# Once Upon...Mexico (Shoot Cook) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-mexico-shoot-cook/225869 "2004-01-24T19:14:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SoulSearching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@SoulSearching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulSearching)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-mexico-shoot-cook/225869/1 "2004-01-24T19:14:16Z")
Spoiler for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie yet. Why did Johnny Depp shoot the cook early in the movie for no apparent reason? I fail to comprehend what it had to do with the plot. Also, in a real life situation, could an American agent just go over to Mexico and kill anyone he likes? It is true that American agents are “untouchable” so even the ruthless of crimes lords may not kill them (although he did get his eyes pricked out)…the whole movie was kid of confusing to me. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-mexico-shoot-cook/225869/2 "2004-01-24T19:21:19Z")
1. Because he’s an asshole. 2. No. Despite the ridiculous depiction in the movie, Mexico does not exist in a state of complete anarchy. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-mexico-shoot-cook/225869/3 "2004-01-24T20:09:41Z")
Johnny Depp’s character explains that his job is to ensure balance in Mexico, thus he killed the cook because the food was so good it disrupted the equilibrium. **Friedo’s** reasoning, that he’s an asshole, is probably dead-on. This didn’t have anything to do with plot, but it was a good illustrator of what a massive asshole he was. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-mexico-shoot-cook/225869/4 "2004-01-24T20:19:46Z")
I’m just curious as to how he doesn’t know there’s a cook out there that makes the plate equally bad. By killing the cook, it’s quite possible he just threw off the balance of the Mexican restaraunt world all over again. Not to mention, pulling a poor unsuspecting Chicklet salesboy out of work…who knows what kind of kharmic damage he caused there. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-mexico-shoot-cook/225869/5 "2004-01-24T20:30:05Z")
Well, perhaps “self-deluded asshole” is better, then. Depp thinks he’s restoring balance, when in fact he’s just looking for an excuse to be a dick. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-mexico-shoot-cook/225869/6 "2004-01-24T23:01:08Z")
Posted by: El Elvis Rojo I’m just curious as to how he doesn’t know there’s a cook out there that makes the plate equally bad. By killing the cook, it’s quite possible he just threw off the balance of the Mexican restaraunt world all over again. * * * I could only manage to watch about 20 minutes of this terrible movie (the chained-together escape out of the building had me reaching for the remote…how could they and WHY would they be chained together in their sleep??!), but I think you might have missed an important point: Johnny Depp shoots the cook because the dish was too GOOD, not bad. It reminded me of the stories about a king who will kill his chef after a perfect meal so he’d never be able to serve it to anyone else… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-mexico-shoot-cook/225869/7 "2004-01-24T23:39:07Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > how could they and WHY would they be chained together in their sleep??!), but I think you might have missed an important point: Johnny Depp shoots the cook because the dish was too GOOD, not bad. It reminded me of the stories about a king who will kill his chef after a perfect meal so he’d never be able to serve it to anyone else… Well, supposedly, they were chained together by whoever it was that wanted to kill them. Of course, if you could sneak in and chain your enemy to his wife without him noticing, why wouldn’t you just shoot him dead right there instead of leaving quietly and sending a group of men up afterwards to be killed and let them get away? Maybe they were being attacked by a Bond villain… And I did get the point about the chef. Let’s say every plate he’d had before ranked somewhere between 4-6 on a ten point scale. This particular chef made a plate worthy of a 9, so he killed him to bring balance. What I’m saying is, how does he know there isn’t a chef out there that makes a plate that’s a 1, and that by killing this good chef, he didn’t just create an imbalance. ---
**Author:** ![Tanaqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Tanaqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanaqui)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-mexico-shoot-cook/225869/8 "2004-01-25T00:04:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, supposedly, they were chained together by whoever it was that wanted to kill them. Of course, if you could sneak in and chain your enemy to his wife without him noticing, why wouldn’t you just shoot him dead right there instead of leaving quietly and sending a group of men up afterwards to be killed and let them get away? Maybe they were being attacked by a Bond villain… Um, I don’t think so. I could be crazy, but I think they were chained together because they were getting married and it was supposed to be a ritual of some sort. Wasn’t there a scene where they get married–they kiss and a preacher dude unlocks the chains? Maybe I was hallucinating. Personally, I thought that scene where they escaped down the balcony was pretty cool. And I really liked the movie in general. It was stylish and beautiful and funny. and Johnny Depp was amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-upon-mexico-shoot-cook/225869/9 "2004-01-25T16:00:02Z")
> [@](#): > > I could only manage to watch about 20 minutes of this terrible movie (the chained-together escape out of the building had me reaching for the remote…how could they and WHY would they be chained together in their sleep??!), The chain scene wasn’t real. It was a scene playing out in the Mariachi’s head. The woman and little girl was killed long before by the General. Which is made clear later in the film (and which is immediately apparent right after the “escape” when the Mariachi is still sitting on the steps). Also remember that this is _ **Once upon a time** in Mexico_. It’s not supposed to be realistic. This is revealed right away with Cheech Marin’s first conversation with Johnny Depp. I wouldn’t have seen this film, but my roommate rented it. When you understand that the story is make-believe, it’s actually not bad.