We kick off our Second Season with this gem from the mid '90's. Back in the early ‘90’s, a young aspiring filmmaker from Austin made his first movie for $7,000 with much of the financing coming from selling his body for science – the filmmaker was Robert Rodriguez and his first feature was the celebrated El Mariachi, an inventive action film about a guitar player-turned-assassin seeking revenge.
A couple of years later, he followed this up with a bigger budget Hollywood version of this story which was originally going to be a remake but ended up being a sequel….this time starring Antonio Banderas as the Mariachi, with a significantly bigger budget, and a pretty stacked cast surrounding him including Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, Joaquim de Almeida, and Cheech Marin. THIS version was called Desperado and it ended up being one of the best action films of the era!
Host: Geoff Gershon
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon
https://livingforthecinema.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/
Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/
https://livingforthecinema.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/
Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/
We kick off our Second Season with this gem from the mid '90's. Back in the early ‘90’s, a young aspiring filmmaker from Austin made his first movie for $7,000 with much of the financing coming from selling his body for science – the filmmaker was Robert Rodriguez and his first feature was the celebrated El Mariachi, an inventive action film about a guitar player-turned-assassin seeking revenge.
A couple of years later, he followed this up with a bigger budget Hollywood version of this story which was originally going to be a remake but ended up being a sequel….this time starring Antonio Banderas as the Mariachi, with a significantly bigger budget, and a pretty stacked cast surrounding him including Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, Joaquim de Almeida, and Cheech Marin. THIS version was called Desperado and it ended up being one of the best action films of the era!
Host: Geoff Gershon
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon
https://livingforthecinema.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/
Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/
https://livingforthecinema.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/
Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/
DESPERADO - 1995
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Joaquim de Almeida, Cheech Marin, Carlos Gomez, Carlos Gallardo, Tito Larriva, Quentin Tarantino, Danny Trejo, and Steve Buscemi
Genre: Modern Western (Audio clip)
Everything about this film is just PURE joy...even though it does get quite bloody at times. From that stirring opening monologue by Steve Buscemi in the bar to a climax featuring one character reloading his guitar case-shaped machine guns by simply pulling each one up by the handle (still not sure how he's aiming but no matter), it just never stops nor slows down for pure exposition - director Robert Rodriguez just keeps the plot moving forward while throwing different diversions at you to keep you interested. :)
And those diversions include a genuine star-making performance by the smoldering Antonio Banderas (and boy DOES he smolder) as a mysterious drifter/ex-mariachi wandering around a Mexican town with his trusty Bat-utility belt disguised as a guitar case....he's seeking revenge for the death of his love and a shot to the hand which ended his guitar-playing days. He's intimidating at times but also comically in over his head at others (Audio clip) he kills tons of goons working through gun-shots and acrobatics and yet we see him getting brutalized throughout as well.
Fortunately the would-be doctor/bookstore owner named Carolina who saves him and nurses him back to health is played by the luminous Salma Hayek in one of her earliest roles. She's not only jaw-droppingly gorgeous in this but quite funny and endearing as a nice foil for Banderas' character. (Audio clip) They make a VERY handsome couple with one great love scene no less...their scenes together are not only the most entertaining in the film, but their interactions bring it the minimal about of depth, we learn just enough about their backstories at least enough to care. ;) And it never slows down the action...
Of which, there are NO shortage of inventively directed action sequences...in bars where apparently no one can hit their target even at close range, in bookstores, and even in the middle of a crowded street where we get to see Danny Trejo's mysterious assassin almost successfully take out an entire crew of heavily-armed goons inside a bulletproof limousine...HE'S only armed with knives. :o
Trejo leaves his mark with limited screentime but the main villain doesn't disappoint either. That would be Bucho played with loads of exasperated humor by '90's mainstay Joaquin de Almeida. He's also fun to watch as much of the narrative is told through his perspective. (Audio clip) Basically he spends much of his screentime scolding his large posse of thugs for their incompetence and it never gets old and you can appreciate how frustrated he is: this Mariachi should have been dead from the get-go given how often he finds himself surrounded by SO many other armed individuals in close proximity. 🤔
Cleary the action is meant to be somewhat over-the-top and it still really works - - Desperado clocks in at just over 100 minutes with not a wasted minute.
Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):
Seeing as the main character is himself a mariachi strutting around with a guitar case, you would have to assume that we would also be treated to some great guitar music….and you would be right. The opening title sequence actually serves as a prologue as we see our protagonist during his glory days performing in front of a packed audience at a nightclub – yes it’s actually Banderas himself singing and he’s got a pretty good voice! The back-up band behind him is the legendary California rock band Los Lobos – they also wrote the song we hear during this sequence, along with performing the score for the rest of the movie. Los Lobos….wow, it’s hard to imagine but these guys having been doing this for almost 50 years now as they first started performing back in 1973. Of course a lot of folks (myself included) first noticed them in the late ‘80’s when they performed a memorable cover of the ‘50’s pop hit “La Bamba” for the biopic of the late singer Ritchie Valens called La Bamba….just one of THE great diegetic needle drops at the time and you could not AVOID this song! (Audio clip)
But back to the opening of Desperado, it’s really quite the kick-ass sequence as we see Banderas not only energetically crooning but even tapping on his guitar at one point to provide some percussion….and dude LOOKS great too, wearing a tight black suit sporting boots with spurs no less. One highlight is that in the middle of performing the song, we actually see him calmly walking across the bar which has a GIANT guitar-shaped light behind it….as he sees a damsel in distress being threated by some goon with a knife. Well our hero just ISN’T having that as he slightly bends down and knocks out the goon cold with the edge of his guitar….BOOM, great hero moment! The song is called “Cancion del Mariachi” and just SUCH a fun way to kick off this shin-dig…. (Audio clip)
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):
Long Island’s own Steve Buscemi has always been one of my favorite character actors going back to his truly impressive run of memorable performances in several indie films in the first half of the 1990’s including Reservoir Dogs, King of New York, Miller’s Crossing, Living in Oblivion, and of course…..previous episode Fargo. And yes he has a DOOZY of a monologue early in the movie as he basically serves as a pre-emptive HYPE man for Banderas’ mariachi assassin. Buscemi’s character (who’s friends with the Mariachi) walks into a bar with Cheech Marin as the barkeep….and proceeds to lay out a story for ALL nearby to hear….about a mysterious figure carrying around a guitar case filled with firearms….who has been visiting local bars on the hunt for Bucho…..and has been killing every one in his path…..needless to say it’s good hype! (Audio clip)
Well let’s just say that barely halfway through, Buscemi’s character leaves the movie….I GUESS to set up the stakes and/or ramp up the threat that our hero is up against? Fine I get it, I’m just saying I would have welcomed MORE Buscemi….especially since there was at least one sequel on the way….
Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
Among the several impressive action sequences featured in this movie, my personal favorite pretty occurs more than halfway through as the Mariachi and Carolina are trying to escape a hail of gunfire from Bucho’s goons. We find both of them on a nearaby rooftop with folks shooting at them from below and also heading their way on the roof. They’re trapped! Or so it seems…..first Carolina takes off her heels and jumps on to a nearby rooftop below as the Mariachi then throws his guitar gun-case over there as well. And what happens next…..well, describing it just doesn’t really do it justice but I’ll try. We basically get to see Banderas defy physics as he's able to successfully jump BACKWARDS from roof-to-roof while shooting at the enemy with a gun in each hand. And of course he lands safely rolling off his back….sure they had Parkour back in the ‘90’s right?
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
The rise of Robert Rodriguez as a brash, young filmmaker from Austin who came out of nowhere in the early ‘90’s has already become legend…..to raise the $7,000 needed to produce his first feature, the celebrated El Mariachi, he actually sold his body for science. El Mariachi came out in ’92 and is a hell of a good time, it received a lot of worldwide acclaim. Desperado was his first big studio movie though it was still reasonably priced at around $7 million – it was originally going to just be a larger scaled remake of El Mariachi but it kind of morphed into a pseudo-sequel. Either way you look at it though, this movie was an impressive step forward – Banderas was already becoming a name but this was his first American starring vehicle. It ended up being a genuine breakout movie for Hayek. And really from top-to-bottom, you have a strong cast backed up by a strong crew REALLY delivering a top-flight genre film on par with films coming out at this time which were 10x more expensive. Just as an example, Banderas co-starred with Sly Stallone just two months later in the big budget Assassins directed by Richard Donner of Lethal Weapon fame no less…..THAT film cost more than $50 million and was not NEARLY as entertaining plus it actually made about the same money as Desperado no less!
This film is a minor miracle for just how good it is considering the lack of resources involved – hell I'm still blown away that Rodriguez apparently had ONLY two stunt-men working on this along with NO second-unit director. For delivering THE most bang for the buck, Robert Rodriguez is the MVP. (Audio Clip)
Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Even amidst a crop of BIG budget actioners starring the likes of Arnold, Will Smith, and Nicholas Cage at the time…..this remains one of the best action films of the '90's!
Streaming on HBO Max
And that ends another MELLIFLUOUS review