Desperado

"He came back to settle the score with someone. Anyone. EVERYONE."

1995 1h 44m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 3,267

ThrillerActionCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

El Mariachi plunges headfirst into the dark border underworld when he follows a trail of blood to the last of the infamous Mexican drug lords, Bucho, for an action-packed, bullet-riddled showdown. With the help of his friend and a beautiful bookstore owner, El Mariachi tracks Bucho, takes on his army of desperados, and leaves his own trail of blood.

“He came back to settle the score with someone. Anyone. EVERYONE.”

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Cast

Antonio Banderas
El Mariachi
Salma Hayek Pinault
Carolina
Joaquim de Almeida
Bucho
Steve Buscemi
Buscemi
Cheech Marin
Short Bartender
Carlos Gómez
Right Hand
Quentin Tarantino
Pick-Up Guy
Tito Larriva
Tavo

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Robert Rodriguez
Writers: Robert Rodriguez
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.6× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

31 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Mexico Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Robert Rodriguez, shot by Guillermo Navarro. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Steve Berlin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robert Rodriguez shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek Pinault and Joaquim de Almeida carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "He came back to settle the score with someone. Anyone. EVERYONE.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Rodriguez directs. Guillermo Navarro behind the camera. Steve Berlin scores. Robert Rodriguez cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.6× over at the box office.
231 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Mexico Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Robert Rodriguez, shot by Guillermo Navarro. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Steve Berlin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Robert Rodriguez shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek Pinault and Joaquim de Almeida carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "He came back to settle the score with someone. Anyone. EVERYONE.".
9IMDB entry: tt0112851 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 18 themes, including "gunslinger", "showdown", "mexico", "ambush".
11Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro
Original score: Steve Berlin
Editing: Robert Rodriguez
Production design: Cecilia Montiel
Costume design: Graciela Mazón
Makeup / hair: Allan A. Apone
Sound: Sergio Reyes
Stunt coordinator: Steve M. Davison
Runtime: 104 min · 1h 44m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.78:1 (16:9)
Status: Released
Budget: $7,000,000
Box office: $25,405,445
Return: 363% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Desperado (1995)

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".

Also by

Robert Rodriguez

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Community reviews

What people are saying

talisencrw2016-07-29
★ 9/10
This was a solid and highly enjoyable take on the spaghetti western by Rodriguez that rightfully put the director on the map and provided star Antonio Banderas the breakthrough he needed in the American marketplace. Though I love his work on the Sin City films, particularly the first, his incredible earlier trilogy will always hold a special place in my cinephilic heart. My recent project of coming to terms with classic Westerns has only further helped me enjoy these more recent contemporary releases.
Filipe Manuel Neto2023-09-04
★ 6/10
Action, shots, bullets and… “latinxploitation”? I confess that I expected something more from this film. I was left with the feeling that it has little to offer us other than two tons of spectacular action scenes, with explosions, hundreds of gunshots and some gratuitous destruction. Even more: it reminded me of those films from the 70s, which we call “blaxploitation” because they reinforced a series of stereotypes about the African-American community: if we pay attention, we have almost all the stereotypes attributed to Latinos and Mexicans-Americans. In general, I'm not a fan of political correctness and I don't care about stereotypes! I deal with this well, being a proud Portuguese who was born and lives in a Latin country, but I am in solidarity with those who, especially in the USA, suffer from prejudices about the Latin community, a vast community that encompasses Castilian and Portuguese speakers, forgetting, interestingly, that Italian Americans are also culturally Latino. Robert Rodríguez is Latino and makes films that reflect that. I think he must be a man proud of his roots, and I think that's magnificent. We must have this pride. Therefore, I think he made this film in that spirit, but my doubts lie in this: a film with so much violence, with so much to do with drugs and crime, was it good or bad for Latinos? António Banderas is one of the greatest Spanish actors of all time and easily transitioned to Hollywood, where his career took on stratospheric proportions. Here, he did an interesting job, mixing a bit of Latin lover with gangster and Zorro. He has the right profile and was a good choice. I also really enjoyed seeing Joaquim de Almeida, my compatriot, in what was the best North American film he has made to date (and I think that productions could really invest more in this actor, I think he has talent and ability). Steve Buscemi adds a friendly touch to the film, and Danny Trejo and Tarantino make brief, innocuous appearances. Salma Hayek, another good actress, unfortunately just has to be sexy and hot in bed. That's not enough. I don't know what the production budget was, but it doesn't seem like a cheap film to me because the number of strong names in the industry in this project is considerable and no one, nowadays, works for free. We also have a good special effects department, with great capacity and creativity: the sets are very realistic and the film's action scenes are very well thought out and executed. As an action film, it works impeccably and is a delight for fans. The script, unfortunately, is much less interesting, with too many stereotypes, weaknesses, clichés and insipid dialogues.