El Topo (1970)

Simply A Masterpiece

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I wasn't immediately convinced with this film, El Topo. The initial scenarios seemed too strange in an ugly sort of way... to put it simply. However it gradually became clear that this was the intended style of the beginning of the film and I decided to see the film for what it is, instead of what it wasn't. Then it continued to change. I was engaged by the Western element of the film. Jodorowsky himself played quite a stylish lead actor, and while the film was weird, it began to get weirder... in a good way. It had a unique taste. This wasn't your average Spaghetti Western wannabe. This was a truly unique film. Some of the images and montages that transpired were awe-inspiring and it started to become clearer that this was a real art work and not just an ordinary film. As the film went on it reached a metaphysical level, really mythical too. As with films like Embrace of the Serpent from South America, you feel that Jodorowsky is both critical of the bizarre Christian symbolism he mixes with the native peoples of those parts. He creates a unique fusion that I must admit, I don't know very much of how this all fits into the history and culture in Chile or South America... nevertheless I found El Topo to be quite a fascinating piece!

El Topo (1970) *** (out of 4) Often considered the king of the midnight movies, Alejandro Jodorowsky's EL TOPO is part Spaghetii Western and part avant garde madness. El Topo (Jodorowsky) is a mysterious gunfighter dressed in black who shows up out of nowhere and must go up against four other gunfighters.EL TOPO is a rather miraculous movie in the fact that it became a huge box office success across the world. I say it's a wonder this happened because there really aren't any other movies quite like this one and there's no question that Jodorowsky has a certain flair for cinema and there's also no doubt that his vision is something no one could try to recreate. Part Bunuel, part madness, EL TOPO is an ultra-violent film that manages to be about whatever is going on in the viewer's mind.I'm not going to sit here and call this film a masterpiece like so many have. Yes, I'm sure many potheads and acid trippers saw this in the theater back in the day and was blown away by it. You also have the likes of John Lennon and Roger Ebert who called this a masterpiece so there's no question that a wide range of people love this movie. While I didn't love it I can at least respect what the director was going for, which was pure madness.I think the best thing that can be said about the film is that it has a unique look that isn't like any other movie ever made. The film benefits from the non-stop violence that runs throughout the picture and each death is usually done with a ton of gore coming out of the bullet wounds. People call George Romero or Lucio Fulci the Godfather of Gore but it could be said that the realistic violence and over-the-top gore started right here.As for the story, there really isn't one. The viewer could draw countless conclusions as to what the film is about and not one explanation would be better or worse than another. Personally I thought the film ran on way too long and at times I found it to be quite boring. Still, the originality factor alone makes EL TOPO something everyone should see at least once.

Saw this when it came out many years ago, and was appalled to find that so many of my friends considered this mess to be a 'good' movie. It is, in fact, a pastiche of art film clichés with a load of whipped cream, jimmies and a cherry-on-top existentialism for idiots. I commented at the time on how the visuals were perceived within the framework of drug culture stating that while stoned on pot and well under the influence, 'El Topo' becomes a violent, would-be erotic freak show, and that, I suppose can be very heavy for some viewers. For others, it is enough to make one yawn. So, take your drugs, let your jaw drop, and try to enjoy this watered down knock off of many better films. It certainly didn't work for me.Yes, it has some unusual imagery, designed to fascinate the clueless and titillate the TV hypnotized hordes, but in total, it is no more meaningful than an 'in depth' article in USA Today. A poor sensationalist film by a minor director whose subsequent career foundered badly.

There's a fine line between surrealistic entertainment & absolute repulsion in Alejandro Jodorowsky's classic. It's a line that is very blurry. Jodorowsky wrote, directed and stars as a gunslinger who takes on the four best sharpshooters around. He succeeds...or does he? The film is not a western in any traditional sense, but is instead an outrageous head trip full of A LOT of blood, a lot of bible inspired mysticism and a fair amount of gratuitous nudity. Jodorowsky, looking very Christ-like, has barely any dialog (and neither does anyone else), but somehow this nightmare of a film moves along quickly. The production values are outstanding. It's stunningly photographed with great editing. The film is populated with perhaps one freak too many -- one's eyes get exhausted at some of the sights. You will, however, never see anything like this.