Desperado

    365 Films

Entry #67

Desperado (1995)

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

Things have been a little heavy on this blog as of late so I figured I’d lighten the mood a little bit with a blood-soaked tale of revenge and violent mariachis set on the mean streets of Mexico.  When I saw Desperado back in 1995, I had very little idea of who Robert Rodriguez was or anything about his pretty astounding breaking in story.  There’s no need to cover it again here, but what I remember from the trailers and marketing was the forceful effort to emphasis the Tarantino-ness of it all.  The stylized violence, the irony drenched dialogue, the Steve Buscemi, hell even Tarantino’s half scene cameo was prominently featured in the trailer.  The message was loud and clear: if you even remotely like/are familiar with Quentin Tarantino, you will love this movie.  And indeed, love it I did, very much so, but the reasons were more linked to the way Rodriguez presented his Sergio Leone by way of Chuck Jones shoot outs.  This movie showed me action in a way that I had never encountered before, free of any sense of the physical laws of nature and logic.  Bodies could fly several feet in the air, bullets would miraculously reach their targets from incredibly difficult shots, and most importantly a guitar case could indeed double as a bazooka.  This is the kind of shit that I spent an incredibly useless number of hours dreaming about and to have this Rodriguez fellow so accurately depict it on screen was like that first drink of water after years of an isolated desert existence.  In other words, it was bliss.  It did not matter one bit in the slightest that the story was borderline incomprehensible or that some of the tonal shifts from slapstick comedy to child endangerment were jarring in the worst possible way, this movie had the instant gratification factor going for it about as well as any movie could.  What’s particularly interesting about it looking back is how much it differs while simultaneously adhering strictly to the Rodriguez formula.  Shot on film, made for only seven million dollars, and without a single green screen in sight, it almost looks quaint compared to some of his later efforts.  Yet, like his later efforts, Desperado showcases his disdain for character and plot.  Made back in the days when he refrained from chopping, shooting, scoring, and even making the fucking digital effects for all his films, comparatively this was done in an almost classical style of filmmaking.  It’s an odd thing to look back on because on the one hand I almost yearn for the days when his films didn’t look like they were created completely in iMovie.  Then again, he hasn’t really advanced past the maturity level of this film.  He still utilizes some of the very techniques first birthed for this production and he certainly remains focused with a fixed gaze on the exploitation genre at all costs.  Still, is there anybody out there who can honestly tell me fucking Machete was better than this?  I hope to god there isn’t, cause if so, we ain’t friends no more.