''El Gringo'' (Bad Yankee) is a 2012 American

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by Eduardo Rodríguez, produced by

After Dark Films After Dark Films is an American independent film Production company, production and Film distribution, distribution company founded by Courtney Solomon and Allan Zeman in 2006. History The company is the organizer for the annual independent ho ...

, 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, Derbyshir ...

, and starring

Scott Adkins Scott Edward Adkins (born 17 June 1976) is a British actor, film producer, screenwriter, gymnast, and martial artist. He is best known for his role as the Russian prison fighter Yuri Boyka in the ''Undisputed franchise''. He has played Yuri Boy ...

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...

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 drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic enf ...

partners are killed, The Man escapes into

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

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 any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the ...

, his checkered past and his former DEA boss.

Partial cast

Production

The screenplay by Jonathan Stokes was purchased by

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 i ...

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, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...

"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 without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

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 film-making 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