El Mariachi

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El Mariachi ★★★ 1993 (R)

Extremely low-budget but clever mixture of humor and violence in a tale of mistaken identity set in a small Mexican border town. Unemployed singer/musician Gallardo wanders into a small town and is mistaken for a hitman who carries his weapons in a guitar case. Eventually, the real hitman also shows up. 24-year-old director Rodriguez makes his feature film debut with this $7000 feature, originally intended only for the Spanish-language market. Film festival awards and critical attention brought the work to wider release. Spanish with subtitles or dubbed. 81m/C VHS, DVD . MX Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gomez, Peter Marquardt, Jaime de Hoyos, Reinol Martinez, Ramiro Gomez; D: Robert Rodriguez; W: Robert Rodriguez, Carlos Gallardo; C: Robert Rodriguez; M: Eric Guthrie. Ind. Spirit '94: First Feature; Sundance '93: Aud. Award.

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