ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO at HOLLYWOOD TEEN MOVIES

The saga of the mythic guitar-slinging hero, El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), continues in Robert Rodriguez’s bold, non-stop action epic ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO. The new adventure is set against a backdrop of revolution and greed. Haunted and scarred by loss, El Mariachi (Banderas) has retreated into a life of isolation. He is forced out of hiding by Sands (Johnny Depp), a corrupt CIA agent. Sands recruits the reclusive hero to sabotage a plot by the evil cartel kingpin Barillo (Willem Dafoe), who is planning to assassinate the president of Mexico. El Mariachi has his own reasons for returning - retribution and revenge. Now, together with his capable cohorts Lorenzo (Enrique Iglesias) and Fideo (Marco Leonardi) the legend of El Mariachi attains new levels of excitement.

El Mariachi, the guitar-playing killer in the film of the same name in 1992 who reappeared for 1995’s Desperado, is back again for director, Robert Rodriguez’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

As well as its producer/director/writer and - would you believe? - production designer, Rodriguez is the movie’s cinematographer, editor and music composer or, as the opening credits inform us, he “shot, chopped and scored” it. There are of course many others involved in its making but it’s definitely fair enough to tag it “a Robert Rodriguez Film”. El Mariachi was made for an inconceivably low $7,000, which is dwarfed by the $29,000,000 allotted to this in which most of that budget must surely have gone towards the creation of action sequences that are so amplified as to be surreal as, in fact, are the characters.

Added to the mix is Johnny Depp as a corrupt CIA agent called Sands who is on a mission in Mexico. Sands is kind of weird - a guy who would just as soon eliminate a good guy as a bad one and for reasons that exist only in his own weird little world. He shoots a chef who makes his favourite dish perfectly because he wants to “restore the balance” - or something like that. Depp is perfectly cast and very funny in an offbeat way.

Sands hires El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) to kill an assassin - General Marquez (Gerardo Vigil), the man responsible for the death of Mariachi’s wife, Carolina (Salma Hayek) and daughter. Sequences showing Mariachi with Caroline occur as flashbacks throughout the movie. Marquez - in league with drug lord, Barillo (Willem Dafoe) - intends to assassinate the Mexican president (Pedro Armendariz) during a coup on the Day of the Dead. To stop him, Mariachi recruits his pals, Lorenzo (Enrique Iglesias) and Fideo (Marco Leonardi). Sands is also around to give a hand, although it’s hard to know just where he stands and when Marquez’s men get hold of him, it looks like he won’t be much help to anyone. But, then again, there is nothing real about what the characters can achieve in this movie and the final showdown contains some rather bizarre moments.

Technically, Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a knockout (shot on the new Sony 24-fps Hi-Def camera) and man-of-all-trades Rodriguez creates dazzling action sequences from go to whoa.

Once Upon A Time In Mexico(2003) VHS
Once Upon A Time In Mexico [DVD](2003) DVD
In the third and final entry in Robert Rodriguez's "El Mariachi" series, Antonio Banderas' guitar-strumming gunslinger is out for vengeance after his wife (Salma Hayek) and their young daughter are killed by drug kingpin Willem Dafoe, who is about to have the president of Mexico assassinated. Before he can bring down Dafoe, however, Banderas must deal with rogue CIA agent Johnny Depp, ex-agency operative Ruben Blades, and Dafoe associate Mickey Rourke. With Eva Mendes, Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo. 102 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French French Dolby Digital Surround; Subtitles: English, French; audio audio commentary by Rodriguez; deleted scenes; DVD-ROM content; alternate scenes
Desperado (Special Edition) [DVD](1995) DVD
Robert Rodriguez's remake of his made-on-pennies sensation "El Mariachi" is an explosive actioner starring Antonio Banderas as the swaggering guitar-player who takes on a series of hombres in a Mexican town ruled by a druglord with whom he has a score to settle. Salma Hayek is his fetching romantic interest; cameos are turned in by Quentin Tarantino and Cheech Marin. 103 min. Widescreen; Soundtrack: English; featurettes; audio commentary by Rodriguez.
Desperado (Special Edition) (1995)/El Mariachi (Special Edition) (1993) [DVD] DVD
Both the original "El Mariachi" and its Hollywood remake, "Desperado," are available in their special editions in a collector's boxed set.