Crooked Table Podcast: ‘Machete’ and ‘Machete Kills’ (featuring Sandro Falce)

After decades in the industry, Danny Trejo finally landed his first leading role in 2010. Directed by longtime Trejo collaborator Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis, the wild action movie served as the culmination of Trejo’s career up to that point. And they called it Machete.

Based on a fake trailer Rodriguez directed for Grindhouse — his 2007 double feature with Quentin Tarantino — Machete leans into exploitation and politically incorrectness with reckless abandon. And the film’s effort in capturing the grimy tone of 1970s B-movies is a hell of a good time.

Sandro Falce returns to the show to talk about not only Machete and the whole Grindhouse phenomenon. We’ll also cover Rodriguez’s even more insane 2013 sequel, Machete Kills. Plus, we throw some wishful energy into the ongoing prospect of the third film, Machete Kills Again… in Space!

So join us as we take a stab at talking all about Trejo’s blade-wielding badass.

SYNOPSIS

Machete: After nearly being killed during a violent fight with a powerful drug lord (Steven Seagal), a former Mexican Federale known as Machete (Danny Trejo) roams Texas streets as a vigilante and sometime day-laborer. Hired to perform a covert hit, he is double-crossed and forced to go on the run. Machete may be down but not out, and he carves a path of blood, bullets, and broken hearts in his quest to settle the score.

Machete Kills: When the U.S. president (Carlos Estevez) has a mission that would be impossible for just any mortal man, the person he needs is Machete (Danny Trejo), a knife-wielding ex-Federale agent. His mission is to take down Voz (Mel Gibson), a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has come up with a plot to start a nuclear war. Facing death at every turn from assassins, Machete pulls out all of his skills to get the job done.