Desperado

Robert Rodriguez did more than direct: he wrote the script, produced, and cut the picture himself, with Guillermo Navarro behind the camera. Shooting took place entirely in Ciudad Acuña in Mexico, across the border from Del Rio, Texas, on a budget of 7 million dollars; the American release took a little over 25 million. The first cut came back NC-17, and to secure an R Rodriguez removed the mansion gunfight altogether. The film therefore cuts to white after a handful of shots and settles its score out of frame. A second bar shootout and a comic bedroom scene using the guitar case weapons went too. It also restages its own backstory. The finale of Rodriguez’s very cheap first feature is shot again here with Antonio Banderas and dropped in as a flashback, while Carlos Gallardo, who carried that original, turns up as Campa. Los Lobos wrote the music, perform the opening Canción del Mariachi with Banderas, and won the Grammy for best pop instrumental performance with Mariachi Suite. A good fit if you want gunplay staged as choreography and scored like a set piece, knowing the finale was trimmed for the certificate. Not for anyone who needs the bookshop owner or the cartel boss to carry dramatic weight; the film keeps both behind the style.