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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780792167907
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC
ISBN: 0792167902
Label: Paramount
Manufacturer: Paramount
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Paramount
Region Code: 1
Release Date: June 27, 2000
Running Time: 95 minutes
Sales Rank: 66326
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical Release Date: April 23, 1999
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Eric Roberts has been toiling away on the straight-to-video shelf for far too long, as he proves so well in La Cucaracha, a sunbaked Western noir set in Santiago, Mexico. He plays a perpetually soused would-be author escaping an imagined past of murder and mayhem, writing letters in his head that he'll never send and pondering the novel he'll never write. Roused from his inebriation by an epigram-spouting American, he's haplessly enlisted to assassinate a killer for a local drug lord (Joaquim de Almeida). Damned if he does and doomed if he doesn't, he miraculously survives and crawls from a shallow grave: 'If I didn't have such a good survival instinct I would have killed myself long ago.' Crippled but spurred by his newfound raison d'être--revenge!--he celebrates his self-discovery by munching defiantly on a cockroach. But not the cockroach of the title. That honor goes to Roberts, a scurrying little survivor who scuttles along desert roads in his beat-up wheelchair.
The picture tries too hard to strike a deadpan vein of dark humor and too often lets itself get lost in unnecessary details and side alleys, but the world of adobe buildings and dusty streets is like a film noir by Sergio Leone, full of blood-red sunsets and humid nights. Roberts always strikes the right balance of determination, desperation, and futility, never really winning but, like the cockroach, managing to survive underfoot. --Sean Axmaker
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - So So Mediocre Movie
I was disappointed by the movie: The plot was lethargic and implausible and the acting by Roberts was so-so. While it is better than many other B-grade movies, it simply lacked the suspense, drama, set-of-your-pants compellingness to make it a worthwhile film. I would avoid it. A far far better film for the money is A Murder of Crows, one of the best acted and scripted films on this decade.
Rating:  - Great contemporary film noir - Roberts can still act
Those of you familiar with Eric Roberts' film work of the 1980s (Raggedy Man, Runaway Train) will not be surprised to learn that he does a superlative job in this indie film noir.
Roberts plays a down on his luck alcoholic American would-be writer, stuck in a dirt-poor Mexican town. When given the chance of making some quick money to "do a favor" for the local crime boss, his life begins a wild downwards spiral.
Despite the subject matter, this film is far from depressing - ... Read More
Rating: - Down Mexico Way
This is one of the best indie films I have seen in such a long, long time! A fresh and novel approach to film noir, rated by CREATIVE SCREEN WRITER's Magazine as the best film noir in the past few decades! The director has a special talent for taking the low-budget limits and making a BIG movie. Eric Roberts performance is par with his early performances in "Run Away Train" and "The Pope of Greenwich Village". I strongly suggest all film lovers adding this film to their library, as I have seen ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent noir, unfortunately full-screen mode
More and more, and with some obvious exceptions, it seems that a film's budget is inversely proportional to its quality. La Cucaracha is definitely not a mega-Hollywood blockbuster, but production quality does not suffer at all in this fine noir.
Eric Roberts is truly excellent as a loser turned hitman, Joaquim de Almeida is vicious as the scumbag bad guy. This gem of a movie deserves your attention! There are so many little moments during the film that we can all identify with...
Read More
Rating: - South of the Border Noir
I saw this film twice on the Festival Circuit (NYC and Austin, where it won best screenplay) and made it my mission to spread the good word. This wonderfully written and directed film boasts the most accomplished performance to date by Eric Roberts as a gringo writer who abandons his life in the states to drink himself into oblivion in a small Mexican town. Interfering with his self destruction is an offer by a mysterious stranger to kill a notoriously evil man for a large (and desperately needed) ... Read More
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