Browse: Home / Year of the Month: Roland Saint-Laurent on MACHETE

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • The High and Low of Flaherty's 20s: NANOOK and MOANA
  • New Hollywood Got Old
  • Decade of the Month: Sunil Patel on SHERLOCK, JR.
  • Film on the Internet: GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI
  • Camera Obscura: EXIT TO EDEN

Year of the Month: Roland Saint-Laurent on MACHETE

Posted By Sam "Burgundy Suit" Scott on July 7, 2021 in Features | Leave a response

 

Robert Rodriguez’  long-gestating 2010 Danny Trejo action vehicle Machete started with low ambitions but somehow turned into a major theatrical release with a supporting cast of Hollywood stars. Rodriguez has had the idea for this film ever since meeting Trejo on the set of Desperado, when, struck by his appearance, Rodriguez envisioned a series of low-budget action flicks starring Trejo as a kind of Mexican Chow Yun-Fat. Even with a script ready, this idea fell to the wayside while Rodriguez pursued other projects. But he revived it when he collaborated with his fellow trash cinema enthusiast Quentin Tarantino on the exploitation throwback double feature Grindhouse. While Planet Terror became the feature, Rodriguez filmed footage for Machete to create one of the film’s fake trailers. Planet Terror was fun, but a lot of fans like myself left the film wanting Rodriguez to expand the Machete trailer into a feature. The following year, he announced he would expand Machete into a full-length film as a special feature for the Grindhouse DVD. Thankfully, the film we got was a much larger affair, even with its modest $10 million budget.

 

The plot gets ex-Federale Machete involved in an assassination plot against racist Texas Senator John McLaughlin, played by Robert De Niro. The assassination, as it turns out, was a setup by businessman Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey) to boostMcLaughlin’s low polling numbers in the upcoming election. Booth is involved with Rogelio Torrez, a drug lord and Machete’s former partner, played by Steven Seagal in a surprisingly convincing performance. Machete’s face winds up on the news, and the rest of the film involves him being pursued by the authorities, hiding out with his brother Padre Benicio Del Toro (Cheech Marin), assisting both taco truck revolutionary Luz (Michelle Rodriguez) and ICE officer Sartana Rivera (Jessica Alba), having pool sex with Booth’s wife and daughter, and finally leading a massive Mexican shootout with Von Jackson (Don Johnson) and his mini army of Minutemen-style terrorists.

 

Machete has the grainy low-budget feel of Planet Terror and works as the only sequel to Grindhouse we’re ever likely to get. The action is appropriately over the top, including multiple head slicings and even a scene of Machete swinging between buildings from a man’s intestines. It’s gory, exploitative trash that’s a blast to watch, and that makes it all the more jarring when an actor of De Niro’s caliber pops up to murder Mexican immigrants. For me, the biggest thrill is seeing a Hollywood action film that is 100% on the side of immigrants, with bigots and border-protecting vigilantes as the unlikable villains getting chopped, shot, and humiliated one after the other. It’s a bit difficult for me to be objective about it as the son of a Mexican immigrant. I rarely get to see something like this released by major studios, so when I do, I’m more likely to give it the benefit of the doubt. Thankfully, it’s a blast and hits all of my sweet spots as someone raised on Troma and VHS big-box horror fare. 

 

Machete is a cathartic experience for any viewer of Latinx descent in light of the toxic anti-Latinx environment we’re currently living in. With a Trump presidency that emboldened bigots to wear their racism as a badge of pride, it’s hard to overstate how gratifying it is seeing a short, Mexican action star machine gun these fools into oblivion. It’s a decade old, but the fact that it’s become only more relevant in the ensuing years is a testament to how little things have changed. 

 

Posted in Features | Tagged Danny Trejo, Robert DeNiro, Robert Rodriguez, Roland Saint-Laurent, year of the month

About the Author

Sam “Burgundy Suit” Scott

Sam is a features writer for Looper and studied writing under Kevin Wilson at Sewanee: the University of the South. He’s been a staff writer for The Solute since its launch in 2014 and editor of the Year of the Month series since 2017.

I don’t know how to put this, but he’s kind of a big deal. He has many leather-bound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany.

Now on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=23744950

  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

Related Posts

Walt, barely old enough to be her fatherDisney Byways: Alice Comedies→

Year of the Month: Désirée I. Guzzetta on the Infectious Complexity of THE HOST→

Year of the VAMPIRE WARS: BATTLE FOR THE UNIVERSE Previews→

Year of the Month: Haley Ioppini on HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    30631 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    26379 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    18877 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    17626 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • Yvonne, or: CASABLANCA In One Character and Three Scenes

    9527 views / Posted August 21, 2014
  • Flaherty of the Slightly Lower North.

    The High and Low of Flaherty’s 20s: NANOOK and MOANA

    May 19, 2022 / The Ploughman
  • It's all art

    New Hollywood Got Old

    May 18, 2022 / Gillianren
  • Decade of the Month: Sunil Patel on SHERLOCK, JR.

    May 18, 2022 / Sam "Burgundy Suit" Scott
  • Film on the Internet: GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI

    May 18, 2022 / ZoeZ
  • Book and movie

    Camera Obscura: EXIT TO EDEN

    May 17, 2022 / Gillianren

Last Tweets

  • Robert Flaherty, pioneering documentary filmmaker of the 20s! NANOOK OF THE NORTH and MOANA aka NO, NOT THAT MOANA. https://t.co/u98PzwtOOQ, 19 hours ago
  • New Hollywood Got Old - https://t.co/99OgoncKek, May 18
  • Decace of the Month: Sunil Patel on SHERLOCK, JR. - https://t.co/cv96VgaANA, May 18

©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

Menu

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!