Line #35 Film/ElMariachi


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/30044.jpg]]
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3	''El Mariachi'' is a 1992 independent [[NewOldWest neo-Western]] action film written and directed by Creator/RobertRodriguez. It is his first feature length film, and the first of the ''Mexico'' or ''Mariachi'' Trilogy, followed by ''Film/{{Desperado}}'' and ''Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico''.
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5	A mariachi searching for work in Mexico ends up getting mistaken for gangster Azul. Azul has been marked for death by a former associate Moco, and Azul is trying to kill Moco first. Things get much worse for our protagonist when he starts living with Moco's love interest and his guitar and case get switched for Azul's guitar case of guns.
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7	This film is quite well-known for being made on a [[NoBudget budget of a mere $7,225]], which is '''''very low''''' by Hollywood standards -- Rodriguez states that the Columbia Pictures logo that appears before the movie cost more than the movie itself took to make. Rodriguez made almost half of this money by volunteering for experimental clinical drug testing. In the extras on the DVD, Rodriguez explains the techniques that he used to save money during the making of the film, including using a wheelchair in place of a dolly and using the actors not involved in scenes in place of a regular film crew.
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9	!! This movie contains examples of:
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11	%%* AccidentalHero: El Mariachi
12	* ActionSurvivor: El Mariachi. The vast majority of the action sequences he takes part in mostly consist of guys with guns chasing him, and him running away trying to figure out why these guys are trying to kill him.
13	* AffectionateParody: Of low-budget Spanish-language action movies from Mexico, most of which were released DirectToVideo stateside. The music played by the keyboardists in the bar is meant to sound like the exact kind of music in such films. This concept was lost on most American audiences, however.
14	* AntiHero: Azul is a hitman who worked for Moco and was perfectly okay with making his own little business [[MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll from the little prison cell he was in]], but Moco just had to send people to try to kill him. Even then, he shows some more standards than Moco in a couple of scenes.
15	* BedmateReveal: El Mariachi keeps [[CatapultNightmare waking up from his nightmares]] to Domino's pet pitbull.
16	* BilingualBonus: Moco, Azul, and Domino's names. Moco in particular seems a touch less threatening if you know what his name means in Spanish.[[note]]"Booger", or "Kiddo" in some places[[/note]] {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d by El Mariachi who asks why someone named Azul [[note]] "Blue" [[/note]] would wear ''black''.
17	* BodyguardBabes: The actor playing Azul said he'd only appear in the film [[AThreesomeIsHot if he could be seen in bed with two women]]. Rodriguez said they weren't making that kind of movie, but if he could find the women then Azul could have a couple of female bodyguards instead.
18	* BreakTheCutie: El Mariachi starts off as an innocent, cheerful young musician looking for work. The events of the movie turn him into the cynical, vengeance-driven vigilante we see in ''Film/{{Desperado}}.''
19	%%* CatapultNightmare
20	* CripplingTheCompetition: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:El Mariachi is shot through the hand so he can never play the guitar again]].
21	* TheDogBitesBack: Moco spends much of the movie striking matches off TheDragon's face. [[spoiler: When he is shot dead by El Mariachi, TheDragon's reaction is to strike a match off Moco's corpse and walk away.]]
22	* DownerEnding: At the end of the film [[spoiler: sure, Moco is dead, but El Mariachi has lost Domino, lost his guitar, had his hand shot, meaning he may never play the guitar again (although he still can, as he does the sequels), and is left with Azul's cache of weaponry, and the final shot of the film is him riding alone and depressed down an empty highway, with only the weapons and Domino's dog accompanying him]].
23	* DreamSequence: El Mariachi keeps having ominous nightmares, hinting to his growing discomfort in town. [[WordOfGod Rodriguez]] admitted to having planned more of these as filler if the 90 minute time requirement wasn't met.
24	* DrinkBasedCharacterization: El Mariachi only drinks soda to show his role as a naïve everyman (InUniverse it's to protect his singing voice). Azul orders beer a couple of times throughout the film and angrily insists that it be kept in the bottle, showing he's a rough-and-tumble badass.
25	-->'''Azul''': "En botella, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch Guey!]]"
26	* TheDulcineaEffect: "She was the most beautiful creature I've seen today. Next to the turtle, of course."
27	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The next film in the series, ''Film/{{Desperado}}'', is basically a SoftReboot of this one that made El Mariachi a full-blown ActionHero in contrast to his everyman ActionSurvivor characterization here, and recast the lead actor Carlos Gallardo with Creator/AntonioBanderas. Gallardo does have a cameo role as a fellow mariachi, but continuity nods like a recreation of this film's climax makes it clear that Banderas is supposed to be his character here, despite the discrepancies. Also, unlike the next two films, here El Mariachi is the narrator.
28	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Azul may be a vengeful hitman, but he's shocked and appaled when [[spoiler: Moco murders Domino]].
29	** Moco's henchmen aren't too thrilled to see a woman die right in front of them either, and having to see El Mariachi [[spoiler: get his hand shot by Moco]] only drives their disgust towards their employer, so much that they don't bother [[spoiler: avenging Moco once El Mariachi retaliates with Azul's revolver.]]
30	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: El Mariachi is only ever known as such.
31	* HellHotel: The manager of the cheapest hotel in town is a sleazeball who readily complies with obvious cartel members and tries to fleece as much of a down payment as he can from El Mariachi.
32	* HollywoodSilencer: Averted. The MAC-10 still sounds incredibly loud when it fires, and thus the silencer is used more like a barrel extension/handgrip.
33	* ImpaledPalm: El Mariachi is shot through the hand by his lover's vengeful ex, preventing him from ever playing guitar again. [[spoiler: El Mariachi responds by shooting the man through the chest]].
34	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Two of the goons trying to kill El Mariachi miss him when he passes between them, literally inches from the barrels of their guns... ''[[DeadlyDodging and shoot each other in the chest]]''.
35	* InLoveWithTheGangstersGirl: Sets up the final tragedy of the movie.
36	* IronicEcho: See TheDogBitesBack.
37	* LifesavingMisfortune: Although Azul is more than a little upset after the fact, he still gets saved from being blasted by Moco's goons at one point when they have him dead to rights and check the guitar case, but seeing there is only a guitar inside they let him go because he [[SuspectIsHatless obviously]] is not the man they are looking for.
38	%%* MagnificentMustachesOfMexico: TheDragon sports one, and is named [[MeaningfulName Bigottón]] in the credits.
39	* MarketBasedTitle: The film kept its Spanish-language title for its American release simply because ''The Guitar Player'' wasn't catchy enough.
40	* MightyWhitey: Moco, a gringo drug dealer who seems to have this entire town in his pocket, and is otherwise insulated in his ranch outside of town.
41	* MistakenForBadass: The focus of the plot.
42	* MistakenIdentity: Azul and El Mariachi are constantly mistaken for each other. Both wear black and carry guitar cases. [[SatchelSwitcheroo As for what's inside the cases...]]
43	* RecycledInSpace: ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''...[-IN MEXICO!-]
44	* RuleOfThree: What Rodriguez refers to as The Kindergartner's Method of Script Writing. You'll see {{Running Gag}}s pulled off thrice, with a [[SubvertedTrope twist]] at the third use.
45	* SatchelSwitcheroo: When you have two characters who are mistaken for one another because of their guitar cases, something like this is bound to occur.
46	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: After his abusive employer is killed, TheDragon simply lights up a smoke and leaves.]]
47	** [[spoiler: Moco isn't too popular among even his employees. When El Mariachi raises his gun to shoot Moco, ''none'' of his men try to defend him. Instead, they all ''jump back away,'' giving El Mariachi a perfect shot.]]
48	%%* SmugSnake: Moco.
49	* SouthOfTheBorder: Beaten to death. The proudly-Mexican (well, Mexican-American) Rodriguez wants to show you the ''real'' Mexico (at least as real as you can get while making this sort of film), as experienced by ''Mexicans'', not some imperialist romantic gringo bullshit.
50	* SuspectIsHatless: El Mariachi looks nothing like Azul, but the only description Moco's men have been given is "wears black, and carrying a guitar case".
51	* TechnologyIsEvil: The surly bartender of the (unbeknownst to El Mariachi) BadGuyBar decides to humiliate El Mariachi by showing off another mariachi he already has hired. That is, his mariachi is just one guy with an electronic keyboard he barely puts any effort into playing. El Mariachi's narration bitterly waxes about the dehumanizing element of technology as he leaves the bar.
52	* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Poor [[spoiler:Domino]] was just an innocent bystander in this whole mess.
53	* {{Tsundere}}: Domino is initially pretty cold towards El Mariachi, but gradually grows friendlier, especially with how good he and his music is for business at her bar. She ends up staring in awe during one of his songs too.
54	* UntranslatedTitle: See MarketBasedTitle.
55	* WhiteShirtOfDeath: [[spoiler:Moco.]] Azul even [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] this early in the film, saying he'd feel guilty ruining a perfectly good wardrobe out of revenge.
56	* YouAreTooLate: [[spoiler:The title character arrives too late to save his love interest, who is gunned down by Moco in a fit of jealousy shortly before Azul also buys it]].

Context Film / ElMariachi