Once Upon a Time in Mexico
A grieving ex‑musician turned assassin teams with a retired FBI agent and a covert operative to stop a ruthless Mexican general and his cartel backer from assassinating the president and toppling the government.
“The time has come.”
Synopsis
A corrupt CIA agent named Sands hires the hitman El Mariachi to assassinate a Mexican general who has been employed by a drug kingpin attempting a coup d'état against the President of Mexico.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 43+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Robert Rodriguez
Box Office
2003 · Box office
✅ Made its money back — grossed 3.4× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$98.8M
US & Canada: $56.4M — 57% of worldwide · International: $42.4M (43%)
Opening weekend: $23.4M — 42% of its US run. Front-loaded — most of its money arrived opening weekend.
Opening week (7-day): $29.9M — 53% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 3,282 theaters
Full synopsis
Also known as
- Irgendwann in Mexicode
- Irgendwann in Mexikode
- Il était une fois au Mexique... Desperado 2fr
- C'era una volta in Messicoit
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Cast & Crew
43 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Antonio Banderas
as El Mariachi
Salma Hayek
as Carolina
Johnny Depp
as CIA Agent Jeffrey Sands
Cheech Marin
as Belini
Willem Dafoe
as Barillo
Salma Hayek Pinault
as Carolina
Mickey Rourke
as Billy
Eva Mendes
as Ajedrez
Danny Trejo
as Cucuy
Enrique Iglesias
as Lorenzo
Marco Leonardi
as Fideo
Ruben Blades
as Jorge, Retired FBI Agent
Supporting cast
27Troy Robinson
as Romero
Gerardo Vigil
as General Marquez
Pedro Armendariz Jr
as President of Mexico
Julio Oscar Mechoso
as Nicholas, Presidential Advisor
Tito Larriva
as Cab Driver
Miguel Couturier
as Dr. Guevera
Tony Valdes
as Chicle Boy
Jose Luis Avendano
as Alvaro
Rodolfo De Alexandre
as Omar
Natalia Torres
as El Mariachi's Daughter
Steve Constancio
as Right Hand
Ermahn Ospina
as Qui-Que
Luz Maria Rojas
as Pistolera
Mario Simon
as Cook
Bernard Hacker
as Blascoe
Cecilia Tijerina
as Waitress
Carola Vazquez
as Hospital Administrator
Rene Gatica
as Chief Federale
Silvia Santoyo
as Bachelorette
Juan Pablo Llaguno
as Bull Fighter
Ignacio Torre
as Teacher
Rojo Grau
as Manny
Jorge Becerril
as Taco
Victor Carpinteiro
as Left Nut
Dagoberto Gama
as Que Pasa
Thomas Rosales Jr
as Bartender with Gun (uncredited)
Khristian Lupo
as Soldier (uncredited)
Directors
1Writers
1Producers
3Other crew
3Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
Official ratings
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for Once Upon a Time in Mexico yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for Once Upon a Time in Mexico yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on Once Upon a Time in Mexico?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for Once Upon a Time in Mexico yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on Once Upon a Time in MexicoNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…