Down Mexico Way! (The Mexican (DVD))

Member Name: Shekera

Product:	The Mexican (DVD)
Date:	07/06/02 (349 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comical film with lots of twists and turns

Disadvantages: Goes on for too long - 123 minutes

THE MEXICAN OVERVIEW:

The plot of the romantic comedy film “The Mexican” revolves around the characters of Jerry Walbach played by Brad Pitt and his girlfriend Samantha, played by Julia Roberts.

Jerry makes his living in the world of crime from which he is trying desperately to break free. The last job he undertook was unfortunately, not a great success therefore, he has been left indebted to a crime boss and in order to pay this debt, he has to carryout one “last” job for the mob. Samantha played is dead against this and gives Jerry an ultimatum, which he ignores as he feels he would rather be a bad boyfriend, than dead.

As Jerry does not do what Samantha wants, she leaves him and goes on a trip to Las Vegas whilst Jerry sets off for Mexico, where Jerry’s assignment is to collect a priceless beautiful antique pistol named “The Mexican” which he must bring back to America to the mob boss. However, what Jerry does not know is that this pistol is steeped in history and is allegedly cursed.

At this point, the film starts it parallel tales – one angle is that of Samantha’s trip from Los Angeles to Vegas (which she and Jerry originally planed in order to get married), and the second of Jerry’s mission to retrieve The Mexican.

During her journey to Vegas, Samantha takes a pit stop (excuse the pun!) at a shopping mall, here she is “stalked” by two shady looking guys. This is where hit man; Winston Baldry played by James Gandolfini (better known for his role in The Sopranos). Winston posses as a counterpart hit man named Leroy, who he subsequently kills and assumes his identity.

Leroy (Winston) has been employed by the mob boss to take Samantha as hostage to be used as collateral thus ensuring that Jerry returns from Mexico with the pistol. This appears to be a typecast role for Gandolfini; however, all is not what it seems, as Leroy turns out
to be gay!

During her abduction, Samantha and Leroy develop a sensitive friendship and Samantha confides to Leroy about the relationship problems she has been having with Jerry. In return, Samantha supports Leroy in a gay liaison with a chap they picked up on the road to Vegas.

Meanwhile, the character of Jerry, who is depicted as an ordinary guy, is getting himself in over his head in Mexico. The film also shows his struggles to do the right thing in both his professional and personal life, but his line of work constantly trips him up. At times during the film, one can be forgiven for believing that Jerry lacks intelligence, due to his command of the Spanish language, especially when he refers to a truck as “el trucko”

MY THOUGHTS:

I believe that the film’s interlocking story lines, which encompasses lots of complicated characters crossing each of Jerry’s and Samantha’s paths, adds to the colour and atmosphere of the plot.

I especially liked the flashback scenes, which depicted the conflicting legends that explained how the pistol gave the film its name, and came be to cursed. There are several of these flashbacks based on the same scene, but each with different outcomes.

As mentioned earlier, the film was listed as a romantic comedy, however, the comedy aspect is fairly subtle. There were quite a few comical scenes, especially some with dialect between Roberts and Gandolfini, which I found quite funny - these were well punctuated by serious scenes.

However, I did feel that the scenes near the beginning of the film were extremely dull, but they did pick up as the film got going.

Unfortunately, as this is quite a long film, after the first 1.5 hours, I found myself looking forward to the end!

BACKGROUND:

What I did find fascinating is that The Mexican was filmed on location in the historical Mexican city of Real de Catorce, which is nestl
ed in the northern central highlands of the country with an altitude of more than 8,000 feet. Apparently, Real de Catorce was once a bustling silver mining town and is only accessible via a 15.5 mile cobblestone road which culminates with the 1.5-mile long Ogarrio Tunnel which is only one lane wide – in its former life, it was a mine shaft which leads into the city.

Several of the cast listed below were actual residents of Real de Catorce, as the Film Company employed local people as crew and extras, some even had speaking parts. One of Real de Catorce’s most respected citizens, Humberto Fernandez Tristan, played the part of the Nobleman who was a character featured in the flashbacks.

Apparently, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt were so fond of the story that they both agreed to do the film for around half of their usual salaries! In addition, another big reason for Roberts and Pitt’s keenness to do the film was the chance to work with James Gandolfini for which Gandolfini had to loose twenty-five pounds so that he could play the role.

CAST:

Alan Ciangherotti (Gunsmith’s Assistant)
Bob Balaban (Nayman)
Brad Pitt (Jerry Walbach)
Castulo Guerra (Joe the Pawnshop Owner)
David Krumholtz (Beck)
Ernesto Gómez Cruz (Tropillo)
Gene Hackman (Margolese)
Humberto Fernandez Tristan (Nobleman)
J.K. Simmons (Ted)
James Gandolfini (Winston Baldry)
Julia Roberts (Samantha)
Luis Felipe Tovar (Nobleman's Son)
Mayra Serbulo (Emanuelle)
Melisa Romero (Gunsmith’s Daughter)
Michael Cerveris (Frank)
Richard Coca (Car Thief)
Salvador Sánchez (Gunsmith)
Sherman Augustus (Leroy the Hit Man)

Gore Verbinski (Director)
J.H. Wyman (Writer)
Walter Parkes (Producer)

SCENES:

1. The Mexican
2. Vaya Con Dios
3. El Camino
4. Senor Beck
5. The Legend of the Pistola
6. These Boots
7.
Sam and Leroy
8. Jerry and the Dog
9. Trust Issues
10. It’s the American Way
11. A Moment
12. The Legend Part Dos
13. Three’s a Crowd
14. Safety Dance
15. She’s in Vegas
16. Why Can’t We Be Friends
17. You’re My Guy
18. Keviar
19. Plan II Now in Effect
20. When is Enough Enough?
21. Winston
22. Never
23. Return of the Thief
24. Mr Margoiese/The Legend Part Tres
25. Wrong Answer
26. End Credits

SPEICAL FEATURES:

The DVD also contained additional footage, including:

- A feature length commentary by Director Gore Verbinski
- Production Notes
- Theatrical Trailer(s)
- Information on making the Featurette
- Deleted Footage – eight scenes

THE SOUNDTRACK:

The music score was composed by Alan Silvestri and was a cross between Mexican Mariachi and Spaghetti Western music. There are also some more upbeat tracks such as “These Boots are Made for Walking”(Nancy Sinatra), 'You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You' (Dean Martin), 'Safety Dance' (Men in Hats), 'Why Can't We Be Friends' (War), and 'El Cable' (Esquivel) – the CD contains twenty-three tracks in all and is available from Amazon: http://www.examware.net/shops/amz/refer/amz/prods/ B000059T84

RUNING TIME:

The film runs for 123 minutes.

RATING:

15 – Probably due to the violent scenes containing a lot of blood and some bad language.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

For further information on “The Mexican”, please see: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0236493.

If you would like to learn more about the historical Mexican city of Real de Catorce, please visit http://www.mexicanwave.com/travel/real_de_catorce.

In addition, the following site hosts some interesting photographs of the city and sur
rounding area: http://digilander.iol.it/gnamgnam3000/real_de_cato rce.htm.

Summary: