El Mariachi

Extremely low-budget but clever mixture of humor and violence in a tale of mistaken identity set in a small Mexican border town. Unemployed singer/musician Gallardo wanders into a small town and is mistaken for a hitman who carries his weapons in a guitar case. Eventually, the real hitman also shows up. 24-year-old director Rodriguez makes his feature film debut with this $7000 feature, originally intended only for the Spanish-language market. Film festival awards and critical attention brought the work to wider release. Spanish with subtitles or dubbed.