Desperado (film)

Last updated

Desperado
Desperado1.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Written byRobert Rodriguez
Produced by
  • Robert Rodriguez
  • Bill Borden
Starring
Cinematography Guillermo Navarro
Edited byRobert Rodriguez
Music by Los Lobos
Production
companies
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • August 25, 1995 (1995-08-25)
Running time
105 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • Spanish
Budget$7 million [2] [3]
Box office$58 million [4]

Desperado is a 1995 American neo-Western action film written, co-produced, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is the second part of Rodriguez's Mexico Trilogy . It stars Antonio Banderas as El Mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover. The film was screened out of competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. [5] Desperado grossed $58 million worldwide. It has been cited as featuring Salma Hayek's breakout role. [6]

Contents

Plot

At the Tarasco bar in Mexico, an American man named Buscemi tells the story of witnessing a massacre in another bar, committed by a Mexican who had a guitar case full of guns. The bar's patrons are uninterested until Buscemi mentions the name "Bucho". Meanwhile, El Mariachi has a dream of his encounter with Moco, Bucho's underling, who killed his lover and shot his left hand, but Buscemi awakens him and tells him to continue searching for Bucho.

El Mariachi meets a child, whose father allegedly plays guitar for a living. Having been a guitarist himself, he gives the boy some guitar lessons. At the Tarasco bar, El Mariachi engages in a tense standoff with Bucho's henchmen, followed by a massive gunfight. El Mariachi kills everyone in the bar but Tavo, who was in a back room conducting illegal business. Tavo survives and follows El Mariachi outside and wounds him, but is killed by El Mariachi. Carolina, a woman whom El Mariachi shielded from Tavo's bullets, takes him to her bookstore. Bucho arrives at the bar to survey the carnage. Threatened by the situation, Bucho orders his men to hunt down the man "dressed in black".

At her bookstore, Carolina tends to El Mariachi's wounds. While he rests, she discovers the guns in his guitar case and deduces his identity, based on Buscemi's story. El Mariachi asks her to help him locate Bucho. He goes to the town church and talks to Buscemi. Upset by the massacre at the bar, Buscemi convinces El Mariachi to abandon his quest for revenge. Outside the church, they are ambushed by a man armed with throwing knives, who kills Buscemi and severely wounds El Mariachi. Bucho's men arrive at the scene, and mistake the man (who dresses in black) for El Mariachi and kill him. They take the body back to Bucho, but suddenly realizes they have killed the wrong person: a hitman named Navajas sent by the Colombians to kill El Mariachi.

As an injured El Mariachi wanders the streets, he meets the kid with the guitar once again. He learns that the kid is being used by his father to mule drugs hidden in his guitar. He angrily confronts the boy, who tells him most people in the town work for Bucho. El Mariachi returns to Carolina and learns that Bucho financed her bookstore as an additional front for his drug dealing. Bucho arrives, unexpectedly, and she hastily hides El Mariachi. She feigns ignorance of the commotion in town, and Bucho leaves. Carolina completes the suturing of El Mariachi's wounds. That evening, she gives El Mariachi a new guitar, which he plays for her before they make passionate love. Meanwhile, Bucho realizes that Carolina lied to him.

The next morning, Bucho's men arrive and attack El Mariachi and Carolina and set her bookstore ablaze. The two fight their way out of the burning building and onto a local rooftop, where El Mariachi gets a clear shot at Bucho but inexplicably chooses not to attempt to kill him. The two hide in a hotel room.

Angry about their failure to kill El Mariachi, Bucho gathers his men and says: "You drive around town, you see someone you don't know, you shoot them! How hard is that, huh?!". He shoots one man and then fires at the others, as an example.

Realizing that Bucho will never stop hunting him, El Mariachi contacts his friends, Campa and Quino, for assistance. The trio meets up on the edge of town and encounters Bucho's henchmen. A massive gun showdown ensues, and most of Bucho's men, along with Campa and Quino, are killed. El Mariachi discovers that the guitar-playing boy has been wounded during the showdown and rushes him to a hospital.

El Mariachi and Carolina travel to Bucho's compound intending to confront him. It is then revealed that Bucho is El Mariachi's older brother, Cesar. El Mariachi was unaware of "Bucho's" identity, until he saw his brother's face, from the rooftop, and refrained from shooting him. Bucho offers to release El Mariachi if he allows Bucho to kill Carolina. El Mariachi kills his brother, then shoots the remaining henchmen. The two visit the boy in the hospital, and El Mariachi leaves alone. Carolina catches up to him on the road and picks him up, with El Mariachi initially leaving his weapons on the side of the road. The two drive away together, but shortly return and pick up the guitar case, full of guns, just to be safe.

Cast

Production

Rodriguez's friend Quentin Tarantino has a cameo as "Pick-up Guy". Carlos Gallardo, who played the title role of El Mariachi, appears in Desperado as Campa, a friend of Banderas' Mariachi. [7] Since Banderas replaced Gallardo as the actor for the main character, the filmmakers re-shot the final showdown from El Mariachi as a flashback sequence for Banderas' character in Desperado. [8]

Raúl Juliá was originally cast as Bucho, but died on October 24, 1994, before production began. [9]

Principal photography took place entirely in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, across from Del Rio, Texas. [9]

During the filming of the sex scene, Salma Hayek became uncomfortable and started crying. [10] [11] Hayek has stated that Rodriguez and Banderas “were amazing” and that Rodriguez “never put pressure on me.” [12]

Rating

After it was submitted to the Motion Picture Association of America, the film was granted an NC-17 due to graphic violence and it had to be severely cut for an R rating. Among the scenes that were trimmed are the deaths of Tarantino's character and his friend at the bar, as well as Trejo's character. [13] By far the most major excision came at the end of the film, which originally contained a large-scale shootout between El Mariachi, Carolina, Bucho, and his thugs at Bucho's mansion. Owing to the amount of footage the MPAA demanded be removed from the scene, Rodriguez elected to remove the sequence in its entirety, giving the film its current fade-out ending. [13] Two additional scenes were also deleted featuring the codpiece gun (seen in the guitar case). Originally, the gun was used by El Mariachi during the second bar shootout when he uses it to shoot the first thug before whipping out his pistols from his sleeves and finishing him off. In a second deleted scene, the crotch gun was to go off accidentally while Banderas is in bed with Hayek, blowing a hole through the guitar while they were playing it. [13] The gun was eventually used in unrelated Rodriguez's films From Dusk till Dawn and Machete Kills .

Music

The film's score is written and performed by the Los Angeles rock band Los Lobos, performing Chicano rock and traditional ranchera music. Their performance of "Mariachi Suite" won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance at the 1995 Grammy Awards. [14] Other artists on the soundtrack album include Dire Straits, Link Wray, Latin Playboys, and Carlos Santana. Musician Tito Larriva has a small role in the film, and his band, Tito & Tarantula, contributed to the soundtrack as well.

American figure skater Nathan Chen used “Canción del Mariachi” as the music for his 2020-21 skating season short program, skating in a costume that closely resembled Banderas’ black pants and white shirt in the film.

Reception

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 70% based on reviews from 54 critics, with an average rating of 6.5/10, The sites consensus reads, "Desperado contains almost too much action and too little of a story to sustain interest, but Antonio Banderas proves a charismatic lead in Robert Rodriguez's inventive extravaganza." [15] On Metacritic it has a score of 55 out of 100, based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [16] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. [17]

Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote that the film "could scarcely be more dazzling on a purely visual level, but it's mortally anemic in the story, character and thematic departments." [8] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated the film "B" and praised the action sequences despite the lack of characterization. [18] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Overdependence on violence also marginalizes Desperado as a gun-slinging novelty item, instead of the broader effort toward which this talented young director might have aspired." [19]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated it 2 out of 4 stars and wrote, "What happens looks terrific. Now if he can harness that technical facility to a screenplay that's more story than setup, he might really have something." [20] Desson Howe of The Washington Post wrote, "the commercial transition has been remarkably successful. This is primarily thanks to Rodriguez, who not only retains the original movie's kinetic flair, but takes it further." [21] Bob McCabe of Empire rated it 4 out of 5 stars and wrote, "It's big, it's daft, but Desperado is confident and hugely entertaining filmmaking." [22] Heidi Strom of the Daily Press wrote, "A pure adrenaline rush from start to finish, Desperado will shock, amuse, thrill and disgust – but never disappoint." [7]

Box office

The film grossed $25.4 million in the United States and Canada and $58 million worldwide. [23] [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Rodriguez</span> American filmmaker (born 1968)

Robert Anthony Rodriguez is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 action film El Mariachi, which was a commercial success after grossing $2.6 million against a budget of $7,000. The film spawned two sequels known collectively as the Mexico Trilogy: Desperado (1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salma Hayek</span> Actress and film producer (born 1966)

Salma Valgarma Hayek Pinault is an actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela Teresa (1989–1991) as well as the romantic drama Midaq Alley (1995). She soon established herself in Hollywood with appearances in films such as Desperado (1995), From Dusk till Dawn (1996), Wild Wild West (1999), and Dogma (1999).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio Banderas</span> Spanish actor (born 1960)

José Antonio Domínguez Bandera, better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received numerous accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Goya Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.

<i>El Mariachi</i> 1992 film

El Mariachi is a 1992 Spanish language American independent neo-Western action 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.

<i>From Dusk till Dawn</i> 1996 horror film

From Dusk till Dawn is a 1996 American western horror film directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino from a concept and story by Robert Kurtzman. Starring Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Tarantino, Ernest Liu, and Juliette Lewis, the plot follows a pair of American criminal brothers who take a family as hostages in order to cross into Mexico, but ultimately find themselves trapped in a saloon defending against a horde of vampires.

<i>Frida</i> (2002 film) 2002 film directed by Julie Taymor

Frida is a 2002 American biographical drama film directed by Julie Taymor which depicts the professional and private life of the surrealist Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

<i>Once Upon a Time in Mexico</i> 2003 film by Robert Rodriguez

Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a 2003 American neo-Western action film written, directed, produced, photographed, scored, and edited by Robert Rodriguez. It is the sequel to Desperado (1995) and the third and final installment in the Mexico Trilogy. The film features Antonio Banderas in his second and final performance as El Mariachi. In the film, El Mariachi is recruited by CIA agent Sheldon Sands to kill a corrupt general responsible for the death of his wife, Carolina.

<i>The Mask of Zorro</i> 1998 swashbuckler film by Martin Campbell

The Mask of Zorro is a 1998 American Western swashbuckler film based on the fictional character Zorro by Johnston McCulley. It was directed by Martin Campbell and stars Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Stuart Wilson. The film features the original Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega (Hopkins), escaping from prison to find his long-lost daughter (Zeta-Jones) and avenge the death of his wife at the hands of the corrupt governor Rafael Montero (Wilson). He is aided by his successor (Banderas), who is pursuing his own vendetta against the governor's right-hand man while falling in love with de la Vega's daughter.

Chingon is a band from Austin, Texas. Their sound is heavily influenced by Mexican rock, mariachi, ranchera, and Texan rock 'n roll music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joaquim de Almeida</span> Portuguese actor (born 1957)

Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida is a Portuguese actor. He started his film career playing a role in the 1982 action film The Soldier, and later achieved recognition for playing Andrea Bonanno in the 1987 Italian film Good Morning, Babylon. He achieved international fame with his portrayals of Félix Cortez in the 1994 thriller Clear and Present Danger and Bucho in the 1995 action thriller Desperado. Several years later, he became popular for playing Ramon Salazar on the Fox thriller drama series 24, between 2003 and 2004, and Hernan Reyes in the 2011 film Fast Five, a role he reprised in 2023's Fast X.

Carlos Gallardo is a Mexican actor, producer, occasional screenwriter and director. Gallardo frequently collaborates with his friend, director Robert Rodriguez.

<i>Mexico Trilogy</i> 1993 American film

The Mexico Trilogy is a series of American/Mexican contemporary western action films written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The series' plot tells the continuing story of El Mariachi, a man who painfully lives alone after seeing all of his loved ones die. El Mariachi was portrayed by actors Carlos Gallardo and Antonio Banderas. The films were originally released in theatres from 1993 to 2003, and later on home video as a collection in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tito Larriva</span> American songwriter

Humberto "Tito" Larriva is a Mexican-born American songwriter, singer, musician, and actor. He came to prominence leading The Plugz, one of the earliest Los Angeles punk rock groups. Since the 1990s, his main musical outlet has been Tito & Tarantula.

<i>Mexican Spaghetti Western</i> 2004 studio album by Chingon

Mexican Spaghetti Western is a studio album by Robert Rodriguez's band, Chingon. Originally released in 2004 exclusively on the band's website, it became available in stores on April 10, 2007. The original non-digi-pak release of the album did not include the song "Cielito Lindo".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tito & Tarantula</span> American rock band

Tito & Tarantula is an American chicano rock/blues rock band formed in Hollywood, California, in 1992 by singer/songwriter/guitarist Tito Larriva.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos Gomez (actor)</span> American actor (born 1962)

Carlos Gómez is an American actor.

<i>Desperado: The Soundtrack</i> 1995 soundtrack album by Various artists

Desperado: The Soundtrack is the film score to Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado. It was written and performed by the Los Angeles rock bands Los Lobos and Tito & Tarantula, performing traditional Ranchera and Chicano rock music. Other artists on the soundtrack album include Dire Straits, Link Wray, Latin Playboys, and Carlos Santana. Musician Tito Larriva has a small role in the film, and his band, Tito & Tarantula, contributed to the soundtrack as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Rodriguez filmography</span>

Robert Anthony Rodriguez is an American film and television director, producer, writer, composer, cinematographer and editor. He has contributed to many projects as a combination of the six. Less commonly, Rodriguez has also worked as a second unit director, digital animator and a visual effects supervisor.

<i>The Hitmans Bodyguard</i> 2017 film directed by Patrick Hughes

The Hitman's Bodyguard is a 2017 action comedy film directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Tom O'Connor. It stars Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson with Gary Oldman and Salma Hayek. In the film, Michael Bryce (Reynolds) must protect Darius Kincaid, an imprisoned hitman (Jackson), who is on his way to testify at the International Criminal Court against a sadistic Eastern European dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Oldman).

<i>Bliss</i> (2021 film) 2021 American drama film

Bliss is a 2021 American drama film written and directed by Mike Cahill. It stars Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek, and follows a middle-aged man (Wilson), recently divorced and estranged, who suffers a psychotic break when he is fired from an unhappy job. Befriended by a homeless woman (Hayek), he gradually falls deeper into what appears to be drug addiction. He struggles to discern reality from fantasy. It was released on February 5, 2021, on Amazon Prime Video, and received mostly negative reviews from critics, who compared it unfavorably to The Matrix.

References

  1. ↑ "DESPERADO (18)". British Board of Film Classification . September 8, 1995. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Desperado". The Numbers . Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  3. ↑ Baumgarten, Marjorie (September 1, 1995). "Desperado HoursFor a Few Dollars More". AustinChronicle.com. Desperado was financed by Columbia Pictures and quotes a production cost of $7 million
  4. 1 2 "Planet Hollywood". Screen International . August 30, 1996. pp. 14–15.
  5. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Desperado". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Salma Hayek on putting a menopausal woman in the centre of an action film". The Independent. June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  7. 1 2 Strom, Heidi (September 1, 1995). "'Desperado' Burns Up Screen". Daily Press . Archived from the original on February 4, 2015.
  8. 1 2 McCarthy, Todd (May 25, 1995). "Review: 'Desperado'". Variety . Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Baumgarten, Marjorie (September 1, 1995). "Desperado Hours For a Few Dollars More". The Austin Chronicle . Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Salma Hayek opens up about crying while filming Desperado sex scene". The Independent. February 15, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Salma Hayek recalls sobbing in 'Desperado' scene with Antonio Banderas". NME. February 16, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  12. ↑ Parker, Ryan (February 15, 2021). "Salma Hayek Details Her Traumatic Experience Shooting 'Desperado' Love Scene". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 Robert Rodriguez DVD commentary
  14. ↑ Aldama, Frederick Luis (2014). The Cinema of Robert Rodriguez. University of Texas Press. p. 43. ISBN   9780292761247.
  15. ↑ "Desperado (1995)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved October 5, 2024.
  16. ↑ "Desperado Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  17. ↑ "DESPERADO (1995) B+". CinemaScore . Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
  18. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (August 25, 1995). "Desperado". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  19. ↑ Maslin, Janet (August 25, 1995). "Desperado (1995)". The New York Times . Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  20. ↑ Ebert, Roger (August 25, 1995). "Desperado". The Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  21. ↑ Howe, Desson (August 25, 1995). "'Desperado'". The Washington Post . Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  22. ↑ McCabe, Bob. "Desperado". Empire . Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Desperado (1995)". Box Office Mojo. October 3, 1995. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.