Once Upon a Time in Mexico

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Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Image:Mexico DVD.jpg
Directed by	Robert Rodriguez
Produced by	Robert Rodriguez, Elizabeth Avellan, Carlos Gallardo
Written by	Robert Rodriguez
Starring	Antonio Banderas Salma Hayek Johnny Depp Willem Dafoe Mickey Rourke Eva Mendes Danny Trejo
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures Dimension Films
Release date(s)	September 12, 2003 (USA)
Running time	102 min.
Language	English / Spanish
Budget	$29,000,000
Preceded by	Desperado
IMDb profile

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) is an action film by Robert Rodriguez and the final film in the "Mariachi Trilogy", which includes El Mariachi and Desperado. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi. The film also stars Johnny Depp, Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe, Enrique Iglesias, Mickey Rourke, Eva Mendes and Rubén Blades.

The film received mostly positive reviews, but was criticized for reducing El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) to an almost secondary character in his own trilogy, and also for having what some viewed as a convoluted plot. However, in the special features of the film's DVD, Robert Rodriguez has explained that this was intended, as he wanted this to be the The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the trilogy.

Tagline:

• The time has come.

Contents 1 Trilogy problems 2 Cast 3 Plot 4 Box office 5 Trivia 6 External links

Trilogy problems

This film is presented as the concluding chapter of Rodriguez's "Mariachi Trilogy", though there are some consistency problems with viewing the films as a linear trilogy, as one would do with The Godfather or Back to the Future films:

Desperado is often considered a re-make of El Mariachi, not a direct sequel; there are inconsistencies between the first two films and in Rodriguez's commentary on the Desperado DVD, he says he originally intended Desperado to be a remake of El Mariachi for an American audience. There is some confusion as to specific plot points, such as how the character of Bucho actually links back to the drug-peddling consortium that killed El Mariachi's girlfriend in the first film. A number of actors whose characters died in Desperado appear in Mexico. Rodriguez has stated that he wanted to use those actors again, and chose to do so despite their characters' deaths in Desperado. Sergio Leone similarly used the same actors in different parts in different movies in his Dollars trilogy.

Also, Robert Rodriguez claims on the DVD commentary for Once Upon a Time in Mexico that he intended to make it the fourth film in the series with certain scenes in it part of the originally planned third film, which would have told the story of El Mariachi and his wife from the end of Desperado up to a little while before Once Upon a Time in Mexico starts, which was briefly recapped in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. But, he was unable to do this and instead took portions of that story, put them in Once Upon a Time in Mexico and just alluded to, as he put it, "a phantom film" in the series, making the story of El Mariachi a trilogy.

Cast

Actor	Role
Antonio Banderas	El Mariachi
Salma Hayek	Carolina
Johnny Depp	Sheldon Sands
Eva Mendes	Ajedrez
Danny Trejo	Cucuy
Enrique Iglesias	Lorenzo
Marco Leonardi	Fideo
Rubén Blades	FBI Agent Jorge Ramirez
Willem Dafoe	Armando Barillo
Mickey Rourke	Billy Chambers
Gerardo Vigil	General Emiliano Marquez
Miguel Couturier	Dr. Guevera
Cheech Marin	Belini
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.	President
Julio Oscar Mechoso	Nicholas
Tony Valdes	Little Boy

Plot

The plot centers on El Mariachi (Banderas), who is recruited by CIA Agent Sands (Depp) to kill General Marquez. Marquez had murdered El Mariachi's wife and child and has been hired by Mexican drug lord Armando Barillo to assassinate the Mexican President. Sands recruits retired FBI Agent Jorge Ramirez to kill Barillo, as Barillo had been responsible for the death of Ramirez's partner, agent Archuleta. Sands also hires AFN Agent Ajedrez to tail Barillo.

As the plot unfolds, informants begin to turn on Sands. On the day of the Coup, he finds himself captured and blinded by his captors. Meanwhile, El Mariachi recruits two of his friends to assist him in rescuing the President. El Mariachi kills Marquez by shooting his legs off and then shooting him in the head, avenging his wife and daughter, and assists Ramirez in killing Barillo-who falls off a balcony by El Mariachi who shoots him with a shotgun.

The movie ends with El Mariachi walking on a desert road with the president's bandadora.

Box office

US gross domestic earnings	US$ 56,359,780
International earnings	US$ 41,825,802
Gross Worldwide earnings	US$ 98,185,582

Trivia

• Agent Sands (Johnny Depp) tells El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) to meet an associate of his named Salome in the church. Salome is played by Johnny Depp and in his DVD commentary, Rodriguez comments that Salome is Sands incognito. Johnny Depp reportedly didn't want to leave after his filming was finished and suggested to Robert Rodriguez that he play the small part and use his Marlon Brando impression, though in the original script it was a different character.
• Filming took place in the Mexican city of San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato. The "Presidential Palace" is the main building of the University of Guanajuato.
• A special feature of the DVD release shows director Robert Rodriguez explaining and demonstrating the recipe for puerco pibil, the dish that Agent Sands eats (and sometimes kills for) during all of his meetings with his associates.
• Agent Ramirez's partner, Archuleta, shares his name with Ruben Blades' character in Predator 2.
• On the DVD Commentary, director Robert Rodriguez says that the part of Cucuy, which was played by Danny Trejo, was originally meant for Quentin Tarantino. Agent Sands was intended for George Clooney.
• This film was shot before Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over in order to avoid a potential Screen Actors Guild strike. It was the first film Rodriguez ever shot in HD.
• The name of Billy Chambers's dog is Moco ("booger"), which is the same name as the drug dealer from El Mariachi. The name can be seen on the dog's tag.
• The name of Eva Mendes' character, "Ajedrez," means chess in Spanish.

Wikipedia information about Once Upon a Time in Mexico This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.