History Film / Desperado

* YouHaveFailedMe: Bucho does this to one of his underlings.

* UnflinchingWalk: Mariachi and Carolina do this after tossing a grenade off a roof. [[RuleOfCool It makes a much larger explosion than it should]].

* NeverBringAGunToAKnifeFight: The mooks in the bulletproof limousine lose about three quarters of their party when they accidentally earn [[MeaningfulName Navajas']] ire by ambushing him under the pretense that he's [[SuspectIsHatless the heavily armed man in black]] they're looking for.

* WeHaveToGetTheBulletOut: Carolina digs a bullet out of the Mariachi's arm following the Tarasco Bar shootout from Desperado. She does this by following the instructions in a book from her own bookstore collection. She explains to the concerned Msriachi that this is preferable over a visit to the town’s hospital.

* BottomlessMagazines: Averted. Near the end of the bar shootout, Mariachi and one of the nameless thugs need a few tries to find a gun that isn't out of ammo. He also carries numerous extra magazines on him and reloads throughout.

[[caption-width-right:300: He came back to settle the score with someone. Anyone. EVERYONE.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: Quentin Tarantino and an unnamed Mexican man walk into a bar and hand the bartender their cards, which are used to check out their references prior to being admitted to the back for a drug deal. After Quentin gives a punchline to a joke with a long setup, the guy on the phone who calls regarding the cards makes a hand gesture that one of the two men present isn't known to the person on the other end of the phone. The unnamed Mexican gets [[BoomHeadshot killed by the bartender]] and ethnic Irish Quentin is untouched. [[spoiler:However, Tarantino's character doesn't last much longer since El Mariachi walks in shortly after and shoots the place up, and the guys at the bar mistake Quentin for being in cahoots with the gunman and shoot him.]]

%%* BareYourMidriff: Carolina.

* SuspectIsHatless: Subverted: When Bucho's bosses describe Navajas over the phone, they begin the description by mentioning he's tall and dressed in black (a too common characteristic), followed shortly by more useful information (armed with a lot of knives, tattoo on his constantly-exposed chest). Unfortunately by then, [[PoorCommunicationKills a comedy of errors]] has led to Navajas being killed by Bucho's goons and the description is only good for Bucho to know that the dead guy the goons dragged to his compound is his bosses' emissary and thus he just got a lot of egg on his face.

* GunsAkimbo: The Mariachi uses dual Ruger KP90s to clean out the Tarasco Bar and to [[spoiler:kill his brother]].

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: The movie has an extended, passionate love scene -- one of the hottest in mainstream cinema -- between El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) and Carolina (Salma Hayek). Cut to the villain Bucho lying on his bed, smoking a cigar and looking bored while a prostitute bounces up and down on him. Then she kisses him and he blows smoke into her mouth, sending her into a coughing fit.

* SenselessViolins: Multiple variations.

* BottomlessMagazines: Averted. Near the end of the bar shootout, Mariachi and one of the nameless thugs need a few tries to find a gun that isn't out of ammo.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: A variation: He ''used'' to be a Mariachi, but now is a hitman with a guitar case full of guns.

%%* SurroundedByIdiots: Bucho.
%%* SuspectIsHatless

-->'''Buscemi:''' ...No, man. The bartender got it worse than anybody.

* TenMinuteRetirement: El Mariachi, twice.

* BadassSpaniard: El Mariachi.

* BareYourMidriff: Carolina.

* BlastOut

* SurroundedByIdiots: Bucho.
* SuspectIsHatless

* WorldOfBadass

* ChekhovsGunman: Campa and Quino, the two mariachis that El Mariachi calls in for backup during the final act, appear as his band in the film's opening credits. Navajas can also be seen [[KnifeNut flipping a knife in his hand]] in the background early on when the last guy from the Tarasco bar is stalking El Mariachi down the street.

* KnifeNut: The knife-throwing assassin Navajas, played by Creator/DannyTrejo. His name means "knives."

* NeverBringAGunToAKnifeFight: The mooks in the bulletproof limousine lose about three quarters of their party when they accidentally earn [[KnifeNut Navajas']] ire by ambushing him under the pretense that he's [[SuspectIsHatless the heavily armed man in black]] they're looking for.

Our NoNameGiven Protagonist, El Mariachi, has lost his love and put down her killer. Ever since losing her, however, he has changed. No longer the innocent who just wanted to play his guitar and get by, he has made a transformation into a hard, vengeance-driven gunslinger who has made the cartel that Moco worked for his enemy; and is seeking out the cartel's boss, who goes by the name of Bucho, so that he can finish the job. Unfortunately for El Mariachi, he'll have to use every gun in his guitar case against {{Mooks}} in seedy bars, thugs after his life, a knife throwing assassin, to do it. And all of this while keeping Carolina (Creator/SalmaHayek), his new love interest, friend and informant, and random bystanders alive.

* SoftReboot: Basically one to ''Film/ElMariachi'' due to the rather different characterization of the main character, from innocent everyman ActionSurvivor to smoldering, brooding ActionHero, as evidenced by the recast from Gallardo to Banderas. Despite this movie having a flashback recreating a scene from its climax, that movie's ending did not really hint or indicate that he would become the kind of vengeance-seeking, gang-hunting figure he is in this one.

* InstrumentOfMurder: El Mariachi's guitar is actually a storage case for his guns. His friends Campa and Quino have guns disguised as guitar cases.