Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Rodriguez directs. Robert Rodriguez behind the camera. Robert Rodriguez scores. Robert Rodriguez cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Mexico. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.
• 2Released 23 years ago.
• 3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
• 4International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Mexico.
• 5Part of the "Mexico Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 6Directed by Robert Rodriguez, shot by Robert Rodriguez. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 7Original score by Robert Rodriguez. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 8Editor Robert Rodriguez shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 9Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp and Cheech Marin carry the top of the cast.
• 10Marketing tagline: "The time has come.".
• 11IMDB entry: tt0285823 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 12Classified under 15 themes, including "central intelligence agency (cia)", "mexico", "corruption", "coup d'etat".
• 13Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Robert Rodriguez

Original score

Robert Rodriguez

Editing

Robert Rodriguez

Production design

Robert Rodriguez

Costume design

Graciela Mazón

Makeup / hair

Sandra Migueli

Sound

Sergio Reyes

Stunt coordinator

Troy Robinson

Runtime

102 min · 1h 42m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$29,000,000

Box office

$98,769,390

Return

341% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

66% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

56/100

IMDB rating

6.3/10 · 175,835 votes

MPAA

R

Part of

Mexico Collection

The Mexico Trilogy (also known as the Desperado Trilogy on some released DVD products) is a series of films: El Mariachi, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, all written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez, beginning in 1992 and ending in 2003 and distributed by Columbia Tristar which tell the continuing story of the movies' main character, "El Mariachi".

• 
  El Mariachi

  1993
• 
  Desperado

  1995
• 
  Once Upon a Time in Mexico

  2003 · this one

Also by

Robert Rodriguez

• 
  The Mandalorian

  2019 · ★ 8.4
• 
  Rebel Highway

  1994 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles

  2021 · ★ 7.8
• 
  The Book of Boba Fett

  2021 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Sin City

  2005 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Inside Troublemaker Studios

  2004 · ★ 7.3

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO (2003) – Official Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Filipe Manuel Neto2023-09-12
  ★ 1/10

  Tons of stylish action, a big budget, a script reduced to the minimum and a huge list of actors with nothing to do. It was only when I saw this film that I realized that it is the last film in a trilogy that begins with “Mariachi”. However, I saw it after having seen “Desperado” and that allowed me to have a better understanding of the story: the gunman and his girlfriend are chased by a drug dealer until the day his men manages to kill the girl. Devastated, the Mariachi retires to live out his days in bitterness. After a while, he is called by a CIA agent, who gives him the opportunity to take revenge while preventing the total success of a military coup that will assassinate the Mexican president. Sound confusing? Maybe because it is! The script is very light, without beauty, care for details or stylistic refinement, and the text ends up being dominated by what I defined, sarcastically, as “latinxploitation” when I wrote for “Desperado”: a bunch of cheap stereotypes about Latinos and Mexicans. And I continue to have the feeling that these films are not healthful to clear up these preconceived ideas that dance in the heads of white, Anglo-Saxon, English-speaking America. If we saw director Robert Rodríguez dazzled by action scenes in “Desperado”, here he lost his mind: there are enough bullets for another invasion of Iraq. For those who live far away, Mexico may seem like a highly corrupt country and the difficulties that the authorities face in the fight against well-armed, cruel cartels with strong allies abroad are very well known. The film, however, takes two steps further and transforms Mexico into a land without law or ruler, where the order comes from those with bigger weapons and their hands deep in cocaine. Perhaps for this reason, the film did not have much support from the Mexican authorities and ended up not even showing the Mexican flag which, in the film's presidential palace, is replaced by something else with stars. I am still unable to fully understand this flag exchange. Speaking of action, was I the only one who smelled a faint whiff of Tarantino in this film's action scenes? Of course, with all this, the film develops and evolves very quickly, and we don't have any dead or boring moments. From an entertainment point of view, the film works very well, considering that we are an audience that seeks action and doesn't mind turning off our brains and accepting what is given to us. The underlying problem is that, if the script is already weak, things get worse if it speeds up like this. After a point, it no longer matters who is trying to do what. They're all shooting. For what reason? Maybe they don't even know! Despite the poverty of the material given to him and the poor construction of his character, António Banderas continues to deserve our attention, even if, in this film, it is unquestionably Depp who stands out when we talk about the cast. There aren't many actors capable of shining in an underwritten character, but he does it and steals the spotlight whenever he appears, sending Banderas to the corner and turning Salma Hayek into an extra. Eva Mendes is sexy, but she has no material to work with, and Willem Dafoe is very weak. There are a lot of renowned actors and even a singer – Enrique Iglesias – in the cast list, which shows more desire to be in this project than the ability to add something good to the final product.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Columbia Pictures

  US

• 

  Dimension Films

  US

• 

  Troublemaker Studios

  US

Key crew

• EditorRobert Rodriguez
• StuntsJoe Bucaro III
• StuntsJimmy Ortega
• ProducerCarlos Gallardo
• Sound Effects EditorRobert Rodriguez
• Co-ProducerSue Jett
• Makeup ArtistSandra Migueli
• Executive In Charge Of ProductionJane Nerlinger Evans
• Second Assistant DirectorKorey Scott Pollard
• Standby PainterKara Sutherlin
• Hair Department HeadRoxie Hodenfield
• Co-ProducerLuz María Rojas
• Post Production SupervisorBrian McNulty
• Costume DesignGraciela Mazón
• Unit Production ManagerTony Mark
• Makeup ArtistCarmen de la Torre
• Assistant Property MasterCarlos Azucena
• Boom OperatorJames J. Mase
• Boom OperatorErnesto Muñoz
• Sound Re-Recording MixerSergio Reyes
• Makeup Department HeadErmahn Ospina
• Set DecorationEva Castro
• First Assistant DirectorBrian Bettwy
• Sound DesignerDean Beville

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• central intelligence agency (cia)
• mexico
• corruption
• coup d'etat
• revenge
• gun battle
• body double
• political assassination
• mariachi
• guitar player
• brutality
• drug lord
• mexican cartel
• gun death
• cia agent

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2003-09-11R
• Physical2011-01-04R· Sony Pictures Home Entertainment #22732 [𝐁𝐥𝐮-𝐫𝐚𝐲📀] 𝟭𝟬𝟮 mínutєѕ
• Physical2004-01-01R· Columbia/TriStar Home Entertainment #08714 [𝐕𝐇𝐒📼] 𝟭𝟬𝟮 mínutєѕ

Also known as

International titles

• Однажды в МексикеRU
• 英雄不回頭TW
• El Mariachi 3 - Irgendwann in MexicoDE
• 3. Once Upon a Time in MexicoGB
• El Mariachi 3MX
• 원스 어폰 어 타임 인 멕시코KR
• Erase una vez en MexicoMX
• El Mariachi III: Once Upon a Time in MexicoUS
• Tenkrát v MexikuCZ
• Bir Dəfə MeksikadaAZ