Get the Gringo

Last updated
Get the Gringo
Get The Gringo Key Art.jpg
Promo art
Directed by Adrian Grunberg
Written by
Produced by
Starring
  • Mel Gibson
  • Kevin Hernandez
Cinematography Benoît Debie
Edited by Steven Rosenblum
Music by Antonio Pinto
Production
companies
Distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment [1]
Release date
  • May 1, 2012 (2012-05-01)
[1]
Running time
96 minutes [2]
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • Spanish [2]
Box office$8,826,837 [3]

Get the Gringo (also known as How I Spent My Summer Vacation) [2] is a 2012 American action film directed by Adrian Grunberg, who co-wrote the film with Mel Gibson, who starred in the film.

Contents

Plot

The film opens with a getaway driver and his wounded accomplice dressed as clowns fleeing from American Border Patrol toward the Mexican border. The driver crashes through the border fence, whereupon he is arrested by corrupt Mexican police officers Vasquez and Romero. When they find over $2 million in the back seat of the car, they imprison him in El Pueblito prison under false charges, keep the cash for themselves, and cremate his dead accomplice. As one of the only Americans incarcerated there, the driver becomes known as "the Gringo".

El Pueblito proves surprising, operating more like a small ghetto than a prison. The Gringo quickly manages to work out the prison's criminal hierarchy and engages in petty thefts and robberies from some of the prison's less reputable businesses. One of these thefts is witnessed by an unnamed kid (Kevin Balmore) who is living with his incarcerated mother and is protected by the prison's criminals. Curious, the Gringo presses him to explain why the criminals protect him, but the Kid refuses.

Later, the Gringo stops the Kid from an ill-fated assassination attempt on Javi, leader of the crime family that runs El Pueblito. After an argument, he learns why the Kid is protected: Javi has a failing liver, and the Kid is the only viable match; Javi has already killed the Kid's father and harvested his liver. The Gringo vows to stop the transplant from happening and to help kill Javi. Meanwhile, the Gringo attracts the attention of a United States Consulate employee, who easily identifies him as a career criminal. Unconcerned, the Gringo and the Kid work towards bringing down Javi, and the Gringo grows closer to the Kid's mother.

The Gringo ingratiates himself to Javi by saving Javi's brother, Caracas, and revealing the money stolen by Vasquez and Romero. Thugs working for criminal boss Frank Fowler, from whom the Gringo stole the money, have located Vasquez and Romero. The thugs are torturing the cops to find the location of an additional missing $2 million. Javi's men show up, kill everyone, and take the money, enraging Fowler, who knows Javi. With the aid of the consulate employee, Fowler sends assassins into El Pueblito to kill Javi and the Gringo.

The shootout that follows results in the Mexican authorities planning a raid on the prison. Knowing time is short, Javi hires the Gringo to kill Fowler and sets up an immediate transplant operation. In the US, the Gringo, now out of prison, lures Fowler out of hiding by arranging a meeting between him and shipping magnate Thomas Kaufmann. The Gringo pretends he is his ex-partner, Reginald T. Barnes, who had betrayed him, and sets up a meeting between Kaufmann and Fowler, during which he kills Fowler. When the Gringo locates the Consulate employee, he learns about the imminent transplant operation and rushes to save the Kid, who has unsuccessfully attempted to stab himself in the liver.

Using the Consulate employee's credentials, the Gringo enters the prison during their raid and interrupts Javi's liver transplant surgery. Threatening to kill Javi, the Gringo forces Caracas to retrieve the Kid's mother, who Javi has tortured. Caracas returns with two thugs, but the Gringo kills them both. A nurse helps the Gringo by pretending to capture him. When Caracas relaxes, the Gringo shoots him. They grab the money, and the nurse helps them escape from the prison in an ambulance.

In the epilogue, the Gringo recovers the additional missing $2 million hidden in the escape car held in the impound lot, and the Gringo, the Kid, and his mother retire to an idyllic beach. Kaufmann hires two thugs who exact retribution on the real Reginald Barnes, killing him.

Cast

Production

The script was written by Mel Gibson, Stacy Perskie and Adrian Grunberg. [4] The film is directed by Adrian Grunberg, [5] who worked as a first assistant director with Gibson on Apocalypto . The film was produced by Gibson, Bruce Davey and Stacy Perskie. [6] Executive producers included Mark Gooder, Vicki Christianson, Ann Ruark, Len Blavatnik. [7] Filming began in March 2010 in San Diego, Brownsville, Texas, and Veracruz, Mexico. [8] Most of the filming took place at the Ignacio Allende Prison. [9] Benoît Debie was the cinematographer on the film. [10]

Release

The film's theatrical release began in Israel in March 2012 before reaching 22 other countries over the next six months. [2] In the UK, the film was released under its original (working) title of "How I Spent My Summer Vacation." As of the July, the film had taken in $4.5 million at the box office. [3] The film's US premiere coincided with a ten-city, same-day tour with Mel Gibson appearing at Austin's Alamo Drafthouse Cinema with co-star Kevin Hernandez and director Adrian Grunberg on April 18, 2012. [11] The other nine cities screened the film and received a satellite feed of the Q&A.

The film did not have a regular US theatrical release, instead appearing on video on demand (VOD). At the event, Gibson said of the VOD release, "We're just in a different era. Many people just like to see things in their homes....I think it's the future." [12] The film was first publicly released exclusively through video-on-demand services in the United States. [1] [7] [13] [14]

In Icon's deal with Fox, Get the Gringo did have an exclusive preview window on DirecTV May 1 before it was released on other VOD services a month later. Its release date on Blu-ray Disc was set as July 17, 2012, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in the US. [15]

Reception

Get the Gringo received largely positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator website, the film received positive reviews by 82% of the 56 surveyed critics; the average rating is 6.3/10. The website's consensus reads, "Energetic and hard-hitting, Get the Gringo plays squarely to its lead actor's strengths as a skilled portrayer of men put through physical and emotional hell." [16]

In a positive review, Philip French of The Guardian wrote that Gibson "returns here to doing what he does best, playing a funny, psychopathic, sharp-thinking outsider". [17] Tom Huddleston of Time Out London rated the film three out of five stars and called it "superbly constructed, pithily scripted, and absurdly entertaining" despite the racist stereotypes and viciousness. [18]

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter likened the film to 1970s exploitation films, such as Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia , composed of efficient and effective scenes. [7] Variety's Peter Debruge also compared the film to Sam Peckinpah's films and states that the film is an ideal showcase for director Grunberg. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mel Gibson</span> American actor and filmmaker (born 1956)

Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson is an American actor and filmmaker. The recipient of multiple accolades, he is known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocalyptic action series Mad Max and as Martin Riggs in the buddy cop action-comedy film series Lethal Weapon.

<i>Lethal Weapon</i> 1987 American film directed by Richard Donner

Lethal Weapon is a 1987 American action film directed by Richard Donner and written by Shane Black. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love, and Mitchell Ryan. In Lethal Weapon, a pair of mismatched LAPD detectives—Martin Riggs (Gibson), a former Green Beret who has become suicidal following the death of his wife, and veteran officer and family man Roger Murtaugh (Glover)—work together as partners.

<i>Lethal Weapon 2</i> 1989 American film directed by Richard Donner

Lethal Weapon 2 is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Joss Ackland, Derrick O'Connor and Patsy Kensit. It is a sequel to the 1987 film Lethal Weapon and the second installment in the Lethal Weapon film series.

<i>Lethal Weapon 4</i> 1998 American film directed by Richard Donner

Lethal Weapon 4 is a 1998 American buddy cop action film directed and produced by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Rene Russo, Chris Rock, and Jet Li. It is the fourth installment in the Lethal Weapon film series. It is the last film in the series directed by Donner before his death, and the latest to be released theatrically.

<i>The Singing Detective</i> (film) 2003 American film by Keith Gordon

The Singing Detective is a 2003 American musical crime comedy film directed by Keith Gordon and loosely based on the BBC serial of the same name, a work by British writer Dennis Potter. It stars Robert Downey Jr. and features a supporting cast that includes Katie Holmes, Adrien Brody, Robin Wright Penn, Mel Gibson, Jeremy Northam and Carla Gugino as well as a number of songs from the 1950s.

<i>Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation</i> 1992 American animated film

Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation is a 1992 American animated comedy film from Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Entertainment, originally intended for theatrical exhibition. Featuring the regular characters from the Fox Kids animated television program Tiny Toon Adventures, the plot follows their summer vacation from school, mainly focused on Babs and Buster going downriver, Plucky and Hamton going to a world-famous amusement park, and Fifi in search of her favorite movie star.

<i>Apocalypto</i> 2006 film by Mel Gibson

Apocalypto is a 2006 epic historical action-adventure film produced and directed by Mel Gibson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Farhad Safinia. The film features a cast of Indigenous and Mexican actors consisting of Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo, Mayra Sérbulo, Dalia Hernández, Gerardo Taracena, Jonathan Brewer, Rodolfo Palacios, Bernardo Ruiz Juarez, Ammel Rodrigo Mendoza, Ricardo Diaz Mendoza, and Israel Contreras. Set in Yucatán around the year 1517, Apocalypto portrays the hero's journey of a young man named Jaguar Paw, a late Mesoamerican hunter and his fellow tribesmen who are captured by an invading force. After a raid on their village, they are brought on a perilous journey to a Maya city for human sacrifice at a time when the Maya civilization is in decline.

<i>Four Brothers</i> (film) 2005 film directed by John Singleton

Four Brothers is a 2005 American action film directed by John Singleton. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, André Benjamin and Garrett Hedlund as four adopted brothers who set out to avenge the murder of their adoptive mother. The film was shot in Detroit, Michigan and the Greater Toronto Area. It has been described as blaxploitation-influenced. Released on August 12, 2005, the film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $92 million worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashley Cotton</span> Fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders

Ashley Cotton is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, the son of Zoe Cotton and Nick Cotton and the grandson of Dot Cotton. He was played by Rossi Higgins in 1993, and then by Frankie Fitzgerald from 2000 to 2001.

Ben Mitchell (<i>EastEnders</i>) Fictional character from EastEnders

Ben Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, who has been played by six different actors since his on-screen birth on 21 March 1996. Matthew Silver appeared as an infant Ben between 1996 and 1998, and Morgan Whittle played him as a toddler between 1999 and 2001. After a five-year absence from the series, Charlie Jones assumed the role of Ben in 2006. In 2010, the character was recast with Joshua Pascoe in the role, who made his first appearance on 13 December 2010. Pascoe quit the role in 2012 and Ben departed on 24 August 2012. Ben's return was announced in May 2014 with Harry Reid in the role; Ben returned on 22 September 2014. Reid was written out of the series in 2017 and Ben departed on 12 January 2018. Ben was reintroduced in 2019 with the role recast to Max Bowden. Ben returned on 1 April 2019. In December 2023, it was announced Bowden would exit the role. Ben departed the series on 28 March 2024, after being extradited to America for credit card fraud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Icon Productions</span> American production company

Icon Productions is an Australian-American production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey, which, unlike most other independent production companies, funds most of its development and production costs, allowing it to retain creative control of its projects. Its headquarters are in Santa Monica, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mel Gibson filmography</span>

Mel Gibson is an American actor, director, and producer, who made his acting debut on the Australian television drama series The Sullivans (1976–1983). While a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, he was given an uncredited role in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and subsequently appeared as a leading actor in the micro budget surf drama Summer City. Gibson rose to prominence during the Australian New Wave cinema movement in the early 1980s, having appeared in his breakthrough role in George Miller's dystopian action film Mad Max (1979), portraying the eponymous hero. He reprised the role in its sequels, Mad Max 2 (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). He appeared in Peter Weir's war drama Gallipoli (1981) and the romantic drama The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Five years later he played Martin Riggs in the buddy cop action comedy Lethal Weapon alongside Danny Glover—a role he later reprised in its sequels Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Grünberg</span> Mexican film director and screenwriter (born 1975)

Adrian Grünberg is a Mexican film director and screenwriter.

<i>El Gringo</i> 2012 film by Eduardo Rodríguez

El Gringo is a 2012 American action film directed by Eduardo Rodríguez, produced by After Dark Films, written by Jonathan Stokes, and starring Scott Adkins, Christian Slater and Yvette Yates.

<i>Too Many Winners</i> 1947 film by William Beaudine

Too Many Winners is a 1947 American mystery crime film directed by William Beaudine and starring Hugh Beaumont, Trudy Marshall and Ralph Dunn. Made and released by Producers Releasing Corporation, it was one of a number of films featuring the private detective Michael Shayne.

<i>Blood Father</i> 2016 French film

Blood Father is a 2016 English-language French action crime thriller film directed by Jean-François Richet, written by Peter Craig based on his novel of the same name, and starring Mel Gibson, Erin Moriarty, Diego Luna, Michael Parks, and William H. Macy. The film had its world premiere at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2016 and was released on 12 August 2016 by Lionsgate Premiere.

<i>Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation</i> 2018 American film by Genndy Tartakovsky

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is a 2018 American animated monster comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the third installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise and the sequel to Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), the film was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, written by Tartakovsky and Michael McCullers, and features Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, Sadie Sandler, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, Asher Blinkoff and Mel Brooks reprising their roles, with new additions to the cast including Jim Gaffigan, Kathryn Hahn, Joe Jonas, Chrissy Teigen, Joe Whyte, Tara Strong and Tartakovsky, while Chris Parnell, who voiced The Fly in the first two films, voices Stan. In the film, Dracula finds love with a ship captain named Ericka while he embarks on a vacation on a luxury cruise liner with his family and friends, but Mavis later discovers that Ericka is actually the great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, Drac's arch-nemesis who secretly plan to destroy them.

<i>Boss Level</i> 2021 science fiction action film by Joe Carnahan

Boss Level is a 2020 American science fiction action film directed by Joe Carnahan and written by Carnahan and Chris and Eddie Borey, from a story by the Boreys. It stars Frank Grillo as a retired special forces soldier who tries to escape a never-ending time loop that results in his death. Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts and Michelle Yeoh co-star.

Sesan Ogunro is a Nigerian music video director based in the United Kingdom, often credited for his work as Sesan. He has directed music videos for Afrobeats genre artists such as D'Banj, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage and Davido. He is the CEO of Film Factory Nigeria, a video production company in Lagos; and Film Factory South Africa, in Johannesburg.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation may refer to:

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mel Gibson's 'Get the Gringo' – Coming Straight to DirecTV VDO". Deadline Hollywood . 2012-01-31. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION". British Board of Film Classification . 2012-03-18. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  3. 1 2 "Get the Gringo". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 2013-10-29.
  4. ↑ "Details on How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Mel Gibson's Other New Film | /Film". Slashfilm.com. 2009-12-15. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  5. ↑ "How I Spent My Summer Vacation". Screen Daily . 2012-04-13. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
  6. ↑ "Mel Gibson Set to Star In 'How I Spent My Summer Vacation'". FirstShowing.net. 2009-12-15. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  7. 1 2 3 "Get the Gringo: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter . 2012-04-20. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  8. ↑ "Mel Gibson Takes A Summer Vacation". Screen Rant. 15 December 2009. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  9. ↑ "Icon Goes All In For Mel Gibson's How I Spent My Summer Vacation". CinemaBlend.com. 2010-02-15. Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  10. ↑ Elizabeth Day (2012-06-05). "Mel Gibson: saint and sinner". The Guardian . Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  11. ↑ Villalpando, Nicole. Newsmakers: Entertainment (column). Austin American-Statesman, 18 April 2012, p. D-02.
  12. ↑ Horn, John (April 19, 2012). "Mel Gibson's 'Get the Gringo' has a one-night theatrical run". Los Angeles Times.
  13. ↑ "Get The Gringo Trailer Online". empireonline.com. 2012-01-31. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  14. ↑ "GET THE GRINGO Starring Mel Gibson to Be Released Straight to Video-On-Demand". Collider.com. 2012-01-31. Archived from the original on 2012-05-05. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  15. ↑ "Get the Gringo". Blu-ray.com.
  16. ↑ "Get the Gringo". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  17. ↑ French, Philip (2012-05-12). "How I Spent My Summer Vacation – review". The Guardian . Retrieved 2013-10-29.
  18. ↑ Hiddleston, Tom (2012-05-08). "How I Spent My Summer Vacation". Time Out London . Retrieved 2013-10-29.
  19. ↑ Debruge, Peter (2012-04-20). "Review: Get the Gringo". Variety . Retrieved 2013-10-29.
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.