The Mexican is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, with a plot that is an unusual mixture of romantic comedy and road movie.

The script was originally intended to be filmed as an independent production without major motion picture stars, but Roberts and Pitt, who had for some time been looking for a project they could do together, learned about it and decided to make it. The movie was then advertised as a typical romantic comedy star vehicle, somewhat misleadingly, as the script does not focus solely on the Pitt/Roberts relationship and the two share relatively little screen time together. Ultimately, the film earned $66.8 million at the U.S. box office.^[2]

Plot [link]

The story follows Jerry Welbach (Brad Pitt) as he travels through Mexico to find an antique gun, The Mexican, and smuggle it into the United States. Five years earlier, Welbach had caused a traffic accident in which he hit the car of local mobster Arnold Margolese (Gene Hackman), who was jailed for five years after the police searched his car following the crash, finding someone tied up in his trunk. In compensation for the jail time, Welbach has been sent on various errands by Margolese's second-in-command, Bernie Nayman (Bob Balaban). This will be his final errand. Welbach has a girlfriend, Samantha (Julia Roberts), who constantly argues with him about, among other things, his lack of commitment to their relationship.

The gun has a legendary history, a curse regarding its likelihood to misfire, and its involvement in a jilted love-triangle where it was used as a suicide weapon. The gunsmith's assistant was in love with the gunsmith's daughter and was killed by an interested nobleman, prompting the suicide of their object of affection. The legend is reprised in the story.

Cast [link]

• Brad Pitt as Jerry Welbach
• Julia Roberts as Samantha Barzel
• James Gandolfini as Winston Baldry
• J. K. Simmons as Ted Slocum
• Bob Balaban as Bernie Nayman
• Sherman Augustus as Well Dressed Black Man (The real Leroy)
• Michael Ceveris as Frank
• David Krumholtz as Beck
• Gene Hackman as Arnold Margolese

Production [link]

The Mexican made use of Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosí, Mexico, as a film location, as well as various areas in Las Vegas, Nevada and Los Angeles, California.

Box office [link]

The film opened at #1 at the North American box office making $20,108,829 USD in its opening weekend, although the film had a 39% decline in earnings the following week, it was enough to keep the film at the top spot for another week.

References [link]

External links [link]

• The Mexican at the Internet Movie Database
• The Mexican at Box Office Mojo
• The Mexican at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Mexican at Metacritic