The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page 96

ft Mariachi' proves it takes more than money to make a fine film m. Tv-5o aiirlnnf urlth rent. 11 -8 AtiiI swAQra VAnrfAonPA ACrartP4 IpTlt whpr f3 1T1Q Texas student who, with a rent Azul, swears lent slum, where guns vengeance, escapes may be drawn and fired at any time Stephen Hunter iVnChtic UKariachT Starring Carlos Gallardo and Consuelo Goinez Directed by Robert Rodriguez Released by Columbia Rated irvianacni lsaireaayia-mous for being better than at least a hundred films that cost at least a ed 16mm camera, decided to wander Into Mexico, throw together a fast, crude shoot-'em-up, which he cynically hoped to offer to Spanish-language video. He ended up with an office and a deal at Columbia. I guess nobody told him it was impossible.

His film doesn't really transcend its budgetary limitations but it doesn't have to. It's like a lot of other low-budget hell-raisers that are so dnematlcally pure and driven, they don't need elaborate production. Its rawness, its sense of squalor and unaffected, art-directionless reality amplify rather than diminish its impact hundred times as much to make, proving how much bang for the buck can be gotten when talent is added and studio and union politics are subtracted from the equation. It cost $7,000 and you can't even get a very good car for But let's not obsess on the figure. Robert Rodriguez certainly didn't; he was a University of The only thing Rodriguez had was access to a batch of guns and his own boundless optimism.

The story he came up with reflected both. A drug kingpin decides to kill a former partner In prison and falls. The partner, a thug named the prison (hfs sentence appears to have been ceremonial rather than meaningful anyway), loads a batch of nasty-looking machine pistols into a guitar case, throws on a black vest and heads into a sleazy border town. At the same moment another hombre. also dressed In black, heads into town.

In his guitar case, alas, is only a guitar. In his heart is a song, on his lips a smile, in his eyes twinkles. He's a roving vagabond, a real mariachi player. Thus begins an almost anarchistic improvisation on the themes of mistaken iden-- titles and near-misses, with poor Carlos Gallardo continually stepping into ambushes that he miraculously survives. Meanwhile the real gunman (the very scary Reinol Martinez) keeps ambushing his enemies.

In truth, there's some racism in the film: It uncomfortably embodies Sam Pecklnpah's view of Mexico as a vast brothel and vio without anybody noticing. Still, Rodriguez has drop-dead natural talent Without a twitch of self-awareness, he slings together truly unbelievable chases and shootouts and stunts, achieving a visceral and kinetic force all but vanished from bigger-budget productions. He's a true enfant terrible, a rude country bumpkin in whose casual hands images become melodies. He's a much more fluent director than either Tim Burton (the "Batman" guy) or Kenneth Branagh (the Shakespeare guy). He has incredible Instincts: when to cut, where to place the camera, how to knit together complex skeins of images to suggest Incredible vitality.

But now he faces an Intriguing dilemma: He's completely In the studio game. Will it ruin him or liberate him? Stay tuned. It's going to be interesting. gfrrffi mm feijfarnrflJ "-4-l TJ IV-f rT. Vi aV i 1" I i mm mm Mercedes Ruehi Richard Dreyfuss i I 'A8mftk I "The Best Film Of The Year with enough warmth, whimsy and wackiness to rank with 'Driving Miss Daisy' and 'Howards Mercedes Ruehi is the first sure-fire Oscar nominee of the year." Patrick Sloner.

FLICKS SYNDICATE "Smashing" "Mercedes Ruehi is smashing, a joy to watch. She lights up the screen with a heart-warming performance. Richard Dreyfuss is hilariously funny." Bill Dlehl, ABC RADIO NETWORK 41 mm 03B Ik if' nil HEARTWARMING PULITZER PRIZE "Brilliant, a joy to behold for you and your entire family, that rare movie experience that stays with you long after you ve left the theater." Nf II Rosen. WNCN RADIO NY 1 NEWS zrnn7i7 AT i I i i If iwBii ram WMriirs mmst era ram mn smauauDBEM simlmm -sums ira ugxuds 1 KOI Kwsw VUssssssT COLUMBIAfYl muiiiiwu oirTiiacet 1 1 1 JUSBUI LIS IWU WilUOf fJWTli IU (ft STARTS TODAY AT THESE AREA THEATRES STARTS TODAY AT THESE THEATRES "EJPSSftSZT 7473800 GENERAL CINEMA rxxsa I GENERAL CINEMA r2X I UNITED ARTISTS UNITED ARTISTS TOWSON COMMONS 8 SECURITY SQUARE 8 GOLDEN RING MAR LEY STATION YORK RD. PENN.

AVE.825-5233 BELTWAY EXIT 17265-6911 GOLDEN RING MALL574-3333 RTE 100 AT RITCHIE HWY 760 3300 LOEWS iNSTOwo LOEWS nr.Mi LOEWS mrnmo LOEWS mtroeo GREENSPRING CINEMAS 3 VALLEY CENTRE 9 COLUMBIA PALACE 9 GLEN BURNIE TOWNCENTER 7 2853 SMITH AVE. 486-47 17 9616 REtSTERSTOWN RD 363-4 1 94 RTE. 108 730-4600 BLVD. AT RITCHIE HWY. 761-0300 LOEWS 5-STAR CINEMAS GENERAL CINEMA SECURITY SQUARE 8 2656911 IDte- UNITED ARTISTS GOLDEN RING 574 3333 358-6656 wrrtMO GENERAL CINEMA COLUMBIA 997-9010 LOEWS VORKRIDGE 4 252-2256 IN rtMEO UNITED ARTISTS HARBOR PARK a37 35O0 LOEWS VALLEY CENTRE 9 363-4194 UNITED ARTISTS WESTWEW MALL 719-9000 LOEWS GLEN BURNIE 7 761-0300 iNSTWBO 2 Maryland Uva, The Sun.

May 14-May 20, 1993 lid i a a i.