Customer Reviews

El Mariachi / Desperado

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

All right, let's be clear here, the movies on this dvd are both cool. EL MARIACHI is a stunning achievement. Robert Rodriguez filmed the movie for $7000.00, most of which was spent buying film! DESPERADO was filmed for $7 million, but it looks like a $30 million action flick. How did he do it?

He tells you all about it on the director's commentaries for both movies. A lot of director commentaries are an instant cure for insomnia. But Robert Rodriguez is NEVER boring. He explains how he accomplished various shots. He tells you how he made El Mariachi for only $7,000! He tells you how to make a little money go a long way. This is a new or aspiring filmmaker's dream and for those of us who are simply curious, it's fascinating to hear. On top of that, there are two ten minute featurettes. On the EL MARIACHI side you get an awesome 10 Minute Film School and on the DESPERADO side you get the Anatomy of a shootout. It's amazing to see how Rodriguez made the movies. Also fun is the short BEDHEAD, which Rodriguez filmed several years prior to EL MARIACHI.

This dvd belongs on every movie fan's shelf. And as a note to any directors out there who plan to do commmentaries--listen to Rodriguez first to see how it's done!

This is the package to get if you're thinking about checking out the two movies, "El Mariachi" and "Desperado." Why buy both separately when you can get them both for a great price? The "Desperado/El Mariachi" Collector's Box Set is a great offer that gives you plenty of action and thrills for a more than reasonable price. Not to mention that the set includes the "Special Edition" DVD versions of the two movies.

"El Mariachi" is the directorial debut from Robert Rodriguez that became an instant classic and received critical praise. The film is about a Mariachi who gets into trouble when a case of mistaken identity forces him into a violent and bloody conflict. "Desperado" is the sequel that's filled with outstanding shootouts and amazing action sequences. The film continues the story of the Mariachi and his plan for revenge. The two films together equal a very entertaining time.

Both of the DVDs included are "Special Editions" that are loaded with some cool extras. Extras that can be found on the DVDs are commentaries, featurettes, trailers and more. "Desperado" is mastered in High Definition and provides a very clear picture, while "El Mariachi" has a new film transfer that was supervised by the director.

This box set is really the way to go if you're thinking about purchasing the two movies. I have a feeling that the set will be even more popular with the recent release of "Once Upon a Time in Mexico." You get two great movies for a very low price. It's almost like paying for one DVD and getting the other one free. The "Desperado/El Mariachi" Collector's Box Set offers the best quality DVD versions of the two films. If you're looking for action and excitement, this is the place to be. A definite worthy purchase, if you want my opinion. -Michael Crane

If you are even an avid fan of action films, you cannot be without this incredible double-feature DVD. Robert Rodriguez shines with his Mariachi films, "El Mariachi" and "Desperado. El Mariachi, filmed on a bare-bones budget of 7k, is one of the most spectacular action films I have ever seen. Mainly for it's flawless script, and the amount of depth it gives the characters, the film really keeps you on the edge of your seat. Desperado, the big-budget hollywood feature, is considered sub-par by many, but I throughly enjoyed the action sequences for what they were: A bunch of people shooting each other. And Antonio plays his character beautifully, so I didnt take the time to anylize the acting of the other cast members, or the effects, I just watched and enjoyed. If you watch Desperado for anything, watch it for Cheech, Tarentino and Trejo. Why are you even reading this? You cannot go without having this DVD in your collection, especially with this price.

Robert Rodriguez is one of the best young filmmakers today. His debut film, El Mariachi, is a compelling romatic/action film created on a shoestrong budget ($7K) and non-professional actors. This film should be watched by any aspiring director with no studio backing. Mariachi makes moronic big-budget action films like Armageddon look completely silly.

Then there is Desperado. Having been discovered, Rodriguez now commands a larger budget and a-list talent. No penny is wasted. In my opinion, Desperado is not as good a story as Mariachi, it does include some highly innovative action sequences and excellent performances from Banderas, Buscemi, and Hayek.

As if these two great flicks were not worth the price of the DVD, there are also some really great extra features on the disc, including a very entertaining short film starring the director's kids. If you are a fan of action movies, or if you are an aspiring filmmaker, I strongly recommend this DVD.

El Mariachi is a crowning acheivement for independent film makers. Made for about $7,000, Robert Rodriguez (the director) used his friends and family as cast and crew for the film. He truly shows how one doesn't need a huge Hollywood budget to make an incredible action film. It is full of laughs and thrills and YOU WILL LOVE IT!

Desperado was released several years later, once Rodriguez had become known after El Mariachi and Bedhead (his first film - a short - also included on this DVD - so it's really a 3 for 1 deal!). This time, Columbia/TriStar put in $3 million for the budget, so Rodriguez was able to pull in Antonio Banderas (who was made for this role) and Salma Hayek (one of the most beautiful women in film today). While Rodriguez uses his friends in this film too (the Mariachi from the first film - Rodriguez's real-life best friend - makes a guest appearance as Banderas's friend), this one is definitely a Hollywood production. But it is still FANTASTIC!

El Mariachi has more slap-stick comedy combined with the action, whereas the humor in Desperado comes more from the ridiculousness of the action and plot. But the fact that it is not believable does not detract at all from the film. It loses nothing because of that; in fact, it gains everything from it.

Both movies are extremely violent and not for people who don't like action movies, but they are both honestly worth the time and money.

The quality of the DVD is also incredible! The sound and video is crystal clear and LOUD! Both films are on 1 double-sided DVD and each is in Widescreen. It also includes Rodriguez's short film "Bedhead" and several Director's Commentaries and extra featurettes! This DVD is packed! It is what DVD was made for!

DEFINITELY BUY THIS DVD!!! IT IS WELL WORTH THE MONEY!!!

As you've probably noticed by now, this DVD includes two movies - "El Mariachi" and "Desperado", "Desperado" being the more famous of the the two.

Think "Desperado" is better? Wrong.

"El Mariachi" is simply stunning. The feelings, the style, the actors left me with my mouth open. Which reminds me - when I say 'actors' I mean Consuelo Gomez (as Domino) mostly. There's something about her that leaves Salma Hayek (Carolina in "Desperado") looking as an overly simple james-bondish girl, someone with no temper and no character. Consuelo Gomez, on the other hand, would make "El Mariachi" worth seeing even if the movie had no other great qualities.

But it has. The very young director Robert Rodriguez has created a very delicate movie - not in terms of action, but in terms of feeling. There is nothing Hollywood-ish about this movie (and there could have been - even though the budget for the movie was $7000).

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about "Desperado". The opening scenes are brilliant - but afterwards you cannot help but wonder (at times!) if you haven't seen this scene of James Bond before - the main character doesn't get killed even though he has more than ten trained killers shooting at him, he kisses his girl in-between shooting people, he jumps from building to building etc. And Salma Hayek has too much beauty and too little character to not be too much alike another bond-girl.

Banderas is quite good, though. And the opening scenes (featuring Steve Buscemi, Quentin Tarantino and Cheech Marin!) are worth as much as "El Mariachi".

Overall, "El Marichi" is great and "Desperado" is quite watchable. Together, they get five stars and a tad nostalgic feeling Rodriguez should never have got rich and famous enough to make movies that end happily...

Just stop and think: for the 7-mil price-tag of the gorgeous looking but artistically inferior "Desperado," Rodriguez could've shot 1,000 "El Mariachis"!

First off, the commentaries by Robert Rodriguez on these two films are the ABSOLUTE BEST EVER by anyone on any disc as far as explaining the details of the actual craft of making the film goes (Roger Ebert on "Citizen Kane" comes close, but puts a little bit too much already well-known trivia in there, and Gene Youngblood on "L'Avventura," of course, is the best one yet for film theory). They are JAM-PACKED with information on how he made the films and have very little annoying trivia. Rodriguez is very funny at times but he never lets his sense of humor get in the way of making informative commentary. Along with his famous book "Rebel Without A Crew," these two commentaries are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL items in any film-buff's or aspiring filmmaker's library. They truly DE-MYSTIFY the entire process of filmmaking. And the funniest thing is this: in his 10 minute film school segment, Rodriguez actually shows you parts of the original 7000 dollar video, before it was blown up to 35 mm by the studios at great cost, and the picture quality is much better and less degraded! I mean, beyond this, anyone who wants to make a film and doesn't, can only blame it on his lack of inspiration or talent, not means (especially more so since the advent of DV cameras)..

"El Mariachi" is as paradoxically effective as it is because it turns into a Mexican cultural-artifact: it is, in fact, one of the best films ever made about Mexican border towns and Mexican culture itself disguised as a Sergio-Leone-John-Woo action flick. Rodriguez may have just stumbled upon the sum-of-all-its-faults synergy that produces cinematic magic, but his decisions and artistic sense are what made it into the most popular Mexican-direct-to-video film ever made. It's just pure hilarious comic-book poetry from beginning to end, with mean-looking bad-guys with thick mustaches, aviator glasses, and grape-crushing tight jeans running around the same block chasing the 'guitar man.'

Also, Rodriguez really knows how to shoot beautiful women subtly and erotically, as he was to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt later with the jaw-dropping shots of Salma Hayek in "Desperado." In Mariachi he only needs a couple of shots with Domino & Moco's Manicurist to drive home the 'entire erotic essence of a woman,' as it were. I've watched this film many times and I truly enjoy it every time, it plays much more `mythically' in its blundering idiosyncracies than the infinitely more polished "Desperado." Rodriguez's main trick for making his film look like at least a 250,000 dollar film? Lot of Cuts, a cut every two seconds, necessity turned into an asset. Yet, his film doesn't feel like a dang-blasted MTV video, he maintains a beautiful flow, pacing, and rhythm throughout. Also, the Music of El Mariachi, as cheap as it sounds, is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC, much better than most of the music in "Desperado," and Rodriguez's clever use of it is pure virtuosity. The use of the sub-mediocre rock music in some of the scenes of "Desperado" really hurts that film as it does also "Dusk Till Dawn," which would've benefited had the more fastidious Tarantino picked the soundtrack. Still Rodriguez's taste in Music was back in Mariachi-mode DEAD-ON in the recent "Spy Kids."

"Desperado" is much less a Mexican Cultural Artifact than a study of the iconic good looks and sensibilities of Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, and what these imply in society, in general, as archetypes. It is much more successful as the Sergio-Leone-John-Woo type action-parody it wants to be, and a little too enamored of its own macho nonsense to be as effective a parody as "The Matrix," for example, and, is therefore, a lesser film, overall, than the thousand times less expensive "Mariachi." And what heterosexual male can ask for anything more than Salma Hayek at her most beautiful shot the way Rodriguez shoots her here?! And as light-weight as the film is, it still contains one of the best performances of Banderas' long career.

Last but not least, there is the Quentin Tarantino appearance in the bar, and later in the truly disgusting toilet that turns into the door to the hide-out, one of the funniest scenes of nineties commerical cinema.

This DVD is required for anyone trying or thinking of getting into film - or anyone else who wonders "how they do that?" Rodriguez's commentary thru both films is priceless. He gives away all the secrets of making a $7000 film look like a $1 mil film (Mariachi) and a $7 mil film look like a $20 mil film (Desparado). Also, he talks like you're having a beer with a buddy, not some cinema auteur.

BTW, I took away 1 star just because Banderas is a little too suave - the 1st Mariachi was better as someone caught in something he didn't understand.

These are 2 great action flicks I've watched in recent times. I do not really want to compare both, but couldn't help not doing it.

El Mariachi is definitely a masterpiece from a very young, versatile director Robert Rodriguez, who I think has a tremendous potential. Good, solid performances from little known Carlos Gallardo and Conseula Gomez. Do not forget the fact that the movie was made for a measly budget of $7,000 with help from the Director's friends and acquaintances. Very gripping, amazing picturization and very good use of even trivial, simple looking things. A must-see movie for any Action Director Wannabe. On the flip side, it's meant for those who could follow Spanish or comfortable "reading" movies.

Then there is Desperado, flashy and star studded. Rodriguez spices it up with some stylized action, steamy romance and an impressive music score and in the process losing some of his artistic touch. Banderas and Hayek have good chemistry between them and all other actors blend into their roles perfectly. It's not clear if Desperado is a remake or a sequel of El Mariachi. The storylines are similar except for the beginning and end. El Mariachi is not really a 'bad guy', just a victim of circumstances and slave to passion, does things he doesn't intend to, at the spur of the moment, falls in love with a girl in the town and pitched against the local Drug Baron in both. This would make one feel Desperado is a high-budget remake of El Mariachi. But, the Mariachi's motives are very different in both. In the former, an ambitious young Mariachi comes into the town to make a living for himself and is mistaken for a Guitarist gunslinger. However in the latter, he comes in to avenge his lover's brutal killing and also there's an interesting twist towards the end.

If Moco who killed Mariachi's lover, met his death in Mariachi's hands in the first movie, why did he show up again in the second? If it was Moco who killed Mariachi's lover, why did he seek revenge on Bucho in the second? These could be flaws or things I didn't understand. Anyway, don't break your head on these, just sit back, relax and enjoy the movies.. I'm sure you'll love them!

A note on DVD: Desperado DVD can't get any better, it's very good; However, Mariachi DVD leaves much to be desired. I believe there's a better 2-disc DVD available in the market that has a remastered version of Mariachi from the Director's original negatives. Go for that version if you're very particular about the DVD quality..

Both movies are well worth your money. Each movie gets the same special edition treatment it had before. The difference between this new edition and the old double-feature is the increased audio and video quality and the preview for Once Upon A Time In Mexico.

El Mariachi is a great piece of low-budget film-art and the special features accompanying that disc are great for film fans. I also recommend Robert Rodriguez's book ('Rebel without a crew...')

Desperado is the high-budget version of El Mariachi. Banderas and Hayek kicking much buttocks in that film, and once again, the extras are good.

NOW, should you buy this? If you already own the old double-feature disc, you don't get anything particularly new and you will have the same thing twice.

BUT if you don't have these movies yet on DVD, GET THEM! These belong into every good collection!