Desperado (film)

For other uses, see Desperado (disambiguation).

Desperado
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Robert Rodriguez
Produced by	Robert Rodriguez Elizabeth Avellan Carlos Gallardo Bill Borden
Written by	Robert Rodriguez
Starring	Antonio Banderas Joaquim de Almeida Salma Hayek Steve Buscemi Cheech Marin Quentin Tarantino
Music by	Los Lobos and Tito & Tarantula
Cinematography	Guillermo Navarro
Editing by	Robert Rodriguez
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	August 25, 1995
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$7,000,000
Box office	$25,405,445 (U.S)[1]

Desperado is a 1995 action thriller film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film stars Antonio Banderas as the former mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover.

Desperado is the sequel to Rodriguez's independent film El Mariachi (1992) and the second entry in the "Mexico Trilogy". It was screened out of competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

Plot

An unnamed man (Steve Buscemi) walks into a bar and begins to tell the bartender (Cheech Marin), the bouncer Tavo (Tito Larriva) and everyone else that he was in a bar in another town and it was cleaned out by a mysterious man in black looking for a man named "Bucho". This story openly frightens the men, and the bartender asks Buscemi to get a description of the man's face in exchange for a round of beer. Buscemi claims to not know and remarks that he believes the man is headed that way.

El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), the man from the story, wakes from a dream about when Domino (his love interest in the first film) is killed by Moco and hurts his left hand. He is visited by Buscemi, who informs him the bar he visited is the starting place to look for Bucho. When Buscemi asks El Mariachi what he will do after he has revenge on all of the drug lords in Mexico, he simply states that it will all be over. Upon arriving at the town, El Mariachi meets a young boy and teaches him to loosen his fingers when playing the guitar, despite not being able to use his fingers on his left hand due to the gunshot wound to his hand from Moco in the first film. Meanwhile at his ranch, Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida) is apparently worried that "the man in black" is coming for him. He orders his men to keep an eye out for any strangers and purchases a bulletproof limousine for his security.

El Mariachi enters the bar that Buscemi visited. The patrons are suspicious of him due to the Buscemi's story even though he appears nothing like he was described, except for the black clothing. They hold him at gunpoint as they open his guitar case to search for weapons, only to see a guitar. They let him go, just as the guitar is revealed to be a cover inside the case to conceal his weapons. This results in an intense gunfight as El Mariachi ejects two guns from underneath his sleeves and exchanges gunfire with all of the thugs. Meanwhile, in a hidden room, Tavo is in the middle of exchanging drug money with a pick-up guy (Quentin Tarantino) when they see the gunfight on a security monitor. Tavo kills the pick-up guy, suspecting him of leading El Mariachi into the bar. After dispatching all of the thugs, El Mariachi begins to question the bartender, who is then shot in the head by another gunman, who is shortly disposed of. After leaving a note to remind Bucho of his presence, El Mariachi exits the bar, unaware that he is tailed by Tavo. Due to an intervention by a beautiful passerby named Carolina (Salma Hayek), El Mariachi manages to gun down Tavo, but passes out due to a gunshot wound in the arm.

He wakes up in a bookstore, where Carolina stitches up his wound. She explains to him that she runs the bookstore, but business has not been very good. She is also aware that he is the man "they tell stories about". After recovering from his wound, he goes to a church, where he meets with Buscemi - who tells him to get out while he still can, because that is what he is doing. As they leave the church, they are ambushed by another man in black named Navajas (Danny Trejo), who kills Buscemi and wounds El Mariachi with his throwing knives. As El Mariachi runs in a back alley for cover, Navajas is interrupted by the presence of Bucho's limo. Navajas jumps on top of the limo and kills Bucho's bodyguards from the sunroof until Bucho's girlfriend Zamira (Angel Aviles) guns him down. This confrontation gives El Mariachi enough time to escape. Bucho is later on frustrated when he is informed that Navajas was actually sent by his superiors to hunt down El Mariachi.

El Mariachi sees the boy from earlier, who exchanges guitars with a car. He stops the car at gunpoint and confiscates the guitar, discovering a bag of cocaine inside. The boy explains that everyone in town is involved in drug dealing and most of the town's businesses are fronts - including Carolina's bookstore. Returning to the bookstore, he yells at Carolina, angered at the fact that she is apparently working for the man who he is trying to kill, and that his friend is dead. She then states that she doesn't work for Bucho; only that stuff is dropped off and picked up from her bookstore and she is paid 50,000 dollars a year. She says she uses a little to keep the bookstore running and saves the rest in case she ever has to leave, but that once she joined, she wasn't allowed to get out. El Mariachi calms down and lies on the counter so she can fix his wounds, but she promptly shoves him off behind the counter just as Bucho walks in. Bucho questions her about if she has seen any strange people, but she states that she hasn't and will call him if she does. Just as El Mariachi prepares to silently load his gun, Bucho leaves the bookstore. He attempts to leave and follow Bucho, but Carolina tells him that it would be suicide and to wait until later.

The next day, El Mariachi and Carolina are ambushed by Bucho's men, who were sent to kill them both. When Bucho's men set the bookstore on fire, the couple escape through the rooftops. After finding cover, El Mariachi grabs one of his guns and aims at Bucho from outside his limousine, but suddenly hesitates and puts his gun away upon seeing his face. Carolina asks him why he didn't shoot, but he does not reply. Later, at a hotel, El Mariachi tells Carolina she can leave the village and use the money she stashed to start a new life, but she tells him that the money was hidden in the books that were burned. He then decides to call his friends Campa (Carlos Gallardo) and Quino (Albert Michel, Jr.), who meet up with him and go to a deserted part of town for a showdown with Bucho's men. Campa and Quino are killed in the battle, but the three mariachis manage to wipe out the thugs. However, El Mariachi discovers that the little boy from earlier on has been shot. He and Carolina rush the boy to the hospital before heading for Bucho's ranch. Upon their arrival, it is revealed that El Mariachi and Bucho are brothers; Bucho's real name is César and he addresses El Mariachi as Manito (likely a contraction of hermanito, which means "little brother"). Bucho, however, is angered by Carolina's betrayal and threatens to kill her to even the score with El Mariachi killing his men. El Mariachi, unable to bear another love's death, ejects his pistols from his sleeves and shoots Bucho dead.

Back at the hospital, the couple discover that the boy will recover from his wounds. El Mariachi tells Carolina he will thank her and leaves. Then, as he is walking in the desert, Carolina drives by him and asks him to join her. He throws away his guitar case before he and Carolina drive off, but then stop and go back to pick it up ("just in case") before driving away into the sunset.

Cast

• Antonio Banderas - El Mariachi (Manito, a contraction of hermanito)
• Salma Hayek - Carolina
• Joaquim de Almeida - Bucho (Cesar)
• Cheech Marin - Short Bartender
• Steve Buscemi - Buscemi
• Carlos Gómez - Right Hand (as Carlos Gomez)
• Quentin Tarantino - Pick Up Guy
• Tito Larriva - Tavo
• Angel Aviles - Zamira
• Danny Trejo - Navajas
• Abraham Verduzco - Niño
• Carlos Gallardo - Campa
• Albert Michel Jr. - Quino
• David Alvarado - Buddy
• Angela Lanza - Tourist Girl
• Peter Marquardt as Moco

Production

This film is a sequel to the independent movie El Mariachi. Desperado helped to enhance the fame of Antonio Banderas and introduced Salma Hayek to American audiences.

Rodriguez's friend Quentin Tarantino has a cameo as "Pick-up Guy." Carlos Gallardo, who played the title role of El Mariachi, appears in Desperado as Campa, a friend to Banderas' Mariachi.

Raúl Juliá was originally cast as Bucho but died before production began on October 24, 1994.

El Mariachi's codpiece gun was used again in Rodriguez's 1996 film From Dusk till Dawn.

Music

See also: Desperado: The Soundtrack

The film's score is written and performed by the Los Angeles rock band, Los Lobos, performing Chicano rock and traditional Ranchera music. Their performance of "Mariachi Suite" won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance at the 1995 Grammy Awards. Other artists on the soundtrack album include Dire Straits, Link Wray, Latin Playboys and Carlos Santana. Musician Tito Larriva has a small role in the film, and his band, Tito & Tarantula, contributed to the soundtrack as well.

Reception

The film currently holds a 61% "Fresh" rating on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, while Empire Magazine awarded the film a four star rating.

References

1. ^ "Desperado (1995)". Box Office Mojo. 1995-10-03. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=desperado.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-23. 
2. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Desperado". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3376/year/1995.html. Retrieved 2009-09-08. 

External links

• Desperado at Rotten Tomatoes
• Desperado at AllRovi
• Desperado at Box Office Mojo
• MovieMaker magazine interview with Rodriguez
• Desperado at the Internet Movie Database
• Austin Chronicle profile