Desperado

After turning the independent film world upside-down with his inventive microbudget debut, writer-director Robert Rodriguez continued the myth of the mysterious Mariachi in the follow-up Desperado, armed with all the explosive pyrotechnics that Hollywood studio money can buy! A shadowy figure stalks the Mexican underworld, travelling from town to town with only a guitar case in hand; however, what El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) has on his mind isn’t music, but merciless vengeance. With enough bullets up his sleeves for every bandito in his path, the guitar-playing gunslinger has his sights firmly set on taking down a powerful drug lord (Joaquim de Almeida), but only the love of a local bookstore owner (Salma Hayek) will help the Mariachi get out of town alive. With a rogues’ gallery of memorable supporting turns from the likes of Danny Trejo, Steve Buscemi, Cheech Marin and Quentin Tarantino, Rodriguez’s instant action classic blends American indie cool and Hong Kong hyper-kineticism with a Latino flavor firmly the director’s own.