When Robert Rodriguez burst onto the scene in 1992 few people could have predicted the sheer variety of his output. From his low-fi “Mexsploitation” action thriller El Mariachi through horror The Faculty, family friendly adventures like Spy Kids 1-5, along with comic book adaptations Sin City and its sequel A Dame to Kill For. Rodriguez has been known for his DIY style filmmaking.
All that began with El Mariachi, chronicled in his book Rebel Without a Crew, Rodriguez literally put his blood into the movie – he sold his body for medical experiments to fund the film – and forged a career where he would produce, write, direct, shoot, edit, score and occasionally act in his films.
Bringing us his ‘Mexico Trilogy' – El Mariachi (1992), Desperado (1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) – Arrow Video shows us the evolution of Rodriguez as a filmmaker through the lens of his own coined ‘Mexploitation'.
The first film is a lesson in stripped down storytelling, combining classic western tropes with a modern MTV visual sheen. Rodriguez and star Carlos Gallardo make El Mariachi a character of few words but imposing actions. While the strained budget can be seen at times, there's a joy to be seen in watching someone craft their own take on a well worn genre. It's a western for people who have, for too long, been secondary characters, bandits and villains.
The second film, Desperado is a bigger, more confident affair. Now with proper actors like Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Joaquim de Almeida, Steve Buscemi, Cheech Marin and Quentin Tarantino, the film has much more confident action and editing, showing how Rodriguez has matured and grown as a filmmaker while retaining that glee that made the first film so refreshing.
While the third film, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, is perhaps not thought of as fondly as others, its sprawling narrative and big political ideas make it incredibly enjoyable. Here we find a film that almost sidelines Banderas' El Mariachi for a story that explores the political world of Mexico with a massive cast that has everyone from Johnny Depp, to Mickey Rourke, through Eva Mendes, Danny Trejo, Enrique Iglesias, Cheech Marin, Rubén Blades and Willem Dafoe. This film feels more like a spring board for Johnny Depp's slimy Agent Sands to shine, and foreshadows the bloated excess of films like Machete and its sequel when lots of actors show up for little reason but there is still an inventiveness to the filmmaking.
What the ‘Mexico Trilogy' shows is that charting the course of a filmmakers career through one series can be rewarding, and incredibly fun. You're able to see what would become the blueprint for the Mexsploitation of Machete and even the joyful Latin-influence of his Spy Kids films.
Its culture is at its heart, and Rodriguez clearly enjoys fusing American filmmaking with Mexican culture into a delicious confection that is still as enjoyable today as it was when it first came out.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
– High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of all three films
– 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of Desperado
– Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by Carlos Aguilar and Nicholas Clement
– Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper
– Double sided posters featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper
– Collectable poster featuring Robert Rodriguez's original poster concept for El Mariachi
DISC 1 – EL MARIACHI (BLU-RAY)
– Original uncompressed Latin-American Spanish stereo audio, plus an English dub in lossless stereo
– Optional English subtitles, plus English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
– Commentary by writer-director Robert Rodriguez
– Big Vision Low Budget, a newly filmed interview with Rodriguez
– The Original Mariachi, a newly filmed interview with producer/star Carlos Gallardo
– The Music of ‘El Mariachi', a newly produced featurette on the music in the film, featuring interviews with composers Eric Guthrie, Chris Knudson, Alvaro Rodriguez and Marc Trujillo
– Ten Minute Film School, an archive featurette produced and narrated by Rodriguez
– Bedhead, a 1991 short film by Rodriguez
– Theatrical trailer and TV spot
DISCS 2 & 3 – DESPERADO (BLU-RAY / 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
– New 4K restoration from the original camera negative by Sony Pictures
– Original uncompressed stereo audio and DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
– Audio commentary by writer-director Robert Rodriguez
– Lean and Mean, a newly filmed interview with Rodriguez
– Shoot Like Crazy, a newly filmed interview with producer Bill Borden
– Kill Count, a newly filmed interview with stunt coordinator Steve Davison
– Lock and Load, a newly filmed interview with special effects coordinator Bob Shelley
– Game Changer, a newly filmed appreciation by filmmaker Gareth Evans (The Raid)
– Ten More Minutes: Anatomy of a Shootout, an archive featurette narrated by Rodriguez
– Textless opening (“Morena de mi Corazón”)
– Theatrical trailers
DISC 4 – ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO (BLU-RAY)
– Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo audio
– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
– Commentary by writer-director Robert Rodriguez
– The Revolution Will Be Digitized, a newly filmed interview with Rodriguez
– Troublemaking, a newly filmed interview with visual effects editor Ethan Maniquis
– Eight deleted scenes, with optional commentary by Rodriguez
– Ten Minute Flick School, an archive featurette narrated by Rodriguez
– Inside Troublemaker Studios, an archive featurette on Rodriguez's studio in Austin
– Ten Minute Cooking School, an archive featurette in which Rodriguez shows you how to cook Puerco Pibil
– Film is Dead: An Evening with Robert Rodriguez, a presentation by the director given in 2003
– The Anti-Hero's Journey, an archive featurette on the arc of the Mariachi
– The Good, the Bad and the Bloody: Inside KNB FX, an archive featurette on the film's special effects
– Theatrical trailers
The Mexico Trilogy is available from Arrow Video now.
