Saturday, June 8, 2024

El Mariachi (1992)


There's a YouTube video debunking the debunkers. The movie really did cost only $7 thousand and most of that went to pay for film. Shot on 16mm. If it had been shot on digital video, it would have cost $600. The studio, Columbia Pictures, paid only for a blow-up to 35mm and to remix the sound. I don't know why the skeptics always focus on that when they had to have spent several million on publicity and advertising. 

I was talking to a guy in his 90's at the Senior Center who lived in Mexico in the 1950s. He saw the movie and thought it was stupid. Every time the Mariachi goes outside, people try to murder him. Why doesn't he stay inside? I hadn't seen it in 30 years and didn't remember this, but, watching it again, I see he did have a point.

Can you really walk around Mexican towns brandishing submachine guns? I guess you can since they did this while filming the movie. I wouldn't have asked unpaid actors to perform stunts, like running in cowboy boots, unless they were covered by workman's comp.

This is the first time I've seen it in decades. My memory of it was pretty accurate, which may be one reason it didn't stand up to repeat viewing. And I'm going to watch it again and listen to the commentary.


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