks revenge for all he has been put through.
Desperado
continues El Mariachi's (now portrayed by Antonio Banderas
) quest for revenge where he finds a new love and quenches his thirst for revenge.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
revolves around a failed coup attempt on the President of Mexico wherein El Mariachi is the hero who saves him. El Mariachi also seeks revenge on the murderer who killed his wife.
) "creativity, not money, is used to solve problems." Thus, all three movies have been extremely profitable. El Mariachi was made for $7,000 and went on to gross more than $2 million in its theatrical release. Desperado was made for $7 million and grossed over $24.6 million in US theaters. Once Upon a Time in Mexico was made for $29 million and grossed over $56.3 million domestically and an additional $41.8 million worldwide and holds the box office distinction for being the most improved second sequel of all-time grossing 122% more than Desperado.
and the 1993 Deauville American Film Festival
and Best First Feature at the 1994 Independent Spirit Awards
. Desperado saw Salma Hayek
nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 1996 Saturn Awards, and was nominated for the Bronze Horse at the 1995 Stockholm Film Festival. Once Upon a Time in Mexico won two Imagen Foundation Awards for performances by Antonio Banderas
and Rubén Blades
, was nominated for two Satellite Awards
, winning Robert Rodriguez an award for Best Song ("Siente Mi Amor") and Johnny Depp
a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Comedy or Musical and the movies impressive stunts landed it two Taurus World Stunt Awards
nominations.
El Mariachi
El Mariachi is a 1992 Mexican-American action film that is the debut of writer/director Robert Rodriguez. The Spanish language film was shot in the northern Mexican bordertown of Ciudad Acuña with a mainly amateur cast...
, Desperado
Desperado (film)
Desperado is a 1995 action thriller film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film stars Antonio Banderas as the former mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover....
and Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a 2003 action film written, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is the final film in the "Mariachi Trilogy", which also includes El Mariachi and Desperado. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi...
—all written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
, beginning in 1992
1992 in film
The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...
and ending in 2003
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
, and distributed by Columbia Tristar
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. The films tell the continuing story of the movies' main character, "El Mariachi".
Origins
The trilogy was originally conceived as a way for Rodriguez to make three movies for the Spanish-languageSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
home video market to hone his skills as a director. Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, a friend of Rodriguez, is reported to have said to Rodriguez that El Mariachi and Desperado were the start of his Dollars Trilogy
Dollars Trilogy
The "Dollars Trilogy" , also known as the "Man with No Name Trilogy", refers to the three Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dollars , For a Few Dollars More , and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly .A Fistful of Dollars is an unofficial remake of...
, the trilogy of Western films
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
directed by Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
consisting of A Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars
A Fistful of Dollars is a 1964 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Sieghardt Rupp, José Calvo, Antonio Prieto, and Joseph Egger. Released in Italy in 1964 then in the United States in...
, For a Few Dollars More
For a Few Dollars More
For a Few Dollars More is a 1965 Italian spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Gian Maria Volonté. German actor Klaus Kinski also plays a supporting role as a secondary villain...
, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone...
. Rodriguez agreed on this idea, and the resulting conclusion of the trilogy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a 2003 action film written, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is the final film in the "Mariachi Trilogy", which also includes El Mariachi and Desperado. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi...
, has many similarities with its Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
counterpart. This is often the explanation of, and reason behind, the inclusion of much more screen-time and story centered around different characters other than El Mariachi within Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
Production
The trilogy began with the 1992 low-budget production of El Mariachi. The film was made on a budget of only US$7,000 using 16-millimeter film, was shot entirely in Mexico with a mostly amateur cast, and was originally intended to go directly to the Mexican home-video market (a process detailed in Rodriguez's book Rebel Without a CrewRebel Without a Crew
Rebel Without a Crew is a 1995 non-fiction book by Robert Rodriguez...
). Reportedly Rodriguez got some funds for the film by offering himself up as a human guinea pig to science labs. Other finances came in the form of prize money won by his short student film, Bedhead
Bedhead (short film)
Bedhead is a 1991 short family-comedy-fantasy film directed and co-written by Robert Rodriguez.Made while he was a student at the University of Texas at Austin, Rodriguez shot the film with his brothers and sisters as actors and with his family and friends as crew...
, at film festival competitions.
Executives at Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
liked the film so much that they bought the rights to it for American distribution and eventually spent several times more than the film's original production budget on 35 millimeter film transfers, a marketing campaign and the eventual distribution/release of the film. It was so well received that they eventually chose to finance the second part of the trilogy, Desperado
Desperado (film)
Desperado is a 1995 action thriller film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film stars Antonio Banderas as the former mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover....
, and subsequently the final chapter, Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a 2003 action film written, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is the final film in the "Mariachi Trilogy", which also includes El Mariachi and Desperado. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi...
.
Plots
A recurring theme of the Mexico Trilogy deals with El Mariachi being alone as all of his loved ones die in front of him.El Mariachi
El Mariachi
El Mariachi is a 1992 Mexican-American action film that is the debut of writer/director Robert Rodriguez. The Spanish language film was shot in the northern Mexican bordertown of Ciudad Acuña with a mainly amateur cast...
tells the story of an out-of-work musician, known simply as El Mariachi (Carlos Gallardo), traveling through Mexico. He arrives in a small border town, hoping to find work in some of the local cantinas and clubs. Unfortunately for the man, local hoodlums mistake him for a recently-escaped convict who has been hunting down his former associates with a guitar case filled with weapons. As the story progresses, Mariachi falls in love with a woman who helps him hide from those who are trying to kill him, and eventually sees her die at the hands of those same men. He seeks revenge for all he has been put through.
Desperado
Desperado (film)
Desperado is a 1995 action thriller film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film stars Antonio Banderas as the former mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover....
continues El Mariachi's (now portrayed by Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
) quest for revenge where he finds a new love and quenches his thirst for revenge.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a 2003 action film written, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is the final film in the "Mariachi Trilogy", which also includes El Mariachi and Desperado. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi...
revolves around a failed coup attempt on the President of Mexico wherein El Mariachi is the hero who saves him. El Mariachi also seeks revenge on the murderer who killed his wife.
Box office
All three movies were made using Rodriguez's "Mariachi-style" of filmmaking in which (according to the back cover of his book Rebel Without a CrewRebel Without a Crew
Rebel Without a Crew is a 1995 non-fiction book by Robert Rodriguez...
) "creativity, not money, is used to solve problems." Thus, all three movies have been extremely profitable. El Mariachi was made for $7,000 and went on to gross more than $2 million in its theatrical release. Desperado was made for $7 million and grossed over $24.6 million in US theaters. Once Upon a Time in Mexico was made for $29 million and grossed over $56.3 million domestically and an additional $41.8 million worldwide and holds the box office distinction for being the most improved second sequel of all-time grossing 122% more than Desperado.
Awards and critical reaction
All three movies have won various prestigious awards. El Mariachi won the Audience Award at the 1993 Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and the 1993 Deauville American Film Festival
Deauville American Film Festival
The Deauville American Film Festival is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, taking place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Chouchan and André Halimi....
and Best First Feature at the 1994 Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
. Desperado saw Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek
Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez de Pinault is a Mexican film actress, director and producer. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role as Frida Kahlo in the film Frida.-Early life:...
nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 1996 Saturn Awards, and was nominated for the Bronze Horse at the 1995 Stockholm Film Festival. Once Upon a Time in Mexico won two Imagen Foundation Awards for performances by Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...
and Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer, actor, Latin jazz musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres...
, was nominated for two Satellite Awards
Satellite Awards
The Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...
, winning Robert Rodriguez an award for Best Song ("Siente Mi Amor") and Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Comedy or Musical and the movies impressive stunts landed it two Taurus World Stunt Awards
Taurus World Stunt Awards
The Taurus World Stunt Awards is a yearly award ceremony that honors stunt performers in movies. It is held each year in Los Angeles.- Categories :*Best Fight*Best Fire Stunt*Best High Work*Best Work with a Vehicle*Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Woman...
nominations.