El Condor (1970)

How sad is this?

From my favorite movies..

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

El Condor is directed by John Guillermin and written by Larry Cohen and Steve Carabatsos. It stars Jim Brown, Lee Van Cleef, Patrick O'Neal, Marianna Hill and Iron Eyes Cody. Music is by Maurice Jarre and cinematography by Henri Persin. Luke (Brown), an escaped chain-gang fugitive, and Jaroo (Cleef), a gold prospector, decide to join forces in an assault on a Mexican fort that is thought to house the gold reserves of Emperor Maximilian. Backed by a band of Apache Indians, the mission is on, but the fort is heavily armed and General Chavez (O'Neal) is a shrewd and ruthless leader of the Mexican defenders. Ebert didn't like it, it's most divisive amongst genre aficionados, while the charge of it being a mindless action film carries some substance, but oh what raucous - riotous - rambunctious fun it is! It would be folly to argue about the acting being great here, it simply isn't, with both Cleef and Brown getting by on charisma, screen presence and light airy by-play. Yet Guillerman and producer Andre De Toth knew how to make an action film, and how to make the action impact with as much force as possible. The spectacle on show here is quite something, from the Technicolor photography that brings Andalusia vividly to life, to the magnificent adobe fort - and to the incredibly large cast members indulging in brutal and bloody battles, El Condor knows exactly what it needs to do to entertain the viewers. There's also the sizzle factor, brought about by some nude scenes that ensured the picture would get the highest classification upon its original release. Yet regardless of these scenes being tame by today's standards, they surely are not in the film for gratification sake anyway, there's a simmering sexuality in the movie from the off. What with its wrought machismo and breaking down of racial boundaries, it makes up for what it lacks in subtlety with high temperature atmospherics. Anyway, in spite of what you might have heard about Hill's "full monty" scene, it is beautifully erotic and it's no stretch to believe that she could, in that moment in time, stop an army in its tracks! Attagirl. Maurice Jarre has a grand old time scoring the picture, blending stirring boom time with japery laced tinkles, it's a most appropriate musical accompaniment. So with that comes the observation that El Condor is not successful in making any deep meaningful observations on either the human condition or politico posturing. What it does do is have a bloody good time, with its bloody brutal action sequences, a body count via gun-play that would fill out a war movie and the sexually charged atmosphere, El Condor is mindless but pure unadulterated entertainment. So Amen to that! 8/10

"What am I doin' here?" Those are the last dying words of someone who expected a whole bunch of gold bars in the bleak conclusion of this entertaining, if really simple-plotted (but with a funny, if tragic, considering all the lives lost because it, twist) and rather forgettable (if not for the casting of Lee Van Cleef, I imagine this film would probably remain buried even further in obscurity than it already is) spaghetti western, set in Mexico (but shot in Spain). Jim Brown—AKA the greatest running back to ever step on a football field—convinces Lee Van Cleef (filthy, poor, and desperate, with his background and strife in the old west, it wouldn't take much to talk him into going after gold), to talk an Apache leader, Iron Eyes Cody (yes, he had the iconic portrayal of a Native American who shed a tear because of pollution, the ad famous in the 70s) into getting his braves to help potentially raid a general's (Patrick O'Neal, not really convincing as a Mexican, to tell you the truth) fortress, heavily guarded by Mexican soldiers. It is believed that the general, Chavez, has millions of gold bars hidden somewhere in the fortress, spurning quite a bloody battle for them (the Apache just expect fancy horses and some rifles, as Van Cleef doesn't tell Cody of the gold bars, which leads to an unfortunate murder because if the Native Americans know of the cache, they'd slit the white/black men's throats). Marianna Hill is the gorgeous lover of Chavez, who becomes enamored with Brown, enough to assist them towards the end when they perform a nighttime raid (this help comes in the form of a striptease! It certainly gets the solders' attention, and rightfully so). The whole plot revolves around taking the Mexican fortress, and the bloodshed that occurs in order to do so. The chemistry of Van Cleef and Brown is a strength of this western which makes the final reel all the sadder. The surprise regarding the gold is quite a whopper that Brown doesn't see coming and it is exasperating because of all the death that results. The film's main appeal, besides the chemistry and action, is the strategizing between Brown and O'Neal over breaking into/defending the Mexican fortress. Poor Van Cleef goes through every kind of ordeal for Brown, sustaining his share of misery in the pursuit of a dream, which could turn out to just be fantasy. Most know Hill from Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter", and she is just as sexy here, if not more so. There's a great siege upon naked Mexican soldiers, who had descended on a little Mexican town to rape/molest the women, by Brown, Van Cleef, and company, but the main raid on the fortress at the end delivers the real goods (there's another attack, quite clever on Brown and Van Cleef's part, where they are able to get inside the fortress, detonating a water tank that floods the grounds and soldiers!). This isn't the usual Van Cleef western (anti)hero role, his character not a force of nature or a feared, crafty, wise gunslinger--he's a pitiable wreck who so badly needs a break, because life hasn't ever dealt him one good hand.

I saw this movie with my dad in 1970, something we had planned to see was sold out, and we both liked Westerns, so we picked this. Van Cleef does a good job, but Brown is his normal stiff as a board self. I found he was the same in real life when I met him in 1980. He knew someone I worked with from his football days and I guess he brought him to work to prove he really did know him. Patrick O'Neal as a Mexican is hilarious!The highlight is the Marianna Hill nude scene, but there are a lot of explosions and action to pass the time quickly enough. There are a lot of worse ways to spend an evening.

I enjoyed this film which I saw on television, but I did see it originally at the cinema long before IMDB or its directors were in existence.Vintage Lee Van Cleef and Jim Browm acted out their parts well. I always like these type of Westerns, they never date, but then I grew up on them. The stories always have the same theme but, coupled to the acting and stunning western scenery, they always capture me. Having been fortunate enough to visit the scenery in the US in Arizona, New Mexico and California, the films give me added pleasure. Hope they go on remaking them so as to benefit from the new technology