Desperado (1995)
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A vengeful musician with a guitar case full of guns must navigate a deadly web of drug lords and betrayal.
The story
In a Mexican town, a man known as El Mariachi, who carries a guitar case filled with weapons, seeks revenge against a powerful drug lord named Bucho who murdered his lover. After a violent confrontation at a local bar, El Mariachi is wounded and taken to a nearby bookstore by a woman named Carolina. As Bucho's men begin to hunt him down, El Mariachi must navigate the dangers of the local underworld while dealing with the realization that the drug lord's influence permeates every corner of the town.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
El Mariachi, a man with a guitar case full of guns, seeks revenge on the drug lord Bucho for the murder of his lover. After a bloody skirmish at the Tarasco bar, he is wounded and taken to a bookstore by Carolina. He encounters a child who is being used by his father to smuggle drugs. During a series of ambushes and confrontations, El Mariachi learns that Carolina's bookstore is a front for Bucho's operations. After a tense standoff in a burning building and a final confrontation at Bucho's compound, El Mariachi discovers that Bucho is actually his older brother, Cesar. He ultimately kills Bucho and his remaining henchmen. The film ends with El Mariachi and Carolina fleeing together, eventually returning to retrieve his guitar case.
- First release year
- 1995
- Runtime (minutes)
- 105
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Robert Rodriguez
- Writers
- Robert Rodriguez · writer
- Cast and characters
- Antonio Banderas · El Mariachi; Joaquim de Almeida; Salma Hayek; Steve Buscemi; Cheech Marin; Quentin Tarantino · Pick-up Guy
- Genres
- neo-Western; action
- Themes
- revenge; brotherhood
- Tone and mood
- action-packed; violent
- Premise and plot tags
- drug cartels; guitarists; vengeance
- Source material / true-story basis
- El Mariachi (1993)
- Franchise connections
- Mexico Trilogy
- Content notes
- graphic violence
- Reception
- The film received mixed to positive reviews, with critics praising the lead performance and action while noting a thin plot.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 71% · scale: percentage · review count: 55; Metacritic · score: 55 · scale: 100 · review count: 18; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F
- Awards and nominations
- Grammy Award · Best Pop Instrumental Performance · 1995 · win
- Production trivia
- Salma Hayek's breakout role in an anglophonic American film.; The film was originally rated NC-17 and had to be cut for an R rating.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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