September 15, 1992 (TIFF)
January 8, 1993 (Sundance)
February 26, 1993 (United States)
El Mariachi is a 1992 Spanish language American independent neo-Western film and the first part of the saga that came to be known as Robert Rodriguez's Mexico Trilogy. It marked the feature-length debut of Rodriguez as writer and director. The Spanish language film was shot with a mainly amateur cast in the northern Mexican border town of Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico across from Del Rio, Texas, the home town of leading actor Carlos Gallardo as the title character. The US$7,225 production was originally intended for the Mexican home-video market, but executives at Columbia Pictures liked the film and bought the American distribution rights. Columbia eventually spent $200,000 to transfer the print to film, to remix the sound, and on other post-production work, then spent millions more on marketing and distribution.
The success of Rodriguez's directorial debut led him to create two sequels (Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico) with Antonio Banderas taking over from Gallardo for the character, though Gallardo co-produced both films and had a minor role in Desperado.
In 2011, El Mariachi was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film is also recognized by Guinness World Records as the lowest-budgeted film ever to gross $1 million at the box office.
Storyline
El Mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) is a traveling guitar player with the modest desire to play music for a living. Looking for a job, he stops at a bar in a tiny town, where his simple, peaceful lifestyle is interrupted. Local hit men, expecting enemy assassin Azul (Reinol Martinez) to invade their town, believe that the visiting musician is the professional killer they are looking for. Unwittingly embroiled in vicious mob warfare, El Mariachi must shoot his way out of town if he is to survive.
Sound Effects Used
- Hollywoodedge, 9mm Uzi Automatic Fir PE095901
- Hollywoodedge, Crash Metal Shatter PE110101
- Hollywoodedge, Crash Metal Shatter PE110501
- Hollywoodedge, Grunt 7 Male Strained PE132701
- Hollywoodedge, Grunt 12 Male Straine PE133201
- Hollywoodedge, Grunt 13 Male Straine PE133301
- Hollywoodedge, Gusts Heavy Cold Wind PE031601/Hollywoodedge, Whistling Wind Stead PE033301
- Hollywoodedge, Machine Gun Silence PE1103601
- Sound Ideas, EXTERIOR SHOTS, AUTO WEAPONS - 9MM AUTO 01
- Sound Ideas, EXTERIOR SHOTS, AUTO WEAPONS - AK-47 02
- Sound Ideas, EXTERIOR SHOTS, AUTO WEAPONS - GALIL 02
- Sound Ideas, EXTERIOR SHOTS, PISTOL - 9MM GLOCK 17 PISTOL - SET B: 'POWS' POW WITH TRAIL 06 (possible debut)
- Sound Ideas, EXTERIOR SHOTS, SHOTGUN - 12 GAUGE MOSSBERG SHOTGUN
- Sound Ideas, GUN FOLEY - HANDLING 12 GAUGE MOSSBERG SHOTGUN RELOADING