El Gringo
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''El Gringo'' (Translation: ''Bad Yankee'') is a 2012 American
action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
directed by Eduardo Rodríguez, produced by
After Dark Films After Dark Films was an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Courtney Solomon and Allan Zeman in 2006. History The company is the organizer for the annual independent horror film festival ''After Dark Horro ...
, written by
Jonathan Stokes Jonathan Stokes (c. 1755 – 30 April 1831) was an English physician and botanist, a member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, and an early adopter of the heart drug digitalis. Life and work Stokes was probably born in Chesterfield, Derb ...
, and starring
Scott Adkins Scott Edward Adkins (born 17 June 1976) is an English actor and martial artist. He gained prominence with his portrayal of the Russian prison fighter Yuri Boyka in the American martial arts film '' Undisputed II: Last Man Standing'' (2006), a ro ...
,
Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor. He made his film debut with a leading role in '' The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakout role as Jason "J.D." Dean, a sociopath ...
and Yvette Yates.


Plot

Following an ambush in which he is wounded, and his undercover
DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domes ...
partners are killed, The Man escapes into
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
with a case holding two million dollars, and arrives in the dusty town of El Fronteras. He faces danger from the local sheriff and his thugs, a local
drug cartel A drug cartel is a criminal organization composed of independent drug lords who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the illegal drug trade. Drug cartels form with the purpose of controlling the supply of the i ...
, his checkered past and his former DEA boss.


Partial cast


Production

The screenplay by Jonathan Stokes was purchased by
After Dark Films After Dark Films was an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Courtney Solomon and Allan Zeman in 2006. History The company is the organizer for the annual independent horror film festival ''After Dark Horro ...
in 2011 for
Joel Silver Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American film producer. Life and career Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School ...
to executive produce. The film was shot in Bulgaria and Louisiana at an estimated cost of 7 million.


Release

The film was released in the United States to theatres on May 11, 2012, with an
MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, the mini-major Amazon MGM Studios, as well as the video streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. F ...
"R" rating. As part of the "After Dark Action" bundle, the film showed for one week in ten cities, and was simultaneously released for
video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...
.


Reception

The film received mildly warm reviews. ''Variety'' described it as "an undeniable exercise in third-hand coolness, with nods to
spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...
s and '70s drive-in actioners, ''El Gringo'' is diverting enough", continuing, "willfully over-the-top action and character types are fun if never quite as giddily distinctive as hoped for." The ''Los Angeles Times'' summarized, "not bad exactly, but it's not especially notable either." ''IndieWire'' noted that the film's "colorful character ..don't really get much to do to emphasize their identities amidst the action", adding, "''El Gringo'' gets bogged down in overly-plotty nonsense, but the fight choreography and shootouts are fast-paced and inventive, allowing the film to come alive in spite of its time-wasting peripherals", giving the film a "B−".


References


External links

* *
Interview with Eduardo Rodriguez
at TheActionElite.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gringo 2012 action films 2012 films 2012 independent films American action films American independent films Films about Mexican drug cartels Films set in Mexico Films shot in Bulgaria Films shot in Louisiana Silver Pictures films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s Mexican films English-language independent films English-language action films Films directed by Eduardo Rodríguez Films produced by Courtney Solomon