El Mariachi El Mariachi El Mariachi is a 1992 American contemporary western action film and the first installment in the saga that came to be known as Robert Rodriguez's "Mexico Trilogy". It marked the feature length debut of Rodriguez as writer and director. The Spanish language film was shot with a mainly amateur cast in the northern Mexican bordertown of Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico across from Del Rio, Texas, the home town of leading actor Carlos Gallardo. The US$7,225 production was originally intended for the Mexican home video market, but executives at Columbia Pictures liked the film and bought the American distribution
Mariachi of Mexican society in the early 20th century. This would change in the latter half of the 20th century, but the music remains strongly associated with tequila. Mariachi music and musician became more professional with more formal training starting in the late 1940s and early 1950s, principally due to the success of a major Mariachi by the name of Mariachi Vargas. Their appearance in many films, backing many singing stars and their hiring of a formal musician prompted other mariachis to do the same. The group also expanded adding trumpets, violins and even a classical guitar to become a kind