Trivia / El Mariachi

• Breakthrough Hit: For Robert Rodriguez.
• Copiously Credited Creator: Robert Rodriguez was producer, director, writer, special-effect man, etc. The only job he didn't do was act, as there would be no one else to operate the camera.
• Deleted Scene: Originally, there was supposed to a climatic scene where the Mariachi has a shootout with the bad guys in Azul's ranch and escaping. This would have occurred after Moco sees that they got the wrong guy at the ranch. According to Robert Rodriguez, he cut out the scene not only due to time constraints, but also that the owners of the camera he used to film the movie wanted it back very soon, as they were selling it. This explains why the henchmen simply dropped the Mariachi out onto the street.
• Follow the Leader: This is one of the first examples of DIY filmmaking and its production became a case study on making a quality film with almost no money.
• No Budget: Before Columbia financed post-production (to create a Dolby Stereo track and clean up the picture), the production budget was $7,000 (including $3,000 earned from Robert Rodriguez being a human guinea pig for medical testing).
• One-Take Wonder: Robert Rodriguez brought his film in on time and under budget, mainly by shooting only one take for every scene, thereby saving on film.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: At the end of the movie, the Mariachi has his left hand shot, but Robert Rodriguez forgot to bring the metal glove to cover up Carlos Gallardo's hand; he solved it by packing his hand with black duct tape.
• Sleeper Hit: Originally intended for the Latino Direct to Video market and made on a budget that Roger Ebert noted would barely cover the catering on an Arnold Schwarzenegger film, it became the lowest budgeted film to gross a million dollars at the box office, for which it earns the Guinness World Record title for.
• Throw It In!: The turtle, which was simply found by the road by a crew member one day. Also the dubbed line about free coconuts, which Robert Rodriguez added when he realized they'd forgotten to film the Mariachi paying for the coconut.

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