Search - Robert Rodriguez Mexico Trilogy (El Mariachi / Desperado / Once Upon A Time In Mexico) on DVD

Special Editions all around

D. Farmer | 11/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is some confusion as to the releases in this set, based on the reviews so far and the limited information in the amazon.com description. I hesitated to buy it at first based on the fact that the back of the outer case simply had credits and the typical info box for all three films giving the languages and aspect ratios of the films, but nothing as to the other content of the discs contained.



Here is what is included in the set:



Disc 1:

El Mariachi (Special Edition)

- 1.85:1 Widescreen Anamorphic/81 Minutes

- Director's Commentary

- Robert Rodriguez's Short Film "Bedhead"

- "10-Minute Film School"



Disc 2:

Desperado (Special Edition)

- 1.85:1 Widescreen Anamorphic/103 Minutes

- Director's Commentary

- "10 More Minutes with Robert Rodriguez: Anatomy of a Shootout"



Disc 3:

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

- 1.78:1 Widescreen Anamophic/102 Minutes

- Director's Commentary

- Deleted Scenes

- Film is Dead: An Evening with Robert Rodriguez

- Ten-Minute Flick School

- Ten-Minute Cooking School

- Inside Troublemaker Studios

- The Anti-Hero's Journey

- The Good, the Bad and the Bloody: Inside KNB FX



So this set re-packages the most recent release of each of the titles into a great little package. Little being the key word - this set uses the slim-line DVD cases often used in TV on DVD packaging and most recently seen in the Ghostbusters 1 & 2 Double Feature Gift Pack. Two slim-line cases take up the space of a single standard DVD case, so this set with 3 slim-line cases is nice and compact.



The transfer of El Mariachi here is the newest one ("From the original negatives supervised by Robert Rodriguez") not the older 1.66:1 transfer from the earlier Director's Double Feature release.



Also worthy of note is that all 3 film are Anamorphic despite the packaging indicating that El Mariachi and Desperado are just "Widescreen" while Once Upon a Time in Mexico is listed as "Anamorphic Widescreen." Columbia Tri-Star has always had a bad habit of not indicating when releases were anamorphic although most of their early releases were in fact anamorphic."

Loved it!

Susan M. Borowy | Vancouver, WA | 01/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bought it for the second movie - Desperado - which I loved, but ended up loving the first movie - El Mariachi - even more! Even though it's subtitled and in Spanish, it gives the beginning of the story and is campy and gritty, obviously low-budget but it's great. If you like foreign films and anything to do with Robert Rodriguez, you'd love this set of movies and it'd be worth adding to your collection."

Via con dios!

A. Vryhof | Syracuse, NY | 07/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great deal. These 3 movies are amazing and the price cant be beat. El Mariachi is in Spanish with no option for english over dubbing but there are subtitles and it is a great movie. Desperado is just classic and Once apon a time in Mexico was surprisingly really good as well."

Mariachi Grande

AMP | Somewhere on Earth | 08/29/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"*El Mariachi (4 stars out of 5)

For a very low-budget film, this is very well-made. Even though it has very grainy picture quality, the filming style is very excellent. It is a simple but great story filled with great action scenes and great characters. It is entirely in Spanish with English subtitles, and includes a commentary track, a short film, and a making-of featurette.



*Desperado (4 stars out of 5)

With a higher budget, this film surpasses its predessor both in quality and in style. It has excellent image and sound quality. There are loads of slick action scenes. The story is not bad, and has some excellent characters. It is well-written. Music was good. It is mostly in English with subtitles for Spanish-speaking parts, and includes a commentary, a making-of featurette, and I believe it has a free demo for video-editing software.



*Once Upon a Time in Mexico (4 stars out of 5)

This last film has some of the biggest and best action scenes of the trilogy. It still has great video/sound quality, a good filming style, good writing, good characters, and good music. The only thing that really suffers is the story, which is convoluted and seems to have too many characters to keep track of. Again, it is mostly English with subtitled Spanish-speaking parts. It includes a bunch of featurettes, a commentary, and some deleted scenes.



All of these films are exciting, entertaining, and very well-made. All discs are special editions, and contain a wealth of extras. Only the first film seems to have poor image quality, since it is so grainy, but it also accentuates the grittiness of the film and can be considered a benefit. The other two films have nearly perfect quality. Overall, this is a great set and is well worth the price."