Mexico Trilogy
| Mexico Trilogy | |
|---|---|
The cover of the DVD trilogy box set.
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| Directed by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Produced by | Robert Rodriguez Carlos Gallardo Elizabeth Avellan |
| Written by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Starring | Carlos Gallardo Antonio Banderas |
| Music by | Eric Guthrie Chris Knudson Álvaro Rodriguez Cecilio Rodriguez Mark Trujillo Los Lobos Robert Rodriguez |
| Cinematography | Robert Rodriguez Guillermo Navarro |
| Edited by | Robert Rodriguez |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Columbia Pictures Dimension Films |
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Release date
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1992 – 2003 (theatrical) 2010 (complete trilogy) |
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Running time
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289 minutes |
| Country | United States Mexico |
| Language | English Spanish |
| Budget | $36,007,000 |
| Box office | $125.6 million |
The Mexico Trilogy or Mariachi Trilogy (also Desperado Trilogy on some DVD releases) is a series of American/Mexican contemporary western action films—El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico—all written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. All three films tell the continuing story of central character, El Mariachi (portrayed by Carlos Gallardo and Antonio Banderas). The films were released in theatres between 1992 and 2003, and later on a complete DVD trilogy box set in 2010.
The trilogy began with the 1992 ultra 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 Crew). 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.
A recurring theme of the Mexico Trilogy deals with El Mariachi being alone as all of his loved ones die in front of him.
The first film, 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, El 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.
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Wikipedia