To make a feature-length movie for $7,000—pocket change by Hollywood’s inflated standards—is a real achievement. But to make a good movie, one that favorably compares to the slick, big-budget studio blockbusters, for such a pittance is close to a miracle. In 1993 (or 1992, as reports vary), then novice director Robert Rodriguez wowed the Sundance Film Festival crowd with his ultra low-budget shoot’em-up El Mariachi, a fast and funny pastiche of spaghetti-western and lurid crime-drama conventions. A one-man production crew who wrote, directed, produced, edited, and shot El Mariachi, Rodriguez was warmly embraced by aspiring filmmakers for his cheerful, pragmatic approach to what he called guerrilla film making: make it dirt cheap and have fun. Continue reading MasterChugs Theater: ‘El Mariachi’