A traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.
El Mariachi just wants to play his guitar and carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, the town he tries to find work in has another visitor...a killer who carries his guns in a guitar case. The drug lord and his henchmen mistake El Mariachi for the killer, Azul, and chase him around town trying to kill him and get his guitar case.—Josh Pasnak <[email protected]>
El Mariachi just simply wants to play his guitar, no harm done, no questions asked. Unfortunately, he makes the mistake of attempting to find work in a local town, just when an assassin who keeps his guns in a guitar case hits town. El Mariachi is mistaken for the assassin. Not good.—neo101
American crime lord Moco has set up a lucrative business in Mexico. He tries to rub out his imprisoned employee Azul. However, Azul overcomes the hit-men and escapes, determined to get his revenge. Meanwhile, a wandering mariachi comes to the same town looking for work. As Azul's trademark is his guitar case filled with weapons, the Mariachi is mistaken for him and finds himself a hunted man. Everyone looking for him likes to shoot first and ask questions later, so correcting the misunderstanding will not be easy.—rmlohner
After breaking out of jail in a small Mexican town of Jimenez Coahuila, a ruthless criminal, nicknamed Azul (Reinol Martínez) runs his criminal empire from the jail cell. Azul and Moco used to work together till Moco betrayed him and got Azul arrested, and then went on to become a rich drug lord.
Moco calls Azul inside the jail and Azul asks Moco to pay him what he is owed to settle their accounts. Instead, Moco sends his assassins to kill Azul inside the jail, and once again Azul realizes that he has been betrayed. The assassins bribe the jail guard to gain entry and hunt for Azul. Azul and his men inside the jail manage to capture and kill the assassins. Azul calls Moco back and vows revenge.
Azul ventures off with a guitar case full of weapons and vows revenge on the local drug lord, Moco (Peter Marquardt), who had him arrested in the first place.
Meanwhile, a young musician (Carlos Gallardo) arrives in town carrying his own guitar case which contains his signature guitar. He hopes to find work in the town in order to pursue his dream of becoming a Mariachi like his father.
The musician approaches a bar (which belongs to Moco) and offers his services as a Mariachi, but the bar owner already has a man with an electronic keyboard, who can replicate the effects of an entire band. The musician leaves. Azul enters the bar shortly thereafter, looking for information on Moco. He finds 3 men who claim to work for Moco and guns them down. Their 4th colleague was in the toilet at the time and Azul kills him too. Moco gets reports of the arrival of a killer in town from the bartender.Meanwhile, the musician goes from one bar to the next, looking for work and meets Domino a bartender at one of the bars. Domino is sympathetic but says that she has no money for a Mariachi.
From the confines of his heavily guarded villa on the outskirts of town, Moco sends a large group of Sicarios led by Bigoton (Jaime De Hoyos) to kill Azul. They are told to look for a man who is wearing black and carrying a guitar case, but because the Mariachi also matches this description, the hit-men mistake him for Azul and start pursuing him. The musician has rented a cheap room in town for a week and the motel manager reports his location to Moco.The Mariachi hears the armed men coming for his room and manages to escape.
Only Moco, however, knows Azul's actual face. The Mariachi is then forced to kill four of the attackers in self-defense after being chased through the streets. Actually, the Mariachi runs in between the killers leading to them killing each other. Only Bigoton survives.
As the Mariachi seeks refuge in a bar owned by a beautiful woman named Domino (Consuelo Gomez). Mariachi says that he is new to town and has no friends or enemies and just needs to hide till the crisis passes over. Domino hides Mariachi in a room upstairs in her bar.Unfortunately, Moco is not only financing the bar, but also has his own romantic interest in Domino.Bigoton arrives at the bar and tells Domino about a killer dressed in black and carrying a guitar case full of weapons. Domino goes to Mariachi's room and checks the guitar case and finds only a guitar. Domino agrees to let Mariachi stay at the bar in exchange for his singing services.
The Mariachi gives his first performance at the bar and he and Domino fall in love with each other. Mariachi leaves the bar to go to the motel and get back the advance money he paid for the cheap room.
When Azul visits the bar for a beer and information about Moco, he accidentally leaves with the Mariachi's guitar case. Moco's thugs capture Azul on the street but release him when they learn that the case he is carrying contains only a guitar. A short time later, the Mariachi is captured and taken to Moco, who identifies him as the wrong man and sets him free.
Meanwhile, Azul, who has no directions to Moco's home, takes Domino with him and orders her to take him to Moco's, or Moco will kill the Mariachi. Domino agrees to save the Mariachi's life. When they arrive at Moco's gated compound, Azul pretends to take Domino hostage in order to gain entry. Moco soon realizes that Domino has fallen for the Mariachi and, in a fit of rage, shoots both her and Azul.
Suddenly, the Mariachi arrives to find the woman he loves gunned down. Moco then shoots the Mariachi's left hand, rendering him useless as a guitar player, and proceeds to taunt and laugh at the Mariachi. Overcome with grief and rage, the Mariachi picks up Azul's gun with his right hand and kills Moco, avenging Domino's death. Moco's surviving henchmen, seeing their leader dead, walk off carelessly and leave Moco's body and the wounded Mariachi behind, as Moco had consistently treated them disrespectfully.
The Mariachi leaves the town on Dominó's motorbike, taking her pit bull and her letter-opener as mementos of her. His dreams to become a Mariachi have been shattered, and his only protection for his future are Azul's former weapons, which he takes along in the guitar case. He rides off into the sunset.
