| El Topo |  | Studio: Red River Films
Buy New: $2.05
New (3) Used (6) Collectible (1) from $2.05
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 13696
Format: Color, Dubbed, Full Screen, Ntsc
Language: English (Unknown)
Rating: Unrated
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 124 Minutes
UPC: 768738032235
EAN: 0768738032235
ASIN: B0006HAD6I
Theatrical Release Date: 1970
Publication Date: 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New! Mint in box. Factory sealed.
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Product Description
El Topo is both violent and bizarre, a film that transends any western ever made. Our hero is the ultimate black leather clad gunfighter/mystic who cleans up an isolated town of evil outlaws. He sets out to kill the four Masters of the desert. Sfter doing so, El Topo is tormented by what he has done and in turn is killed himself. He is then resurrected and takes on a new persona, which leads him on a journey to rectify the injustices that overwhelmed his past life. Once you've seen it, You'll never forget it. This film contains Graphic Violence, Nudity and Sexual Situations. It is not recommended for children under 18 years of age.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
Unearth the mole--bring it into the light of day. June 3, 2005
Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Notorious as "the" cult movie between "Night of the Living Dead" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "El Topo" certainly deserves a new, commercial DVD edition no less than the aforementioned cult hits and the contemporaneous "Pink Flamingoes." The film is primarily Jodorowsky's private allegory, often inscrutable but nonetheless thought-provoking and conducive to productive discussion--perhaps more than any independent film prior to "Eraserhead."
There's something for everyone in this film. The alternative, cultist crowd will enjoy the striking, often daring, imagery--the nude child who accompanies the mole, the wife impaled on a lofty stake towering over a pool of blood, the lust in the dust scenes, the mutilated bodies, the homoerotic images, etc. The philosophic and theologic-minded will have a field day with the film, drawing as it does on all three of the world's major religions with a good deal of "magic realism" thrown in. (El Topo's mortification and transformation into a clown recalls both St. Paul's "you must become a fool for Christ" and the privileged and sacred role of the clown in Eastern religions; his self-immolation summons up television imagery of Buddhist monks in Viet Nam during the time of the film's production.) The archetypologists will no doubt interpret the film as a variation on the Campbell monomyth, beginning with the hero's departure and--following numerous tests, descent into the belly of the whale, and resurrection--concluding with his return home.
But for a true film buff, "El Topo" deserves to stay around because of its clear indebtedness to a film tradition of cutting-edge, innovative movies--Bunuel's surrealist "Un Chien Andalou," "Simon of the Desert," and "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie"; Godard's ellipsist editing in "Breathless" and "Contempt"; Peckinpah's over-the-top, cleansing violence in "Straw Dogs" and "The Wild Bunch."
My major problem with the film concerns the ubiquitous, practically non-stop gun play. At some moments the story makes it clear that "El Topo" cannot be a master of selfish fear until he renounces the gun, but more often than not the gun serves the cause of both justice and the assertion of personal will. When even as a clown he returns to the gun, I find it difficult to muster any sympathy for him. Perhaps the final image of his self-demise (a return to the earth echoing and building on the opening image of interment) is meant to be the story's major apocalypse, but I doubt that most of the 1970's' "midnight movie" crowd ever saw it that way.
 Classic Film October 1, 2005
J_J_Gittes (Germany)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This has over the years really become a cult object, and though it is today by many considered a classic, its notorious history still hasn't come to an end, as the availability of the film is very limited, and there seem to be various edited versions in screen time and screen size. I saw a widescreen version with washed-out colors, which was a bit cut I believe.
Nevertheless the power and vision of this film came through my 16:9 TV screen and I experienced enough of its magic to glimpse its greatness.
The film was made as an underground project in the Mexico of the late 60s, and had difficulty finding distributors, probably because Jodorowsky had already caused a scandal with his previous film "Fando y Lis" in 1967 which was (reportedly after a notorious run in Mexican cinemas, where numerous fights broke out over it) banned by the Mexican government. This film too has in time become a cult object all over the world, and is available on DVD in the US along with an audio commentary by Jodorowsky himself and a documentary on its making. Though I haven't seen it yet myself, I don't think fans of surreal films would be disappointed if they took a chance with it. Because all of this Jodorowsky had difficulties with El Topo, but after John Lennon urged a friend to buy distribution rights, it got a world wide release and was heralded all over the world for its weirdness and strange philosophical take. If one considers a statement by Jodorowsky where he said that he asks of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs, one can see why the hippie-generation all over the world got enthusiastic about it. But while for example a film like "2001 - A space Odyssey" (which also got a lot of negative press on its original release, and commercial success through stoned audiences) became later regarded as a great cinematic achievement, El Topo hasn't yet gotten the same academic "beatification", for better or for worse.
So a modern viewer commonly approaches it not expecting a demanding work of art, but more something along the lines of 70s pseudo-intellectual Eurotrash, spiced with some gore and sex scenes.
I must confess, that this was also my own approch, when I borrowed it from a local videostore, but I was soon to be disabused.
The film features Jodorowsky himself as the main character El Topo, a gunslinger in search of himself. At the beginning he has a young son with him, but he leaves him alone in a village after finding a woman who is willing to accompany him on his travels. From this point on things start to go downwards for him, as the woman stirs up his ambitions to become something. On his search for fame and money he becomes more and more unscrupulous killing and torturing people, and even aquiring a second wife. The mission he finds himself on is a mixture of a spiritual search and a killing spree, on which he has to find four master gunmen of the desert (each with a personal philosophical stance) which he wants to defeat. After completing his task (not in an honest way that is), he is left alone in the desert to die by the two women who have apparently bscome a couple.
After this many a viewer (and critic) would have liked the film to end, but Jodorowsky is more interested in his philosophical vision, and the expression of a humanist view of the world, and adds a final chapter to this film, which is imo crucial for its understanding and the overall quality of the film. In the last part (which is the strongest) El Topo awakes in a cave where he has been worshipped for many years as a saint who is going to rescue the clan of deformed outcasts living there. Felling guilty of his former sins, he starts digging a tunnel, to connect the cave with the outer world, represented by a nearby town. Here Jodorowsky gets deeply allegorical and crafts a pessimistic commentary about the state of things in present day Mexico. I'll only tell, that in the following El Topo encounters his son, and that the union of all people is a task that can't be easily completed. The ending shows a bit hope for the human race as a whole, though it is far away from happy. It personally reminded me of the end of Jean Renoirs "La grande illusion", with whom the director shares his love for the common people and his ambivalent belief in and love of mankind, though both know what horrible things it is capable of.
But above all the films quality rests in its subversive take on film and society, which has put many viewers of, and is also the most responsible factor for the films strange reputation.
Jodorowsky uses elements from all over the world, mixing western and eastern philosophies, using film styles as different as the western and the slapstick comedy (where Jodorowskys knowledge of film history gleams), and dialogues and a use of language that seem to come from everywhere. The use of camera-angles contrasts beautiful panoramas with repulsive stagings of human decadence, and from gore to sex scenes, to a lrelationship between a dwarf and a "normal" person, there seem to be few topics the film doesn't have something to say about. But this eclectisicm isn't just a show-off, but at the very center of the films whole concept.
As a whole the only satisfying comparison I found, would be to Glauber Rocha's brazilian masterpiece "Black God, white Devil" (which was - made in '64 - surely a huge influence), with added philosophical grounding.
Jodorowsky has afterwards made only a handful of films (some also classics), but with this film alone he has left an important mark in film history.
Transcendent Cinema January 31, 2005
Alistair Nexus (New York, NY)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
El Topo was a film I approached with question. This film should not exist, cannot exist, and will never exist, but it is here- waiting to be seen. This is a film about thew journey of a man, led by Mara- his bitter watered lover, into his own enlightenment. It crosses lines between all religions, the Christian and Buddhism traditions being most prominent. El Topo is a hero, unlike most others in cinema, because the world he lives in is an abstraction of our world. The parallells and lessons contained are impossible and unthinkable. Truly, this is one of the best films ever created- its simplicity baffles me because it truly changed me- and that is rare.
for film viewers, not movie-goers July 2, 2005
R. J. Kirschman (Redding, CA)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
The previous reviewer, Sam, has interpreted this film pleasingly. That review calls forth both content and mood, teasing out some detail, not being too revealing.
My recollection of the film is dim. I've seen it once, roughly 25 years ago, thinking it both literary and bizarre. For those who think 'Mystic Pizza," for example (which I enjoy), dealt with heavy themes: durable friendship, "family," class conflict--El Topo will likely present strong challenge.
Repeated viewing is called for, if you can stomach it. Not for the "Police Academy" crowd.
Enjoy, Rali
 Obviously plenty of drugs being ingested in the 70's September 21, 2005
Ras Bizarre High (I'm from Hollywood!)
3 out of 21 found this review helpful
I'm no Hollywood mainstream-type by any means. I like indie/cult films and have a pretty high threshold for inscrutability. This is perhaps the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. Pretentious, poorly-filmed and poorly-edited, incoherent and obvious in it's aspirations to art-house greatness...I really can't think of enough bad things to say about this film. I could have eaten a camera and some celluloid and crapped a better movie.
The fact that this travesty of filmmaking apparently garnered great reviews (according to the cover) in publications such as the LA Times and Newsday must be some kind of sick joke. I honestly can not imagine even the most ostentatious of film critics actually pretending to be impressed by this piece of garbage.
If I save even one person from wasting their time and money on this movie I will have done a truly great deed.
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