Michael_Elliott 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.

George Roots (GeorgeRoots) It's 4am in the morning. Thunder and rain is pouring hard and stopping me from sleeping, so I decided to flip up the laptop and finally write a review I've been meaning to write since viewing the movie a week ago."El Topo" (The Mole), Alejandro Jodorowsky's visually striking western is the kind of movie I've been waiting for in a while. Even after 44 years, this movie still has the power to shock and or charm the viewer through imagery and symbolism that is essential Jodorowsky. So much so that one should catch up with the dream landscape paintings of Salvador Dali, and crack open various tales of religion and folklore because "El Topo" has plenty. Even now it's ambiguous what could be represented without forcing an answer.Kind of split into two parts, which has been linked to the Old and New Testament. It begins with a black clad figure roaming the desert on his horse accompanied by his young (naked) son, who doesn't seem to be fazed by the brutal slaughters they encounter on their travels. After the father has claimed his victory from the perpetrator, the imprisoned lady convinces El Topo to abandon his son and set out to defeat the four great gun masters in the West, becoming the greatest gunman of the land. Each master is of different ethnicity & religion, who begin to make El Topo question his motives thoroughly. What I can only imagine is the Adam & Eve story, a female stranger comes to their oasis and joins them in their quest, leading all involved to more mirages and ecstasy of the flesh. Reaching the end of his mission, events unfold which arguably set up the redemption & rebirth of the character.Years later. Our protagonist awakens in a cave full of deformed people, who have nurtured him and worship him as a deity of sorts. Upon leaving the mountain and accompanied by a dwarf woman, he learns the town nearby is populated by a bunch of surreal, aristocratic cultists who trapped the people in the mountain, whom are lacking the physical capabilities to escape. El Topo (Adopting a Buddhist appearance, after a spiritual rebirth) and his friend begin planning to help their people by performing in the streets in exchange for petty cash, in turn to purchase dynamite. During their time families form and re-unite, beliefs are toppled and the motivations for peace are a violent, double edged sword.One could say it's indulgent for a man to direct, write, star and craft the music for his picture. However, on repeated viewings of the directors extraordinary filmography, anything else would feel unjust. "El Topo" does right by not forcing it's symbolism upon you, and it's imagery continues to hold up incredibly well throughout its two-hour running length.Final Verdict: Something raw prevails in "El Topo", that sets it apart from anything I've ever watched. Arguably it's going to be one of those films I'll highly recommend to my friends, continue to prove foreign cinema is a powerful force of imagination outside of the western world, and is right now finding a spot on my all time top 20 favourite films. 9/10. An experience vital to any film-maker.

Leofwine_draca Yeah, I didn't think much of this surrealist western, even though I was prepared to like it and WANTED to like it was I watched. By the end I couldn't help but feel it's another case of "the emperor's new clothes" in terms of style over substance, and the sum of the whole ending up much less than the individual parts.The story starts out straightforward enough, with a distinctive gunslinger discovering the aftermath of a massacre and vowing to take revenge on the outlaws responsible. Once that story is out of the way, though, it starts getting weirder and weirder, almost existentialist, as the gunslinger has encounters with a series of deity-like characters in the desert and undergoes a religiously significant transformation. By the end, I was quite frankly bored.Here's the good stuff: Jodorowsky's cinematography, which is glorious. EL TOPO is vibrant-looking and colourful throughout, and I love the use of surreal imagery which really works. There are poignant scenes and flashes of Peckinpah-style ultra-violence and the contrasting elements are mixed together well. It's just the script, really, which lets it down, becoming too abstract; I always prefer a more concrete narrative as a basis on which to pin the more fantastic elements, but EL TOPO is lacking such a construct and at times just seems to be being made up as it goes along.

matt_1910 very boring movie... not a message, not technique, nothing interesting to see. Just trying to appear a high class movie..... The film was selected as the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 44th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee..... Its official DVD release was in 2007. It copies some stuff from David Lynch, Korosawa, and the whole others but nothing new. Well, a lot of films don't have any interesting message, and you watch, just to be entertained, This movie even doesn't have that. The reason I didn't like this movie is that it tries to appear like a high class movie, which is not. It looks like a c**t in a temple, just inappropriate.