El Mariachi stars Carlos Gallardo as an unsuspecting mariachi who comes to town looking for work. Unfortunately for him, that same day, a local crime lord named Mauricio AKA "Moco" (Peter Marquardt) has decided to spring one of his key henchmen, Azul (Reinol Martinez), from jail... by killing him. Moco's plan fails because Azul is ready for him, having taken the fall for Moco for an earlier crime and having been left to rot in jail, so Moco's men are sent to find the now escaped Azul and erase him. Where things get tough for El Mariachi is that Azul walks around carrying a guitar case full of weapons and he is quickly mistaken for Azul and has to go on the run. He finds solace in a bar owned by the beautiful Domino (Consuelo Gomez) and El Mariachi quickly falls for her, not realizing she is also the object of Moco's affections.
Once Moco has his hands on El Mariachi and realizes the mix-up, but also realizes Domino has fallen for El as well, Moco kills her and maims El's hand, igniting a violent and vengeful rage in El Mariachi. He, in turn, kills Moco and picks up the deadly guitar case, having traded in his guitar playing days for ones filled with retribution on Moco's men who cost him the love of his life.
Desperado picks up several years later with Robert Rodriguez having the backing of a major studio and lots more money behind this production. There are a lot more stars in this film and lots of explosions and thankfully, Rodriguez had more than one blood squib so not everyone had to be shot in the chest. El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) is wandering the countryside, eliminating Moco's men, one by one. It seems the last of the bunch is an elusive drug dealer called Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida) and by the time El Mariachi makes it to his town, his legend has already proceeded him because his friend Buscemi (Steve Buscemi) makes a point of visiting bars and causing quite a scene as he describes El Mariachi's vengeful wake of violence, with a good bit of elaboration, of course. El does finally locate his man through the help of a beautiful local bookshop owner named Carolina (Salma Hayek), who also happens to the lady Bucho wants as his own. What is it with this guy picking the wrong girls? Through yet another bloody case of mistaken identity, Bucho's men hunt for the mysterious Mariachi carrying a guitar case filled with guns, although business partners of Bucho's have sent a man of their own to take care of El Mariachi. His name is Navajas, played by Danny Trejo, a face very familiar to fans of Rodriguez's work. Expect lots of explosions, death and mayhem as El Mariachi enlists two fellow mariachis (one of which is played by Carlos Gallardo, the original El Mariachi) to burn Bucho and his men to the ground. Stars like Cheech Marin and Quentin Tarantino also make appearances in the film and add a nice little punch to the mix. Overall, Desperado is Robert Rodriguez at his best with a nice pile of money and some cool special effects.
As far as special features go, they are fairly slim. There's one called Cutting Room where you can edit parts of the film yourself and post them on the internet, which is something a budding filmmaker might enjoy. There's commentary by Rodriguez on both films, two music videos for Desperado, "10 Minute Film School" and "10 More Minutes" where Rodriguez shares cool information on filmmaking and specifically on the shootouts in Desperado, plus his student film entitled "Bed Head". All are worth a watch, but your interest in Cutting Room will depend on how much you are into splicing film parts and creating something new. As for the film quality, El Mariachi doesn't look that great and was clearly filmed using a different type of film than the big budget Desperado, which upscales beautifully and looks great in high def. Having them packaged together was a nice treat, however, and if they aren't already in your collection, now is the time to get them.
