Some of that quick cutting was due to the dialogue going out of sync in scenes - Rodriguez would cut away from the character speaking any time their lips didn't perfectly match their words.
For part of the summer of 1991, Rodriguez and Gallardo took over a small Mexican border town to make their movie, which inadvertently became one of the most popular indie films of the decade.Ĭircumstances and lack of film caused Rodriguez to have to shoot things very quickly, but he managed to make the fast shooting look stylistic rather than hectic or sloppy, assembling everything in a quick cut manner that propels the movie forward with a lively energy.
The production was the definition of indie guerilla filmmaking. The scenes were usually done in one take. The movie was shot silent, with the actors, who were all amateurs, friends and family members, recording their lines onto tape immediately after the scenes were shot. Shot on 16mm with a borrowed camera, it was made with no crew and little equipment - two 250 watt light bulbs, a borrowed wheelchair used to get dolly shots, a ladder for a "crane shot", some guns, blanks, and squibs. The story is simple, there wasn't much of a script (40 pages), but El Mariachi is a very entertaining, satisfying movie to watch. After the failed killers were killed, Azul paid his way out of the jail so he could get revenge on Moco. They weren't prepared for the fact that Azul's fellow prisoners were on his payroll, and all armed. That peace was shattered when a former associate, a criminal kingpin called Moco, sent some lackeys to the jail to wipe out the debt Moco owes Azul by killing him. This man is called Azul, and up until recently he had been living a peaceful life as a prisoner in a small local jail, running criminal business from his cell, which he had set up as an office, phone and all. Soon after he leaves, another man enters the bar, dressed similarly (in black) and also carrying a guitar case. The mariachi is rudely rejected at the first bar he tries. He walks into a small Mexico border town, guitar case in hand, seeking employment at one of the local bars. What we do know about him is that he's a fourth generation mariachi who wants to dedicate his life to travelling from town to town, getting paid to play his music. Gallardo plays the titular character, whose name we never learn.