Mexico Trilogy

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The "Mariachi Trilogy" or "Mexico Trilogy" (or "Desperado Trilogy" on some DVD releases) is a series of movies: El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, all directed by Robert Rodriguez, which tell the continuing story of the movies' main character "El Mariachi".

The trilogy was originally conceived as a way for Rodriguez to make three movies for the Spanish home video market to hone his skills a director. Yet after the success of El Mariachi, the second and third movies were conceived. 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 movies 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.

[edit] The Movies

The trilogy began with the 1992 low-budget production of El Mariachi. The film was made on a budget of only $7,000 USD using 16 millimeter cameras, 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 Crew). It tells the story of an out of work musician (El Mariachi) traveling through Mexico. He arrives in a small border town, hoping to find work in some of the local Cantinas and clubs. Unfortunately for "El", 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, "El" 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.

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.

Desperado continues El Mariachi's 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.

[edit] Success

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 Crew) "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 over $2 million theatrically. Desperado was made for $7 million and grossed over $24.6 domestically. Once Upon a Time in Mexico was made for $29 million dollars and grossed over $56.3 million domestically and $41.8 million worldwide.

All three movies have won various prestigious awards. El Mariachi won the Audience Award at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival and the 1993 Deauville 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 World Stunt Awards nominations.

[edit] Recurring motifs

They are many recurring motifs in the three movies.

• The boy in the yellow shirt
  • In El Mariachi, El sees him in his dreams.
  • In Desperado El helps him learn to play guitar, saves him from being hit by a truck and then lectures him on helping with his father's drug trade.
  • In Once Upon a Time in Mexico the kid attempts to sell gum to Agent Sands (Johnny Depp), then assists Sands after he loses his eyes.

• The bartender
  • In El Mariachi, El tries to get a job from a bartender and his love interest, Domino, is a barkeep.
  • In Desperado Cheech Marin plays a character named Short Bartender who Steve Buscemi delivers his opening monologue to and is eventually killed in a shoot out.
  • In Once Upon a Time in Mexico, a bartender slides a movable bar around to avoid being hit during a shootout between El and Marquez.

• El’s two mariachi friends
  • In Desperado El plays with two mariachi friends Campa (played by original Mariachi Carlos Gallardo) and Quino in the opening, Buscemi refers to them in dialogue and there is an elaborate shootout sequence with El and the two.
  • In Once Upon a Time in Mexico Lorenzo (Enrique Iglesias) and Fideo (Marco Leonardi) become sidekicks to El.

• The white & blue school bus
  • In El Mariachi El jumps from the hotel second story onto a white & blue school bus.
  • In Desperado Quino shows up to help El in a white & blue school bus.
  • In Once Upon a Time in Mexico El and Carolina (Salma Hayek) jump onto a white & blue school bus while escaping Marquez's army.