desperado ( film )
film must be sent to the desperado film festival at the film maker' s expense .
the foxy merkin delves into the world of two lesbian hookers at desperado lgbt film festival 2015 .
the desperado lgbt film and arts festival is an event hosted by a pvcc student organization. desperado’s mission is to showcase quality films that are related to the experiences of the lgbt community .
desperado has merit as a guilty pleasure, but when the violence and action grow tiresome, the film has nothing to hang its hat on .
greg louganis will be available for a q & a after the showing of back on board: greg louganis at desperado lgbt film festival 2015 .
desperado (r) — contains sex scenes, nudity and extensive but cartoonish violence .
desperado, which is nothing but set pieces, snoozes between its scenes of carnage .
mr. rodriguez may be good enough to make a film about anything, but desperado would collapse if its characters had to do anything but play with guns .
not to sound like stefon from saturday night live, but desperado lgbt film festival 2015 has everything: comedies, dramas, documentaries, a horror film, cartoons, romance, short films, and a pink, fuzzy monster with dreams of becoming a cabaret singer .
with the headline: film review; guitarist' s repertory of songs and gunfire .
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if you want to answer the questions ,
who starred in the movie desperado ?
and
what is the full cast list of desperado ?
then this page has got you covered .
it' s big, it' s daft, but desperado is confident and hugely entertaining filmmaking .
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing desperado near you .
this cast list of who was in desperado includes both lead and minor roles. (30 items )
desperado cast list, listed alphabetically with photos when available. this list of desperado actors includes any desperado actresses and all other actors from the film. you can view additional information about each desperado actor on this list, such as when and where they were born. to find out more about a particular actor or actress, click on their name and you' ll be taken to page with even more details about their acting career. the cast members of desperado have been in many other movies, so use this list as a starting point to find actors or actresses that you may not be familiar with .
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing desperado square near you .
by submitting your film via filmfreeway you acknowledge that the festival will not pay to present your work .
with the headline: critic' s choice / film; of labyrinthine plots, flair and slick action .
film maker holds the festival harmless from damage to, or loss of, the dvd or any publicity material .
a pure adrenaline rush from start to finish ,
desperado
will shock, amuse, thrill and disgust - but never disappoint .
not finished yet … antonio banderas as el mariachi in desperado, directed by robert rodriguez. photograph: columbia / sportsphoto ltd / allstar
originality? please. almost every single film and tv show is made up of a collection of well - worn tropes .
label the dvd with the film' s title, running time, director' s name and contact phone / email .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
music from film helps you identify music from movies and tv shows by explaining what was on screen when the songs were playing .
desperado is best when rodriguez lets his playful side cut through the blare of a born filmmaker indulging his first chance at high - end hollywood fireworks .
desperado must have permission to use up to 3 minutes of footage or photographic stills from the work for broadcast, web publication or other promotional purposes .
louganis will lead a q & a following the more formal showing of back on board: greg louganis that night after the desperado 2015 opening reception .
from the very start of his career rodriguez has celebrated the makeshift. having graduated from flick books, he made his first film aged 21 with one camera, no crew and $ 7, 000 raised largely from subjecting himself to medical experimentation. el mariachi became a part of film - making folklore and still serves as an inspiration to would - be film - makers everywhere. it also let rodriguez kick down hollywood' s door, set fire to its welcome mat and - eventually - make globally successful movies like desperado, from dusk till dawn and the spy kids trilogy .
robert rodriguez. the name behind blockbuster hits such as desperado, once upon a time in mexico, and sin city, it is a name that is synonymous with success in the film industry. but the story of robert rodriguez is a rag to riches tale, and a fascinating one at that .
the desperado lgbt film festival 2015 hits screens january 23 through 25 at paradise valley community college center for performing arts, 18401 north 32nd street. for the films' showtimes and schedule, a list of the live performances, and to buy tickets ($ 10 for general admission), visit urltoken .
what can i say? an absolute classic film and one of the few where antonio banderas actually looks the part! this is a film of revenge and entails our hero antonio heading into a town looking for' bucho.' suffice to say that banderas plays the role of an expert killer and has a couple of' mariachi' s in tow. this is based on the very film' el mariachi' and is a must for banderas lovers. a good solid film with a great storyline and of course' selma hayak' in all her beauty .
by marjorie baumgarten just add a few zeroes .
that could very well summarize the production strategy adopted by robert rodriguez on his brand - new film
was a redefinition - downward - of the term
low - budget film .
made for a sum regarded as pocket change in beverly hills ,
if your film is selected for the festival, then you will need to provide 2 dvd copies to the festival - mailed to the above address .
but it has a price, as mr. rodriguez knew when he acknowledged worries about being accused of sophomore slump in
rebel without a crew ,
his book - length account of being catapulted from no - budget film making into the film - festival fast lane. the first time out, he was heralded for having made any film at all, especially such a substantial film, on the strength of nothing but sheer wit and willpower. that' s much the same basis on which kevin smith' s
clerks
and edward burns' s
brothers mcmullen
have since been admired .
a film that explores the dark and miserable town, basin city, and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in violent corruption .
( 1958). silvermine productions made the original, which was distributed by allied artists pictures. allied both produced and distributed the new film itself in 1958 .
stream desperado - the soundtrack by original soundtrack and 40 million songs on all your devices with amazon music unlimited. exclusively for prime members. new subscribers only. terms and conditions apply .
notable among the film' s pyrotechnics are some strikingly choreographed moments, like one in which mr. banderas and his adversary slide across a bar from different ends to wind up face to face, or a scene that finds him and ms. hayek leaping off a building with a fireball at their backs. elaborately staged shootouts also keep the body count high. the film' s final confrontation allows the mariachi two well - armed backup men, one of whose guitar cases appears to hold a rocket launcher. mr. rodriguez may be good enough to make a film about anything, but
desperado
would collapse if its characters had to do anything but play with guns .
a south african film production services company offering a full range of services to international producers looking to do projects in south africa and surrounding sub saharan area' s .
seen in the film' s poster cradling what may be one of the meanest looking guns in captivity, mr. banderas' s mariachi arrives on the scene toting a guitar case full of firepower. he is here to avenge the killings seen in mr. rodriguez' s first film, which was originally scheduled for a straightforward english remake; actually ,
desperado
feels as much like a remake as a sequel, with similar elements holding it together. salma hayek, as the film' s midriff - baring bibliophile, replaces the mariachi' s lost love and makes him a strikingly photogenic new mate. and joaquim de almeida fits in nicely as a suave heavy with a cellular phone .
what rodriguez has essentially done in desperado is make a slicker, more expensive copy of what came before. and what looked promising for $ 7, 000 looks tiresome for a whole lot more .
here it is, the 2011 desperado lgbt film festival in phoenix, arizona. january 28th through 30th, we will present two days of gay and lesbian filmmaking at it' s finest. friday, we will have a reception at the theatre and our premier showing. saturday, films will run all day. our venue is the dramatic center for the performing arts on the paradise valley community college campus in north phoenix. submit your film by visiting the website! sponsorship packages are available. also, please email us with any questions. proceeds from the event will go to creating a gay and lesbian student scholarship fund at the college and also to the p. r. i. d. e. student organization. desperado lgbt film festival is presented in collaboration with paradise valley community college' s office of student life, p. r. i. d. e. student organization and the center for the performing arts .
when shooting el mariachi, rodriguez expected a lot of negative public backlash. to combat this, he offered two of the film’s roles to two very influential media people of the day. naturally they could not refuse, and spent months afterwards punting the film to the mexican public… no marketing budget required and more could be spent in other departments to raise production value .
though
desperado
and
the usual suspects
have plenty of pyrotechnics, they offer mind - games to match. they are savvy, enjoyable ways to celebrate the end of the dog days. caryn james
yes, the weekend is packed with award - winning, local, national, and international films, but desperado' s mission goes beyond sharing great films with audiences to opening the community up to diversity and inclusiveness .
was made by rodriguez mostly for the experience, with his grandest hope for it a sale to the spanish - language home video market. it was shot in the mexican border town of ciudad acuña by a 23 - year - old, latino jack - of - all - film - trades who had been refused admission to the film school at the university of texas at austin because of poor grades but later swaggered and cajoled his way into the department by going out on his own and making a prize - winning short film ,
austin stories .
rodriguez raised a good chunk of the money for
lee kramer, our president, is a film production and development executive who has worked with some of the biggest names in hollywood. lee was the head story analyst at endeavor, and worked with producer cathy schulman, who produced the academy award winning film crash and the illusionist. lee has also served as a development and production executive at mandalay pictures, and has produced several television shows for hbo .
the bigger - budget, english - language sequel to rodriguez' s super - cheap - $ 7, 000 - art - house hit ,
el mariachi ,
desperado
picks up where the first flick left off .
desperado
is rated r (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). it includes profanity, lots of gunplay, messily graphic violence and one gentle, soft - core sex scene that involves the use of a spur .
like friend and fellow director quentin tarantino' s recent hit, robert rodriguez' s
desperado
is a wild ride filled with blazing guns, gallons of blood and the blackest of black comedy - so black it flirts with satire .
where the strengths of
pulp fiction
were its dialogue, intertwining plots and ensemble cast ,
desperado
succeeds through the sheer magnetism of leading man antonio banderas, a simple story of revenge and loads of style, style, style .
this one is so common in slasher movies that it’s not particularly shocking any more – characters that have sex in a horror film are nearly always doomed. what is hollywood trying to tell us here, eh ?
so
desperado
meanders through a dusty mexican landscape derived from other movies, with debts to film makers as irreconcilably different as sam peckinpah and mel brooks. (whether or not mr. rodriguez actually has mr. brooks in mind, he makes his heroine a beautiful babe who runs a bookstore, though she complains that this is a region where nobody reads. the story' s vanilla - suited drug - lord villain also has all the accouterments of a hollywood executive. )
by the time the interview is over, i' m ready to add my own contribution to the el mariachi legend: paul is dead; he now walks in the shoes of el mariachi. just don' t play desperado' s soundtrack album backwards. n
love this film, its almost surreal but not quite, great characters kind of tongue in cheek, antonia is delicious as is bucho if that' s how you spell it, packed with action, great camera shots, and one liners, and a little mariachi antonio takes under his wing, this film seems to tick all the boxes. i' m sure everyone has seen this as it has been around a while but if you have not its a treat
didn' t hear anything directly from the festival and i didn' t attend. so it' s hard to really review it. not sure how the screening went over. glad my film was a part of it though .
despite the insistence of his friend, rodriguez felt he' d explored that genre enough and went on to make the spy kids movies and superior teen horror the faculty. when the studio told him that desperado' s enormous success on dvd demanded an extension of the franchise, he was unenthusiastic :
i didn' t want to shoot this movie because i thought it would be so hard to shoot an epic on film in mexico .
then another film - making luminary intervened .
i was editing spy kids at skywalker ranch when george lucas showed me some of his early footage from attack of the clones ,
he explains .
he told me he' d done it on high - definition digital cameras and i couldn' t believe how good the quality was. i went out and bought myself some and thought,' man, i' ve gotta go shoot a movie to test these. i' ll do another desperado - then i' ll really know if these cameras work.'
bigger, better, faster; desperado is a spiritual, and spirited remake of director rodriguez' s $ 7, 000 el mariachi, proof positive that throwing millions of dollars at what was by itself something of a small budget gem can actually result in a better movie .
antonio banderas, joaquim de almeida, salma hayek, cheech marin, steve buscemi and quentin tarantino star in this stylish shoot -' em - up described as a south - of - the - border pulp fiction. director robert rodriguez follows up his legendary debut film, el mariachi, with this sexy sequel about a mysterious guitar player (banderas) searching for vengeance against the men who murdered his girlfriend. (original title - desperado (1995) ) © 1995 columbia pictures industries, inc. all rights reserved .
in a film incorrectly reported as bill elliott' s last starring western ,
bitter creek
( released in march of 1954 carrying 16843 as the pca number) falls a tab bit short of that as it was... see full summary »
desperado
owes its flair in equal measure to the director, robert rodriguez, and the star, antonio banderas. though the story is a virtual remake of mr. rodriguez' done - for - a - pittance
el mariachi ,
this story of a violent, guitar - playing seeker of justice gains a whole different twist with mr. banderas in the title role. he plays up his latin - lover appeal with flowing hair and what another era would have called bedroom eyes. but
desperado
shows him to be an actor whose mind is in the right place, too .
desperado written, produced (with bill borden) and directed by robert rodriguez; director of photography, guillermo navarro; edited by mr. rodriguez; music by los lobos; production designer, cecilia montiel; released by columbia pictures. running time: 106 minutes. this film is rated r. with: antonio banderas (el mariachi), salma hayek (carolina), joaquim de almeida (bucho), cheech marin (short bartender), steve buscemi (buscemi), carlos gomez (right hand) and quentin tarantino (pick - up guy) .
this is a film that pays homage to the old ultra - violent shoot -' em - up genre, even as it wallows in
wild bunch
gunfights, and mr. banderas has the wit to make this semi - serious attitude work. in one especially wry scene, the hero' s lover serenades him while he calmly and comically points his guns at the villains creeping outside their bedroom windows. though
desperado
may seem like one more entry in the tarantino school of smart - guy crime movies, mr. rodriguez' s swift visual style is distinctively his .
is how the story of its making became the stuff of instant legend. it' s the kind of bleed - for - your - art story the film industry might have invented for itself had it not been handed to them, more or less real, by robert rodriguez .
, which includes segments by three other independent directors of note: quentin tarantino, allison anders, and alexandre rockwell. banderas' command of the english language is extraordinary for someone who had to learn all his lines phonetically for his u. s. film debut in 1992' s
n
desperado ,
antonio banderas, a guitar - strumming, gun - toting hero known only as
the mariachi ,
lies peacefully in bed after making love with bookstore owner salma hayek. but as his new lover sings him a lispy spanish samba, banderas notices the silhouette of a gunman against the veiled window .
so in a sequel called
desperado
( made for roughly 1, 000 times the first film' s shooting cost), here is antonio banderas, taking on the hero' s role and looking his red - hot best. mr. banderas is shown off during an opening title sequence that finds him striding atop a nightclub bar in tight, silver - studded black. this limber, long - haired new mariachi cuts an even more dashing figure thanks to a guitar - shaped wall of light bulbs beaming behind him and los lobos on the soundtrack, making the music soar. progress can be a wonderful thing .
eric schaeffer' s boy meets girl comes with a hefty list of awards as well, raking in everything from best screenwriting to best film. audiences will get the chance to see the love triangle between best friends robby and ricky, a beautiful transgender girl, and debutante francesca unfold sunday afternoon .
many lesser directors than robert rodriguez would have taken their first major studio budget and squandered it on needless special effects and pointless perks. having seen both
el mariachi
and
desperado ,
it is clear that producer - writer - director rodriguez went from a $ 7, 000 budget to $ 7 million without sacrificing his style or his vision .
in “desperado, ” the influences of john woo, and especially quentin tarantino, also come into play, with latter on hand to personally approve rodriguez’s application to the club of cool. result is both a rehash and extension of “el mariachi, ” with a major upgrade in budget and technical know - how, but no forward movement in storytelling ability .
the story of one of the first legally married same - sex couples in the u. s. who filed the first federal lawsuit for equal treatment of same - sex marriages, limited partnership, leads the lineup of films saturday, january 24, after the showing of the 2015 student film competition winner, tomorrow .
on a plot level, rodriguez makes the crucial mistake of killing off virtually his entire cast of would - be important characters. on the basis of “desperado, ” what rodriguez needs is a collaborator on story and script. like leone, the director is particularly adept at staging dramatic entrances, intimidating posturing and inventive violence, and there is no question of an imagination working overtime .
in “desperado, ” robert rodriguez dedicates himself almost exclusively to dreaming up a hundred new ways to blow people away, to ultimately diminishing returns. the young tex - mex director’s much - anticipated follow - up to his wildly inventive no - budget 1993 debut “el mariachi” could scarcely be more dazzling on a purely visual level, but it’s mortally anemic in the story, [ … ]
seriously, the sixth edition of the valley' s lgbt - themed film festival, which runs friday through sunday, january 23 through 25, at paradise valley community college center for the performing arts, has a little something for everyone, including q & a sessions with directors and actors, live music, and an art gallery .
the stranger of course, is el mariachi, now played by the never - more - handsome antonio banderas, a guitar - strummer wandering the country with heavy artillery in his guitar case, seeking revenge for the murder of the woman he loved. the traumatic event from the first film is seen via an unusual restaged flashback with banderas .
in “desperado, ” robert rodriguez dedicates himself almost exclusively to dreaming up a hundred new ways to blow people away, to ultimately diminishing returns. the young tex - mex director’s much - anticipated follow - up to his wildly inventive no - budget 1993 debut “el mariachi” could scarcely be more dazzling on a purely visual level, but it’s mortally anemic in the story, character and thematic departments .
worse, el mariachi gains no stature or depth as a character and, crucially for a nomadic loner, is given no moral code to govern his extreme, obsessive behavior. parallel lack of any moral grounding or p. o. v. on the massive carnage also lays the film open to charges of sensationalizing violence for its own sake .
saturday continues with cupcakes, which is about a group of friends who reluctantly become the official israeli entry for the televised singing competition universong, the short film entries, and the foxy merkins, a riff on male hustler movies but with two lesbian hookers. a q & a with the foxy merkins writer and actress lisa haas will follow the screening .
i am a huge fan of quentin tarantino films and although he didn' t direct or produce this one, he is in it and his as funny as always and in all honesty the only film i like antonio banderas in. lots of blood and gore (which for me is a huge plus !) shootouts and limited romance which is good !
like
the quick and the dead ,
desperado
wavers uneasily between myth making and parody, so that too many scenes drag on long after they' ve lost their punch. an opening bar showdown featuring steve buscemi and cheech marin has comic possibilities, but they' re long gone by the time the extras are wiped out and one of the scene' s principals gets a bullet in his brain .
in
desperado ,
robert rodriguez dedicates himself almost exclusively to dreaming up a hundred new ways to blow people away, to ultimately diminishing returns. the young tex - mex director' s much - anticipated follow - up to his wildly inventive no - budget 1993 debut
el mariachi
could scarcely be more dazzling on a purely visual level, but it' s mortally anemic in the story, character and thematic departments .
this is a very wild, cool, and stylish film, even if it ends up being style over substance and story (with a messy and scattershot narrative to boot). in a way, this is more of a remake than a loose sequel or spin off. the original mariachi from el mariachi does make an appearance, but this film is essentially the same story as the first, but with a different guy who knows the first guy. make sense? well, if not, don' t worry. it' s of no real consequence anyway. the action and stunts are inventive, done well, and a joy to watch. buscemi and tarantino ham it up in some fun supporting roles, and both banderas and hayek (especially hayek, * wink * * wink *) are great to watch. i have a big attachment to this movie as i saw it at a young age and it introduced me to rodriguez' s work. it also kinda made me wanna make action movies, too. like i said, it' s got some flaws, but for solid action spectacle entertainment, this is a good film to turn to .
the second day of the festival will be capped off with crazy bitches, in which a group of friends learns the story of a mass murder that supposedly happened in their rental house. the story seems silly until the friends start disappearing one by one. director jane clark and actors cathy debuono, nayo wallace, and john w. mclaughlin will lead a q & a following the film .
antonio banderas, joaquim de almeida, salma hayek, cheech marin, steve buscemi and quentin tarantino star in this stylish shoot -' em - up described as a south - of - the - border pulp fiction. director robert rodriguez follows up his legendary debut film, el mariachi, with this sexy sequel about a mysterious guitar player (banderas) searching for vengeance against the men who murdered his girlfriend .
i' ve heard many people say that they couldn' t follow the plot of this flick. i think they totally missed the point of this movie. its an action movie. thats the whole plot. its called lets find the bad guy, and his henchmen, and kill them. i thought it was absolute genius. skip the plot, and go straight to the action. banderas was pure fire. all his emotions smouldering just beneath the surface. the stunts and effects were first rate and extremely entertaining. even the extras did great work. i would recommend this film to anyone who is wanting some great entertainment. mark me don' t go looking for some oscar winning dramatic performances. but it is fun, pure unadulterated fun. also the photography is absolutely first rate. as is the almost kubrickesque atmosphere of the film. ydnar
it' s not the smartest career move for a director' s second film to be a scene - by - scene remake of his first, but with rodriguez it' s clearly a declaration of intent. not content with the relatively small audience that saw his spanish language original, he decided to take what hollywood was only too keen to give him and recast his movie as a high plains drifter for the post - tarantino audience .
joe pruett, our publisher / cco, is an eisner award winning comic book editor, publisher, and writer with over 25 years of experience. joe was nominated for numerous eisner and harvey awards as a writer, editor and publisher, including for his work on negative burn at caliber comics. he is also known for his work at marvel, where he wrote for x - men unlimited, wolverine, and cable. joe founded desperado publishing in 2004, which had a publishing partnership with image comics and idw .
jawad qureshi, our senior vice president, investor relations, is an experienced silicon valley entrepreneur and investor. jawad spent 15 years in the sales industry, selling high tech equipment to the u. s. government. since then he has served as the ceo and co - founder of vpype, an interactive video broadcast application, and has invested in numerous tech startups and real estate ventures. jawad is also an award - winning executive film producer .
allegedly produced for $ 7, 000 before columbia picked it up and technically enhanced it, “el mariachi” was one of the unique film successes of recent times. although met by modest commercial success, the tale of an itinerant guitar player drawn into drug - world violence in a dusty mexican town played like a valid update of japanese samurai sagas and bounty - hunter westerns informed by the heightened violence of sam peckinpah and the witty stylistic exaggeration of sergio leone .
april is the cruelest month? ha! t. s. eliot obviously never spent august searching for a good movie. the last weeks of summer are the traditional dumping ground for films too weak to go up against midsummer blockbusters. but there are always exceptions, and this august brought two of the season' s smartest, most stylish, most entertaining movies .
desperado
and
the usual suspects
both have hunky heroes, mazelike plots and slick action: the perfect formula for escapist, dog - day pictures .
the festival kicks off friday, january 23, at 8 a. m. with the diversity leadership alliance workshop that includes diversity training and leadership guidance. the workshop is free and open to the public and there will be a screening of film back on board: greg louganis, which documents the life of the olympic gold medal - winning diver who came out publicly and openly discussed being hiv positive in the 1980s. louganis will speak after the movie is shown .
at just 23, rodriguez wrote, directed and produced the now industry famous and record setting cult classic el mariachi for just us $ 7000, money that he earned himself from a stint in a research lab as a test subject for cholesterol medication. and lucky for him, his risk paid off. columbia pictures loved the finished film so much that they bought the american distribution rights, and el mariachi went on to bank us $ 2 million at the box office .
how this sprawling tale of revenge, corruption and coup d' état came about further emphasises the director' s lofty position in hollywood. the idea originally came from quentin tarantino .
quentin showed up on the set of desperado in 1994 to do his part and said,' this is cool. no one' s done this since sergio leone. this is your dollars trilogy and now you gotta do the good, the bad and the ugly of the series. and you gotta call it once upon a time in mexico.'
but now that mr. rodriguez has begun working on a grander scale, the facetiousness of his material is more distracting and the jokes much likelier to wear thin. overdependence on violence also marginalizes
desperado
as a gun - slinging novelty item, instead of the broader effort toward which this talented young director might have aspired. it' s still clear that mr. rodriguez has a talent for fancy directorial footwork and that his movie has its fiery moments. but not even a mariachi in mr. banderas' s league can get by on looks alone .
finally, the festival closes out with the romantic comedy the 10 year plan about myles and brody who scramble to fall in love as the deadline of their ten - year pact to end up together if neither one finds love by the time they' re 35 approaches. writer and director jc calciano will also host the final q & a session of the festival after the film. and be sure to ask him about the two real - life inspirations for myles and brody and where they are now .
crew: camera (technicolor), guillermo navarro; music, los lobos; music supervisor, karyn rachtman; production design, cecilia montiel; art direction, felipe fernandez del paso; costume design, graciela mazon; sound (dolby sr), mark ulano; assistant director, sebastian gaetano silva; casting, reuben cannon. reviewed at sony studios, culver city, may 10, 1995. (in cannes film festival - - midnight screening .) mpaa rating: r. running time: 103 min .
antonio banderas... now we' re getting somewhere. before the newly crowned sex symbol enters the room, some flack comes in to warn us not to mention the
m
- word. does that mean melanie, as in griffith? the torrid story of their love affair is currently plastered all over the media, but we' re warned that it would be tacky for us to bring it up. and how about that other
m
- word: madonna? banderas is signed to play che guevara in madonna' s film version of
one of the most vivid was robert rodriguez' s el mariachi, as portrayed by antonio banderas in 1995' s desperado – rodriguez' s retread / sequel of his breakthrough indie hit, the appropriately titled el mariachi. like his creator, the character of el mariachi is a one - man army of sorts – a guitarist whose playing ability is lost after he is shot in the hand, and the woman he loves is shot dead. now a shadow - dwelling, black and white - suited renegade hell - bent on revenge, he comes to a small town in mexico and raises the body count – all in search of the villainous crime boss, bucho .
tastes may change and mature over time, but we are all influenced by the culture we grew up in. as a teenager growing up in the 90s, developing my film knowledge with as many rented and recorded vhs tapes as i could find, american cinema seemed absurdly exciting. particularly thrilling to me was a new wave of directors with an independent sensibility, who were just hitting their stride. quentin tarantino, david fincher, the coens, paul thomas anderson… it seemed a new celluloid hero emerged every week with worlds, stories and characters that we' re equal parts light and dark .
in one of the many spectacularly preposterous duels in desperado, antonio banderas, playing a kind of mariachi with no name, lies flat on his back in a scummy mexican bar and, using a mulish kick, pushes the lout who’s trying to kill him straight up into the air. as the guy goes flying backwards, in luxurious slow motion, banderas, also in slo - mo, whips out a pair of pistols and fires — blam! blam! blam! — into the guy’s chest. later, having wasted a dozen enemies with similar aplomb, he enters a confessional and offers the plea, ”bless me, father, for i have just killed quite a few men. ”
gabriel byrne is a debonair, former bad cop who is mysteriously hauled into a police lineup with four other men. they include stephen baldwin, benicio del toro and kevin pollak as small - time hoods, and kevin spacey as a man nicknamed verbal because he talks too much. when these five pull a job together, of course it goes wrong, and verbal reconstructs the story while being grilled in a police station by a detective (chazz palminteri). in a top - flight company of actors, mr. spacey steals the film with his sly performance as the meek, none - too - bright verbal .
which i find to be a fun read but unnecessarily repetitive and marred by grammatical errors and misspelled names (including martin scorsese and michael lehmann !); his favorite john woo film; and so on. only i never get to ask them. the time is eaten up by the others in my group, who want to know what it' s like to work with antonio banderas and blow up quentin tarantino, and how he answers the critics of violent movies, and, of course, by the woman who asks each interviewee about their first memory of hearing the beatles. do we even want to know what radio station she works for ?
the mysterious, guitar toting
el mariachi
walks the streets again to avenge the death of his beloved girl friend in this bloody actioner. the tale opens in a seedy cantina where a flustered american bursts in and tells how he just saw a stranger come in and kill everyone in a neighboring bar. he then tells them that the stranger was looking for a man named bucho and he is heading for their bar. suddenly, el mariachi appears looking for bucho, who uses the bar as a front for his narcotics smuggling ring. an enormous gunfight erupts. still mariachi does not catch the elusive drug dealer who must spend the rest of the film in hot pursuit while simultaneously dodging the bullets of bucho' s henchmen .
not all of rodriguez’ gambits work. while some of his novelty casting pays off (cheech marin has a mean authority as the bartender - of - ceremonies), i could have lived without the cameo by quentin tarantino, who fires off a shaggy - dog joke in his self - involved, sputtering - hipster style. a bigger problem is the story’s rather logy rhythm. rodriguez has a bit of mañana in his blood; his films tend to take naps between set pieces. the dawdling pace has us lingering a little too much over desperado ‘s primitive human dimensions. still, when rodriguez unleashes a scene with banderas leaping backwards from one building to the next, or with a couple of mariachis launching rockets from their guitar cases, he’s a true corker. the action, in all its demonically outlandish wit, is its own show. b
antonio banderas takes up the mantle of the wandering mariachi hunting the drug dealer who murdered the woman he loved and ruined his life. although desperado continues from where el mariachi left off, it' s more a bigger budget re - invention of the original than a true sequel, in a similar vein to evil dead ii. with more resources at his disposal, rodriguez fulfills all the potential of the idea, with some fantastic john woo influenced action sequences which have a kind of ultra violent dance choreography and employs his now familiar ensemble cast including cheech marin, quentina tarantino, steve buscemi and danny trejo. banderas has never been cooler, salma hayek never more gorgeous and it' s a sexy, stylish and hugely entertaining left - field shoot -' em up with just the right amount of tongue in cheek humour. still one of my favourite robert rodriguez films .
with this sequel to his prize - winning independent previous film ,
el mariachi ,
director robert rodriquez joins the ranks of sam peckinpah and john woo as a master of slick, glamorized ultra - violence. we pick up the story as a continuation of
el mariachi ,
where an itinerant musician, looking for work, gets mistaken for a hitman and thereby entangled in a web of love, corruption, and death. this time, he is out to avenge the murder of his lover and the maiming of his fretting hand, which occurred at the end of the earlier movie. however, the plot is recapitulated, and again, a case of mistaken identity leads to a very high body count, involvement with a beautiful woman who works for the local drug lord, and finally, the inevitable face - to - face confrontation and bloody showdown .
mike zagari, our senior vice president, brand, oversees the print and digital initiatives involving overall brand, art direction, marketing, aspects of new content creation, distribution, advertising, as well as retailer, customer and creative talent communications. he also leads our innovative and immersive story - driven digital experiences. during his time as executive producer for disney publishing digital, the team rose to be the # 1 global kids app publisher. in this role, he led production and creative for dozens of disney, marvel & star wars apps, several of which received the prestigious apple itunes best of the year award. with marvel entertainment, he spearheaded the extension of film experiences to print products across new and existing formats. with dc comics, he oversaw the digital art direction of superman, batman, wonder woman, and the rest of dc comics library for both online and digital initiatives .
today his working practices seem rather eccentric to most of hollywood. that' s why he spends most of his time in texas, where he works through the night in his hi - tech garage lair. but these practices are what encourage a - list actors to star in his movies, studios to court him with mega projects like the new superman film (he turned it down) and fellow directors to call him up and say ,
looks like you' re having fun. how can i have fun again ?
he' d like to explain how reading up on new cameras, taking on a few extra jobs and moving out of hollywood would make things easier but doubts they' d understand. as johnny depp' s character so rightly points out in the new movie, you' re either a mexican or a mexican' t. rodriguez knows exactly which one he is .
from 1870 to 1873, texas suffered under the carpetbag administration of reconstructionist governor e. j. davis (the name and the stated conditions was about the last of anything authentic in this film) and his despotic state police commanded in john' s city by captain jake thornton. two young men, tall cameron and ray novack flee to the big bend area to escape persecution. ray pretends to be tall' s friend but actually hates him because he is madly jealous that laura bannerman is to become tall' s wife. they join forces with sam garrett, a killer with a price on his head. ray tries to kill garret to collect the reward, but tall saves garrett' s life and ray flees back to john' s city, where he is taken prisoner. ray kills thornton and another trooper but tall is blamed for the crimes. garrett can clear him, but will he ?
of course, the latter scenario is a lot more likely given that the mariachi is nothing short of a guitar - strumming superman. almost impervious to bullets (he does get the customary blow to the shoulder – nothing salma hayek' s traffic - stopping bookseller can' t fix), he has several elaborate death - and physics - defying bar - room brawls. the perfect example of this is the film' s signature sequence, where the mariachi is uncovered by a gang of heavies. sparked by banderas' s hissed
not yeeet …
, what follows is part bar fight, part interpretive dance recital, with baddies being dispatched from all kinds of camera - friendly angles, observed by tarantino' s fast - talking pick - up guy. the result is a large pile of dead bodies, and an amusing raiders of the lost ark - style moment of comedy where banderas, unable to find a loaded gun to dispatch his final foe, snaps his neck with a frustrated
fuck you !
this time the mariachi is out to even the score with a drug kingpin (joaquim de almeida) who killed his lover and shot him in the hand, wrecking his guitar - playing abilities. the plot has all the sophistication of a dime - store - novel cover, but here, as in woo’s ballistic orgies, the gunplay is the story. the characters use their bullets like words, as an instant communiqué of rage and will. rodriguez organizes even the quietest scenes around the playful threat of violence: a tattooed brute pushing the buttons of a pay phone with the point of his knife; a bedroom montage with banderas gently running his spurs over the delectable curves of his new lover (salma hayek). the flourishes are so brazen they’re funny. they have payoffs, too: the brute with the knife turns out to have a whole battery of daggers that he flings around like pinwheels, as methodically as the villain’s henchman in a james bond film. the movie’s greatest visual coup, though, is banderas himself. the camera loves this velvet stud as much as it did the young clint eastwood. with long, straight dark hair that matches his matador - cowboy outfits and a stare as hot as lava, he’s an icon of feral, strutting vengeance .
as the assailant creeps toward the front door, banderas calmly tracks him with a loaded gun. hayek, eyes closed in romantic ecstasy, continues singing, completely unaware of the situation. when banderas spots another bad guy approaching from the other side, he pulls out a second gun. as the gunmen converge on the door, located behind hayek, banderas finds himself pointing both weapons directly at his lover' s head .
this is just one of many tongue - in - cheek suspense scenes in writer / director robert rodriguez' s vital quasi - remake of his 1992 cult classic
el mariachi .
in the latest movie, which also stars steve buscemi, joaquim de almeida and quentin tarantino, banderas arrives in a mexican border town to avenge the death of a previous lover .
the blood trail leads to de almeida, a drug lord whose henchmen run the place. aided by hayek (whom de almeida keeps smitten tabs on) and amusingly rat - like best friend buscemi, banderas finds himself in an unending series of hyperbolic gun battles on rooftops and in seedy bars, with the kind of stylized, in - your - face confrontations found in spaghetti westerns .
el mariachi ,
which rodriguez shot in 16mm for $ 7, 000, had a different set of actors and a slightly different story line. part of the enjoyment was seeing how well rodriguez, a talented neophyte, could use his imagination with precious few resources .
when columbia pictures (which released
el mariachi
) offered to pay for an english language remake, writer / director rodriguez jumped at the chance. although the cast was replaced—banderas taking over for
mariachi
lead carlos gallardo—the commercial transition has been remarkably successful. this is primarily thanks to rodriguez, who not only retains the original movie' s kinetic flair, but takes it further .
rodriguez relieves the unremitting, comic - book killings (which include, in one hysterical scene, bazookas) with unforgettably funny villains and varmints, including cheech marin as a menacing but gullible bartender; tarantino, as an excitable drug customer who gets unwillingly caught in a bar massacre (it' s as if he' s being punished for his own gory movies); and buscemi, who nerdily holds his own in a bar full of scowling, armed mexicans .
rodriguez also puts great retorts into the mouths of his bad guys, such as the psychotic de almeida. frustrated that his men have been unable to locate the mariachi in this tiny town, the drug lord gives the following advice to his hired help :
you drive around town, you see someone you don' t know, you shoot them. how hard is that ?
he proceeds to demonstrate by firing at his own followers, causing a collection of big, mean scoundrels to scurry for cover like terrified kids.
desperado is a 1995 american contemporary western action film written , produced , and directed by robert rodriguez . a sequel to the 1992 film el mariachi , it is the second installment in robert rodriguez 's mexico trilogy . it stars antonio banderas as the mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover . the film was screened out of competition at the 1995 cannes film festival . once upon a time in mexico , the final part of the trilogy , was released in 2003 . desperado grossed $ 25.4 million in the united states . 
desperado is a 1995 american contemporary western action film written, produced, and directed by robert rodriguez. a sequel to the 1992 film el mariachi, it is the second installment in robert rodriguez's mexico trilogy. it stars antonio banderas as the mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover. the film was screened out of competition at the 1995 cannes film festival. once upon a time in mexico, the final part of the trilogy, was released in 2003. desperado grossed $ 25.4 million in the united states.
desperado is a 1995 american contemporary western action film written, produced, and directed by robert rodriguez. a sequel to the 1992 film el mariachi, it is the second installment in robert rodriguez's mexico trilogy. it stars antonio banderas as the mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover. the film was screened out of competition at the 1995 cannes film festival. once upon a time in mexico, the final part of the trilogy, was released in 2003. desperado grossed $ 25.4 million in the united states.