Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

I love this movie but it is absolute insanity and I think worthy of discussion.

 

Some of the highlights:

 

Willem Dafoe in Brownface.

 

Salma Hayek despite being plastered all over the promotional posters and dvd case has a combined screen time of like 3 minutes.

 

Every scene with Johnny Depp.

 

Enrique Iglesias nonstop eye-fucking the camera.

[RyanSz 3140]

I too loved this movie and having listened to the director's commentary where Robert Rodriguez explains that this is meant to be the fourth movie in the mariachi series and the flashbacks where Salma got killed were part of the "third" movie was pretty interesting. I was shocked when I heard that Dafoe was in it as a Mexican drug kingpin and then loved his scenes where he does probably the most stereotypical version of a race since Crank: High Voltage.

[seanotron 2307]

The crazy thing is this is a movie made by a Mexican director, with tons of Mexican actors, set in Mexico. Why have Willem Defoe, aka, The Whitest White Guy Ever as a Mexican drug lord? It works for reasons I can't explain (I freakin' love this movie), but it's an insane choice.

[RyanSz 3140]

The crazy thing is this is a movie made by a Mexican director, with tons of Mexican actors, set in Mexico. Why have Willem Defoe, aka, The Whitest White Guy Ever as a Mexican drug lord? It works for reasons I can't explain (I freakin' love this movie), but it's an insane choice.

 

Because why not? that's why.

[seanotron 2307]

 

Because why not? that's why.

 

I feel like if we were to ask Robert Rodriquez, this is the answer he would give us.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Still lobbying that this movie should be done. Tri-arm Johnny Depp is still one of my favorite things ever.

[jarrycanada 2483]

it's not Robert Rodriguez best movie but I'll take it any day over those stupied spykids flicks he keeps cranking out. I hated those movies.

 

seanotrontime - asnwer is because the white guy is evil in all of Robert's El Mariachi movies. he's "the man"

 

Btw I didn't like Johnny Depp in this movie but i'll still like a sucker watch it on cable if it shows up.

[KyleMahan 102]

I watched this for the first time last week!! Totally bananas, I would LOVE to hear a HDTGM about it.

 

So I think on Doug Loves Movies, they were discussing how Johnny Depp won't do a movie without a tremendous amount of eye makeup anymore, and I'm watching Once upon a time in Mexico like "Well geez guys he doesn't have any eye makeup in this movie" ... and then I got to the end

[jarrycanada 2483]

did you ever see the first two? El Mariachi and Desperado?

 

You maybe right about Johnny Depp Eye makeup theory. looking at IMDB when ever you see him off camera he's got the tinted eye glasses on. the kind you wear when your vision is getting screwed up and so you don't want people to notice your wearing thick eye glasses so you get prescription tinted lens instead. no one will notice. Jack Nicholson does this trick. look at his eyes on.

[Lando 2019]

The crazy thing is this is a movie made by a Mexican director, with tons of Mexican actors, set in Mexico. Why have Willem Defoe, aka, The Whitest White Guy Ever as a Mexican drug lord? It works for reasons I can't explain (I freakin' love this movie), but it's an insane choice.

 

This really isn't a huge stretch as not everyone in Latin America is of Native American heritage, there were a lot of European emigres who resettled in Mexico.

[seanotron 2307]

 

This really isn't a huge stretch as not everyone in Latin America is of Native American heritage, there were a lot of European emigres who resettled in Mexico.

 

Yeah, but Dafoe is from Wisconsin and is English, Irish, Scottish, French, Swiss and German (again, literally the whitest white guy ever). Playing a guy named Armando Barillo. And his daughter is Eva Mendes. It's an interesting casting choice is all I'm saying.

[Lando 2019]

The Eva Mendez thing is more suspect (which reminds me of Gymkata where a white guy has a fully Filipino daughter all because "her mother is from Indonesia"), but having a Spanish last name isn't really that big of a deal because there are some cracka ass lookin Spanish people out there. I submit to you Angela Vargas from Spain:

[seanotron 2307]

The Eva Mendez thing is more suspect (which reminds me of Gymkata where a white guy has a fully Filipino daughter all because "her mother is from Indonesia"), but having a Spanish last name isn't really that big of a deal because there are some cracka ass lookin Spanish people out there. I submit to you Angela Vargas from Spain:

 

I don't dispute that a lot of people in Spain are basically white, but I'm pretty certain that still doesn't make Willem Dafoe Mexican. And it's not just that his character has a Latino last name, he's also doing a kind of wacky Mexican accent through the whole thing.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

 

This really isn't a huge stretch as not everyone in Latin America is of Native American heritage, there were a lot of European emigres who resettled in Mexico.

 

Yea its not that I wouldnt believe that Willem Dafoe couldnt possibly have been born in mexico or spain, hell Louis CK is a natural born mexican whose first language was spanish. Its the fact that they covered him in brown makeup and died his hair black that makes it a touch more insane.

[Lando 2019]

It has been a long time since I saw this, for some reason I thought it was like Touch of Evil where Charlton Heston was a Mexican. I really want to revisit the Mariachi trilogy.

[seanotron 2307]

It has been a long time since I saw this, for some reason I thought it was like Touch of Evil where Charlton Heston was a Mexican. I really want to revisit the Mariachi trilogy.

 

Actually, it's very much like that. It's not like Heston as a Mexican was any more plausible (it's been a punchline for a long time, like in Ed Wood).

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

How the fuck has this movie not been done? I absolutely love this movie but good god is it fucking nuts.

 

 

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Bump for questionable makeup choices.