Nina E
I personally don't care for westerns so I never thought I'd ever give one a five star. But, the fact that John Lennon loved this movie so much and since I don't really associate John Lennon with westerns, I felt this particular western could be different. It is in Spanish. I've heard there's an English dub but I couldn't find it. Luckily I know some Spanish. ;)
Ok, imagine reading the Holy Bible while tripping on acid. The movie borrows from the Old Testament, first half and the second half, the NT. This is like the movie Eli where a lonely wanderer is traveling in a post- God apocalypse. If the world really did end in 1844 it'd be this movie. We are wandering through what looks like the post war ruins of Mexico, concrete and brick buildings are broken and there's a staircase that looks like it once lead to an upper floor but now it is a dilapidated stand alone structure that serves as a crude watch tower. The protagonist is traveling with a nude boy, but not for long, he gives him away to some priests. Anyways, the movie is loaded with religious symbolism, machismo, gun violence, sexual violence, animal cruelty, ableism, it has everything in it that'd make even Clint Eastwood blush. It is not for the faint hearted. There's at least something in it that will be offensive to everyone. But, if you can handle the Bible then you can handle this movie. In the Jodorowski style this movie is complicated and non-linear. It is an experience not a narrative. It is chaotic in a Quixotic sense. Like I said, this movie is more John Lennon than John Wayne. And the movie finishes off with what appears to be a gunslinging angel killing off every "upstanding" person in a typical American western town because they are rotten people. Haha 🤣
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/26/23
Full Review
Josh G
Strange odd and memorizing this is a acid western quick unique editing, heavy religious symbolism and wild and almost outlandish performance that are on the verge of laughs.
El topo must fight three spiritual truths and then face his destiny and help a group of people find their death after tunneling out to find freedom is futile. Our lead is almost christ like with buddhist and eastern religions lessons learned through the desert dead rabbits as a burial and nothing to take nothing to gain philosophy. The Second half delves into a sort of leper colony and resurrection superhero elements as they fight the oppression of a town and learn they must sacrifice themselves for a sense of freedom.
Brilliant shot and rich in imagery to Islam and Christianity it brings a new levels to film making I've never seen before. What a trip my main thought was wtf. It's something and I think I enjoyed it.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
12/20/22
Full Review
delysid d
this movie is so hard to watch, i enjoy it but it has so many weird and complex images coming at you that you have to turn away. it's the epitome of the psychedelic experience and that's why this guys films were so unique.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/06/22
Full Review
Fra B
Even if one doesn't understand what's going at all (me, for instance) he can still enjoy the brilliance and the versatility with which this force of nature (Jodorowsky) acts.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
12/11/21
Full Review
david l
Alejandro Jodorowsky's El Topo is a technically stupendous movie that features an outstanding score, impressive editing and strong cinematography. However, that is where all of my praise would end for this plotless, directionless, one-note movie that was only made to shock viewers with its endless barrage of rape, violence and blasphemous imagery.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
William L
As a kid, I was a big fan of the original American run of ABC's 'Whose Line is it, Anyway?', an improv show featuring a consistent cast being fed prompts to expand on. Drew Carey was the host, pretty good times. Anyway, snippets of it pop into my head now and again, one of which just stuck around when watching El Topo - longtime comic Ryan Stiles holding up a random prop that he was supposed to make a scene out of, and just going, "Weird fucking looking thing, isn't it?"
Fans of classic Westerns are a pretty distinct bunch, a lot of Baby Boomer kids that grew up with Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and singing cowboys, shooting their cap pistols around a 1950's suburban neighborhood. They often like good guys to be good, bad buys to be bad, and the day to be won without much in the way of complexity; once those pesky Revisionist directors started mucking around in their genre, it all went downhill. Fans of traditional Westerns are probably not going to be particularly enthusiastic about El Topo, or most of the Acid Western subgenre. It's totally different than what people were expecting based on products from years earlier, very strange and distinctive. It combines elements of the mythic and surreal in the almost supernatural journey of enlightenment of a leather-clad gunslinger, from relatively conventional badass to nearly messianic figure to a cave of incapacitated recluses. There are elements of sexuality, sadism, different facets of counterculture that were all being confronted in the period (so much diverse content really, that at times it seems like Jodorowsky is going down a checklist instead of planning ahead around a cohesive theme), but you can't argue that the film isn't memorable.
I'll totally admit that I definitely prefer a more conventional narrative structure, but when you're operating in contrast to the most traditional and bankable genre in American film history (midcentury American Westerns), then the excess does have something of a motivation. The sets as well are pretty commendable, not only diverse but making use of relatively little (the four gun masters feel distinct and engaging without dramatic setpieces, with the last essentially wielding only a butterfly net) or surprising size as needed. Unusual, but hardly boring. Not one for John Wayne fans. (3.5/5)
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
09/03/21
Full Review
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