El Mariachi rights. Columbia eventually spent $200,000 to transfer the print to film, to remix the sound, and on other post-production work. It then spent millions more on marketing and distribution. The success of Rodriguez's directorial debut led him to create two further entries, "Desperado" (1995) and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" (2003). For the two sequels, Antonio Banderas took over from Carlos Gallardo for the main character El Mariachi, though Gallardo co-produced both films and had a minor role in "Desperado". In 2011, "El Mariachi" was inducted into the Library of Congress to be preserved as part of its National
El Mariachi a 73 out of 100 rating based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". "El Mariachi" won multiple international awards, and writer/producer/director Rodriguez went on to gain international fame; he was interviewed on such shows as "Sábado Gigante" and proceeded thereafter to secure Hollywood-backing for films such as "The Faculty" and "Sin City". In December 2011, "El Mariachi" was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Citing it as the film that "helped usher in the independent movie boom of the early 1990s", the Registry