By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Action-thriller "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" came out with guns blazing at the North American box office this weekend, opening at No. 1 and leading the movie business from a late-summer slump into its pre-Oscar fall season.

Starring Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp and Salma Hayek, the third film in a series from director Robert Rodriguez about a gun-slinging mariachi singer grossed an estimated $24 million in its first three days, according to distributor Sony Pictures Entertainment.

That was more than triple the meager $6.7 million opening of the top-grossing film from a week ago, the David Spade comedy "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star," which dropped to No. 4 in its second weekend.

The debut tally for "Once Upon a Time" marked Sony's seventh No. 1 release at the box office this year and fell just shy of the $25.4 million generated by "Desperado," the second film in the "El Mariachi" trilogy, during its entire run.

"Twenty-four million is really a terrific number for us," said Sony Pictures distribution president Rory Bruer, adding that the high-octane action and handsome players made for a winning combination. "I think it's just very hot and sexy with a really hot ensemble cast."

"Once Upon a Time" was followed in the box office pecking order by the weekend's two other wide releases -- the con-artist caper "Matchstick Men," starring Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell, at No. 2, and the gory, flesh-eating creepfest "Cabin Fever" at No. 3.

"Matchstick Men," a Warner Bros. Pictures release, grossed nearly $13.3 million in the Friday-through-Sunday period, while "Cabin Fever," from independent distributor Lions Gate Films, generated nearly $8.5 million in ticket sales.

"Dickie Roberts" from Paramount Pictures followed in fourth place with $5 million, and another Depp movie, Walt Disney Pictures' swashbuckling "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" slipped to No. 5 with $4.6 million.

Overall, sales for the top 12 films at the North American box office totaled $73.5 million, up slightly from the same weekend last year and more than $20 million above last week's post-U.S. Labor Day end-of-summer low point, according to box office tracking service Exhibitor Relations Co. .

The weekend following Labor Day is traditionally one of the slowest of the year, marking a low ebb between the flood of big-event summer fare and a fall slate of prestige films the studios hope will attract some Academy Award attention.

Business should continue to perk along next weekend with the release of Woody Allen's latest film, "Anything Else," as well as the Mike Figgis thriller "Cold Creek Manor," starring Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone," the family drama "Secondhand Lions," starring Michael Caine, Robert Duvall and Haley Joel Osment, and the supernatural "Romeo and "Juliet" tale "Underworld," starring Kate Beckinsale.

Rounding out the top 10 at the box office this weekend were "Freaky Friday," "Jeepers Creepers 2," "Open Range," "S.W.A.T" and "Seabiscuit."

Sony Pictures is a division of Sony Corp (news - web sites) (6758.T) (NYSE:SNE - news). Warner Bros. is a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc (NYSE:AOL - news). Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIAb - news) Disney Pictures is a unit of the Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS - news).

1. Once Upon a Time in Mexico .......... $23,424,118

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $23,424,118

2. Matchstick Men .......... $13,087,307

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $13,087,307

3. Cabin Fever .......... $8,633,585

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $8,633,585

4. Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star .......... $5,042,028

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $12,871,357

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl .......... $4,506,400

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $287,884,372

6. Freaky Friday .......... $4,061,689

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $101,971,030

7. Jeepers Creepers 2 .......... $3,019,860

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $31,865,481

8. Seabiscuit .......... $2,754,615

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $113,606,750

9. S.W.A.T. .......... $2,708,563

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $112,791,312

10. Open Range .......... $2,706,853

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $53,482,017

John L.: The box office has rebounded a bit from last week's underperforming films. Robert Rodriguez completes his second trilogy in one year with part three of his Mariachi saga, Once Upon a Time in Mexico. I believe that OUATIM has outgrossed "El Mariachi" and "Desperado's" combined box office gross in just three days. You can thank home video, cable, and drunken skeletal sailors for this. Nicholas Cage continues to try to find a hit movie by hooking up with famed director Ridley Scott in Matchstick Men. It had a modest opening, but its lack of engaging premise did not have people rushing to the theaters to see it. And quiet as its kept, Sam Rockwell is a bit of box office poison, just ask George Clooney. Speaking of poison, Cabin Fever, the toast of Toronto was released and gets the award for the strangest movie of the year. Lots of stuff to cover this week.

It helps to have a good back story to talk about when people interview you about your first film. Robert Rodriguez, one of a handful of Hispanic filmmakers running around has one. He had an idea for a movie about a fourth generation mariachi guitar player looking for work in a small Mexican town who gets mistaken for the arch enemy of the local drug lord who just so happens to carry around a guitar case filled with guns and knives. It costs a lot to make movies, and Senor Rodriguez did not have a lot of money, so he sold his body to science and was able to accumulate around $7000 to produce, write, edit, and direct his first full length feature, El Mariachi. As long as Rodriguez does not have to pay his actors, he is usually good to go. He just borrows all of his props and set locations leaving the majority of his costs going to film prints and squib balloons filled with red food coloring. His quick cut editing also helps since he couldn't afford to get movie guns that could repeat fire blanks, and had to use sound effects and jump cuts to simulate weapon mayhem. Being constrained by budget concerns helps keep the movie focused on usually ignored topics like plot and character development. El Mariachi looks like a cheaply done film, but it has a nice energy that gets the viewer involved and caring about what happens to the people. The mariachi of the title played by Carlos Gallardo, knows only about playing his guitar. He is willing to play at any bar or hotel and work for tips and a small salary. He gets rejected because all a guy needs now is an electronic keyboard, and he has a whole band that does not need to get paid. While he searches for work, Azul (Reinol Martinez) is looking for Moco (Peter Marquardt), deadly local drug dealer. In fact both guys are deadly and the wrong dudes to eff with. At first glance, Azul looks nothing like the mariachi except for 2 aspects. They both wear black, and they both carry around a black guitar case. The Mariachi's has a guitar inside, while Azul has much more deadly items. Due to misunderstandings that would make the cast of Three's Company go "come on" Moco's henchmen who are trying to catch Azul think the Mariachi is the guy. So, the mild mannered musician is thrust into a world he never knew as he has to quickly become adept at using guns to protect himself from assassins. And a movie would not be a movie without a girl getting mixed up in all of this, and that girl is Domino (Consuelo Gomez). Domino takes pity on the Mariachi, not realizing how deep she will get involved in the whole mess. This movie is in Spanish, but it almost plays like a silent movie which makes sense because it was initially filmed as such and re dubbed in post production. The Mariachi and Azul have pretty good story arcs as they are very different people by the end of the film when everything catches up to them. The plot is simplistic, but is complicated by the misommunciation that propels the story. You stay tuned to see what will happen next. This movie is part one, and the events at the end drive the motivations of the character throughout the next two films. El Mariachi is a fun movie that was a great start for Rodriguez. I have seen most of his films, and this is still the best one he has done, especially when compared to what is to follow. Final Review: 3 1/2 stars out of 5; 7 out of 10; B+; thumbs up.

El Mariachi was never a major success in the United States, making just over $2 million at the box office. Limited release will do that. However, the movie was well received by those who saw it and its profit margin was extremely high so 3 years later, in 1995, Robert Rodriguez was allowed to make Mariachi 2, Desperado with a much higher budget of $7 million, still miniscule by any regular movie standard. This movie continues the travails of the traveling mariachi, only known as El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), or El. Banderas looks nothing like the previous actor to play the role, but hey this movie sort of plays a little fast and loose with what happened in the first film. The Mariachi is now a vigilante hunting down drug lords simliar to the ones who made his life miserable in the first movie. His physical wounds have healed mostly, but his mental and emotional ones still torture him. After years of terrorizing the cartels of the area, he is down to one more kingpin, Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida), and then maybe his soul will be clear. What occurs is a homage to Hong Kong Action movies better known as John Woo Cinema. Lots of bloody two fisted gun battles with people getting shot point blank in the face a lot. The film takes place in modern day Mexico but since Mexico tends to keep its old school architecture around longer than we do in the Gringo States of America, it looks like those 1960s spaghetti westerns that occur in the 1870s or 1880s. The look of the film is great and Mexico is a great looking country. However, unlike the first film, I did not really care as much about the people. You get some recreated flashback moments that puts Banderas in the middle of events that happened in the first film that were done originally by Carlos Gallardo. This helps to link the movies together, but unless you saw the original, it may not make that much sense. There was very little effort to connect the two and it makes Desperado seem more like a remake than a sequel. It reminded me of the Evil Dead movies where Evil Dead 2 was more of a remake of the first film that turned into a sequel. This is more of a straight action film and it has some spectacular moments. Even Gallardo gets to return as another character who has a rocket shooting guitar case of his own to blas bad guys with. Salma Hayek shows up as Carolina, the new Mariachi love interest. After being in a lot of bad American movies, she gets to be more natural here in her native Mexican land and her accent is not as annoying when it is mixed in with everyone else who sounds similar. She is nice to look at, and she and Banderas have good chemistry together. Desperado is okay as a basic action movie, but there is nothing deep going on here. I believe if the budget was cut by at least a third, more emphasis could have been done on the story and not so much on how to kick a guy 20 feet in the air and through a wall. Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 out of 10; B-; thumbs up.

It has now come down to this, the final part in the Mariachi Trilogy. The Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) has done his duty and it is time to settle down and raise a family with his love, Carolina (Salma Hayek). They still have their own adventures where a cap must be broke off in some amigo's ass, but for the most part everything is hunky dory. That is until General Marquez (Gerardo Vigil) becomes too much for them to handle. Their encounter with the madman changes everything for the Mariachi and Carolina and it takes the mysterious offer from CIA agent Sands (Johnny Depp) to give the Mariachi some purpose again. There is another drug lord running around Mexico, Barillo (Wilhem Dafoe) who wants to take out El Presidente (Pedro Armendariz) and I guess control the region with back up from General Marquez to ensure the chaotic peace. The plot is very confusing as several characters become entwined in this caper and no one seems to know what side of the good and evil fence they should be on. The most ambiguous is Sands who even though he works for the United States, is pretty soulless will kill anyone who he feels is not worthy to live whether they are shooting at him or don't fix his meal in just the right way. He is more villain than hero, but since Sands is played by Johnny Depp, the viewer becomes forced to like him even though we shouldn't. Depp has a medium sized role that takes over the film in its last 20 minutes. Banderas is almost forgotten as we see Sands deal with the consequences of making too many enemies. Of the three movies, this one has the poorest story as it is just thrown together with no real direction. There is no development of the Mariachi character as he is still the same as he was in Desperado. The movie doesn't stand alone as an independent story and even knowing the history, it is still unclear since events are never really mentioned or just changed in OUATIM. When making a trilogy like this, there has to be consistent links to core events, and each film must build on the other one. When watched together, they should all feel like one film. Instead they all seem like remakes of the same idea. The action is pretty good, but mindless and too much of a stylistic ripoff of better movies made in Hong Kong in the 1980s. I suggest that these hip directors stop making these saga movies. Think of each film as standing on its own and not as some 3 part mega story. Trilogies rarely please the fans of the original concept whether it's the Godfather or Star Wars, they never fully work. Once Upon a Time seems to have been made just to make a third movie with no effort to do something different. Just watch Desperado twice in a row and you get the same feel. With any luck this will be the last time an audience will have to suffer through these characters who change in every film even when they get killed. I would not be surprised though if the Sands character gets his own movie prequel which deals with events leading up to how he ended up in the situations in this film. A sequel to this may have some difficulty as Sands is not in the best condition when the credits roll. If you have seen the first two Mariachi flicks, this one is not necessary as it doesn't expand on anything except for a couple of important developments in the Mariachi and Carolina relationship. Style is cool, but the lack of substance hurts. Depp is good, but should not have been given so much screen time since the movie is not really supposed to be about him. Banderas doesn't even look like he is having a good time as he shoots through the motions. Robert Rodriguez has shot his wad on his two franchises and has to start over. Is From Dusk Till Dawn 4 in the future? Doubtful. Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 5 1/2 out of 10; C+; thumbs down.

Rest of the top 10 in 10 will return in a next week. Until then, bye for now.

JOHN RITTER

SEPTEMBER 17, 1948 - SEPTEMBER 11, 2003