El Mariachi and Desperado on DVD

All he ever wanted to be was a mariachi.

His father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather were all mariachis before him. So our newest wannabe mariachi travels from town to town looking for work. But when he’s mistaken for a hit man with a guitar case full of weapons, a bunch of nasty men try to kill him.

Not wanting any trouble, El Mariachi tries to hide from the bad guys until he’s forced to take action. He and the hit man get their guitar cases mixed up, so when El Mariachi tries to prove he’s just a guitar-toting musician, he has to put his newfound weaponry to use. A series of low-budget but fairly well-staged shoot-em-up action scenes follows, as our hero unwillingly guns down a bunch of really bad chicos.

His story continues with Desperado, which finds El Mariachi as a man looking for revenge. At the end of El Mariachi, his hand was shot, leaving him unable to play guitar properly. Now, he wants to find the man who gave the order, and kill him.

He’s as good with a gun as he ever was with a guitar, and now he is the man with the guitar case full of weapons. A series of bigger budget and even more well-staged action scenes follows, as our hero willingly guns down a bunch of really bad chicos.

El Mariachi, made for under $10,000, is a fun little romp that has excellent production values considering the cost of the film. The cast may not be that good, and it certainly looks like a low budget film, but it’s an interesting enough story, combined with some decent action, making it a worthwhile watch (once, anyway).

Carlos Gallardo plays the title character very appropriately. It’s clear he just wants to be a mariachi, so he tries to avoid any conflict if he can. It’s only when he gets really ticked off that he pulls out the big guns, still against his will.

Desperado was made for considerably more than $10,000, and sports an excellent cast.

Antonio Banderas – unknown in North America at the time – plays El Mariachi this time, but he’s no longer dead set on being a musician.

Banderas plays him as one badass mutha who’s here to settle the score. He lacks the vulnerability he had in the first movie, but this way makes for a lot more action. He doesn’t try to avoid shooting people anymore; in fact, he almost seems to enjoy it.

Salma Hayek (also unknown at the time), Steve Buscemi, Cheech Marin and Quentin Tarantino co-star.

Desperado is an action movie, plain and simple. It’s not trying to teach you anything or make you think, it just wants to encourage you to munch on the popcorn. It succeeds for the most part, but there are too many non-action scenes that make you long for something to happen.

Once they do, however, you get excited because you know it’s going to be good.

El Mariachi is as much of an action movie as it can be. With the budget and time constraints, it does its best, but ultimately fails because it just doesn’t have the style necessary to make it worth it.

If you can, buy both. But if you’re torn between the two, Desperado is the way to go.

These two films were previously released in a two-pack together (and Desperado has also received the Superbit treatment), and these two discs are exactly the same except for a sneak peek at Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the third installment in the series.

Both are presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, 16x9 TV compatible, but El Mariachi only has a Dolby Surround track while Desperado gets the full 5.1 treatment (though there's no dts option).

The picture quality of El Mariachi is okay, but too much like a movie made for under $10,000 (which, of course, is understandable). There’s plenty of grain, and it looks as if the original print was very poor (which it quite possibly was). Everything is dull and soft, with very little color at all.

The soundtrack does its best with what it has; there is some good separation during the action scenes, with different shooters coming from opposite sides of the room, while the dialogue is understandably restricted to the center.

Desperado is a lot better. The picture is excellent, though undoubtedly a tad softer than it would be on the Superbit version.

Desperado actually looks like a big budget Hollywood movie, with excellent fleshtones and rich colors. No dust or grain is present, and the only problem is a tiny bit of overall imperfection that was probably thrown in to encourage people to buy the Superbit version.

Extras on El Mariachi include a commentary by director Robert Rodriguez, a 10-minute film school featurette, Robert Rodriquez’s trippy short film, Bedhead, and a sneak peek at Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Desperado features pretty much the same lot, with another commentary by Rodriguez, another 10 minutes of film school in which Rodriguez talks about his “storyboard” process, and an “exclusive first look at Once Upon a Time in Mexico.”

Both are fine movies and discs, but if you own any previous version, you’d be well advised to stick with it. Especially the previous two-pack.

El Mariachi, from Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment
81 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16X9 enhanced, Dolby Surround
Starring Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gomez, Peter Marquardt
Produced by Robert Rodriguez and Carlos Gallardo
Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez

Desperado, from Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment
103 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Starring Antonio Banderas, Joaquiem De Almeida, Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, Cheech Marin, Quentin Tarantino
Produced by Bill Borden
Written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez

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