5 Movies with a little El Paso in ’em!

El Paso, Texas is a beautiful place filled with culture spilling in from Juarez, Mexico. In a border town, it's hard not to feel the culture of two places coming together and meshing in such a unique way. With our position in this big country, it's kind of surprising Hollywood hasn't made more movies about this bustling city! I mean hell, we have a massive light up star on the side of a mountain. I don't care what anyone says, that's cinema right there. 

Now, even though El Paso is hardly the focus of a lot of big budget Hollywood films, sometimes we get a shoutout or a couple cool scenes in an interesting flick. So here are 5 of the biggest movies to show off our dearest city, for better or for worse.

• From Dusk Till Dawn - dir. Robert Rodriguez (1996)

From Dusk Till Dawn is a cult classic directed by Robert Rodriguez, one of iconic director Quentin Tarantino's best friends and frequent film partners. From Dusk Till Dawn is about a criminal duo, The Gecko Brothers (played by a young George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino himself), who are on the run after robbing a bank and committing a series of murders that force them to leave the country. Although the main part of this movie takes place across the border at a biker bar in Mexico, the movie starts off in our humble little town of El Paso. The brothers rob an El Paso bank before making their way to their safe haven in Mexico. If you've never seen the film, I definitely recommend checking it out blind. If ya know what happens in Mexico, you better not spoil it for any first time watchers!!

• Kill Bill Vol. 2 - dir. Quentin Tarantino (2004)

The ‘Kill Bill’ series is a pretty wild ride. The movie itself is about a killer for hire seeking revenge on a group of her coworkers and her boss/boyfriend. Long story short, she did a no call no show and everyone was real upset about it. While she was gone, she got knocked up by a different guy and her boss/boyfriend was not exactly thrilled. The movie itself takes place in a bunch of different places all over the world but the one portion of the movie that takes place in El Paso is brought up many times throughout the movie. Its so important, it even gets its own chapter at the beginning of the second film. The crew of hitmen find our main character and take her out in an old church in El Paso called The Two Pines Chapel. The place itself doesn't exist as all of the church scenes were shot in California, but its still cool to see the director giving a little nod to the West Texas Town of El Paso. As Marty Robbins would say. 

• Sicario - dir. Denis Villeneuve (2015)

Sicario is a tense film about a U.S. Government task force hunting down a cartel leader who is hiding out in the states. Its a very well done film from Dune and Dune 2 director, Denis Villeneuve, that gets INTENSE. Especially the scene that fans of this movie are sure to remember most, The Border Crossing Scene. El Paso comes front and center in the film during this scene when the task force is making their way across the border to Juarez and wind up in a wild southwest shoot-out. The movie even features shots of the city that plenty of El Paso and Juarez natives alike would definitely recognize. 

• No Country for Old Men - dir. The Coen Brothers (2007)

This movie is one of my favorites on this list! Not only am I a movie nerd, but I'm a book nerd too and this Texas based story was pretty damn exciting with some really well written characters. It is one of those rare stories that loses very little from book to movie and of course, it has a little El Paso in it. It takes place at the turn of 80s in West Texas and follows 3 characters who are all connected without realizing it. One character stumbles across a cartel drug deal gone bad and takes a case of money left at the scene, another is a hitman hired to find the money, and the 3rd character is the sheriff investigating the whole thing. Without spoiling the flick for ya, a major moment at the end of the film happens in our fair city, El Paso. 

• LOGAN - dir. James Mangold (2017)

For all of us superhero fans out there, Logan is a heartbreaking film but such a great way to honor one of our favorite movie badasses and all the cool things we got to experience with this character for so many years. Hugh Jackman plays the X-Men known as Wolverine and the movie itself is dramatic and intense and even a bit of a tearjerker at times! The movie starts off in El Paso, when we meet our main character who is working as a limousine driver here in our Sun City but lives across the border in Juarez taking care of Professor X. It isn't much but it definitely gives a good nod to our little slice of West Texas. 

There are some really great older films that take place in El Paso as well, classics like Clint Eastwood's “For A Few Dollars More” or Bruce Willis’ “Last Man Standing” but there haven't been as many modern, big budget movies that mention El Paso, Texas like it deserves. As the film scene grows in EP, maybe we will see that change and someday soon the star on the mountain will be just as iconic to movies as the Hollywood sign. 

Here is one last movie we just had to mention when we’re talking about El Paso.

HONORABLE MENTION

Selena - dir. Gregory Nava (1997)

Now this one is a bit tricky, there weren't any scenes in the movie that took place in El Paso even though Selena did a few concerts here, but it has to get a mention because one of the most iconic lines in the movie was spoken by an El Paso native. I'm sure you all remember that famous line “Anything for Salinas!” spoken by ‘First Cholo’ actor Erick Carillos. Well, as it turns out, Erick is from El Paso!! He was a theater kid from Bowie High School who managed to get a role in the movie and delivered one of the most memorable lines from the whole production. 

Side Note: I also included this movie because my dad was actually at the famous concert in Houston when fans almost knocked the stage over. He brags about it EVERY time the scene comes on. And he's from El Paso. So that counts.