In the American indie explosion of the 1990s, few filmmakers had a more compelling story than Robert Rodriguez. The Texan communications major had spent his time in college crafting homemade shorts and parlayed his enthusiasm into a feature he funded by raising a paltry $9,000, most of it gained from signing up for pharmaceutical drug tests. Shooting in the northern Mexican town of Ciudad Acuña, Rodriguez managed to push El Mariachi past the finish line under budget, pocketing nearly two grand of his meager put-up cash. Initially aiming to release the neo-western action film directly to the Spanish-language VHS market, Rodriguez got up the chutzpah to submit it to major Hollywood studios, one of which, Columbia Pictures, bought the rights and secured festival and theatrical exhibition.
That story is so inspiring for wannabe filmmakers that the film’s quality may as well be a secondary concern, but El Mariachi’s most...
That story is so inspiring for wannabe filmmakers that the film’s quality may as well be a secondary concern, but El Mariachi’s most...
- 8/26/2024
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
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