The Big Picture
Robert Rodriguez’s Mexico Trilogy is packed with high-octane action and stylish filmmaking on a shoestring budget.
The upcoming 4K Blu-ray set from Arrow Video includes all three films, loaded with special features and new interviews.
El Mariachi, Desperado, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico showcase Rodriguez’s talent as a director.
The high-octane action of Robert Rodriguez’ Mexico Trilogy is coming to 4K Blu-ray. Arrow Video’s new three-movie set of El Mariachi, Desperado, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico will be released on August 27, 2024.
The set will feature an all-new 4K restoration of Desperado, with HD Blu-ray versions of the other two films. It will be loaded with special features, including a bevy of new and archival featurettes. Those include interviews with cast and crew, a new interview with Rodriguez fan Gareth Evans, and even a cooking feature where Rodriguez demonstrates how to make Puerco Pibil, a dish featured in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. All three films will also feature audio commentary by Rodriguez, as well as deleted scenes and theatrical trailers. It will also feature Bedhead, the fantasy comedy short film Rodriguez produced while he was a student at the University of Texas. The set will include a booklet written by film historians Carlos Aguilar and Nicholas Clement, and double-sided posters for each film. The set will retail for $70 USD, and can be preordered on ArrowVideo.com. Desperado is also available on its own in a collectible Steelbook; it can be preordered here.
What is the ‘Mexico Trilogy’?
Made by the 23-year-old Rodriguez for $7000 USD, El Mariachi tells the story of a wandering musician (Carlos Gallardo) who comes to a small town, where a local drug lord’s thugs mistake him for a rival. Rodriguez’ ability to make a stylish action film on a shoestring budget earned the film an American distribution deal; he subsequently made a higher-budget sequel, 1996’s Desperado. In it, the mariachi (now played by Antonio Banderas) once more finds himself in a troubled town, where he dispatches the local thugs and meets the love of his life, Carolina (a then-unknown Salma Hayek). In the final film of the trilogy, 2003’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico, the mariachi is recruited by a CIA agent (Johnny Depp) to assassinate the corrupt Mexican general responsible for Carolina’s death.
The success of El Mariachi made Rodriguez a highly sought-after director, and brought him to the attention of Quentin Tarantino, who would become a frequent collaborator – Tarantino appeared in Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn, and the two directed the two halves of Grindhouse. Rodriguez went on to direct the Spy Kids films, Sin City, Machete, and Alita: Battle Angel.
Arrow Films’ Mexico Trilogy box set will be released on August 27, 2024. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
Desperado
Former musician and gunslinger El Mariachi arrives at a small Mexican border town after being away for a long time. His past quickly catches up with him and he soon gets entangled with the local drug kingpin Bucho and his gang.