MOVIE REVIEWS : ‘El Mariachi’ Promising but Derivative Debut

The 24-year-old director Robert Rodriguez has an instinctive feeling for pace and movement. His first feature, “El Mariachi,” reportedly made for $7,000, doesn’t tell you much about what he might be able to do with actors and a strong, complex script--it’s basically a cinematic exercise that provides a shoot-out or a chase scene every few minutes.

But from moment to moment it keeps you watching. Shot in 16mm, in 14 days, the film (citywide) was transferred to 35mm by Columbia Pictures and has a refurbished soundtrack. Even by micro-budget standards that $7,000 figure seems suspiciously on the low side, but the film (rated R for strong violence) is still an example of what you can come up with on next to nothing. Technically, in terms of how the shots go together, “El Mariachi” is prodigious.

It would be a mistake, however, to make too much of Rodriguez’s budget. Once you get over the fact that this movie was made for the equivalent of lunch money on most studio productions, you’re faced with what it actually is: A tall-tale shoot-em-up that draws on a whole arsenal of styles, including those of Peckinpah, Scorsese, Spielberg, Leone and Hill. It’s a movie made by a talented tyro who, judging from what’s on the screen, hasn’t yet lived much of a life.

It’s about a mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) who wanders into a Mexican border town and is mistaken for a hit man (Reinol Martinez). Both carry around a guitar case but the hit man’s is chock-full of weapons. In the ensuing clash of mistaken identities, the musician shacks up with the former girlfriend (Consuelo Gomez) of the local drug lord (Peter Marquardt) who is also the hit man’s target. Her protection is the world’s sleepiest pit bull.

That’s about it for story development or emotional nuances. The script, by Rodriguez and Gallardo, is a series of mock-comic confrontations that allows the director to shoot the works. The actors are non-professionals, which is probably just as well: Too much emoting in these roles would be painfully inappropriate.

When the drug king lights his stogie on the sandpapery skin of one of his henchman, you can hear the amplified scratch as the match bursts into flame, just as you hear the amplified blows whenever anyone is hit. Rodriguez sets up this sleepy, deranged border town with every buzzing fly intact. He’s good on atmosphere.

If all we wanted from the movies was derring-do we wouldn’t need to go to the movies. TV commercials would do just fine. Rodriguez has the technique to make first-class-looking movies on grade A budgets but, with his skills and his humor, he should aim for more than a career of fancy pyrotechnics.

‘El Mariachi’ Carlos Gallardo: El Mariachi Reinol Martinez: Azul Peter Marquardt: Mauricio Consuelo Gomez: Domino

A Columbia Pictures presentation of a Los Hooligans Production of a Film by Robert Rodriguez. Director Robert Rodriguez. Producer Robert Rodriguez and Carlos Gallardo. Screenplay by Robert Rodriguez and Carlos Gallardo. Cinematographer Robert Rodriguez. Editor Robert Rodriguez. Music by Juan Suarez, Marc Trujillo, Alvaro Rodriguez, Nestor Fajardo and Ceclio Rodriguez. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

MPAA-rated R (strong violence).