El Topo

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Alejandro Jodorowsky and Brontis Jodorowsky in El Topo (1970)

A mysterious black-clad gunfighter wanders a mystical Western landscape encountering multiple bizarre characters.A mysterious black-clad gunfighter wanders a mystical Western landscape encountering multiple bizarre characters.A mysterious black-clad gunfighter wanders a mystical Western landscape encountering multiple bizarre characters.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

32K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins & 3 nominations total

Trivia
Other noteworthy figures said to be fans of the film, besides John Lennon and Yoko Ono, include directors David Lynch and Samuel Fuller, actors Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, and performers Bob Dylan, Marilyn Manson, and Peter Gabriel. It has been claimed that this movie was the beginning of Gabriel's inspiration for the classic Genesis concept album, 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'.

Goofs
The opening scene is of a man on horseback riding through the desert, although the horse is on deep sand the sound is of a horse on hard ground.

Quotes
El Topo: Too much perfection is a mistake.

Crazy credits
The closing credits in the English-dubbed version of El Topo state that ABKCO Films copyrighted the film in 1967; however, ABKCO didn't purchase (any rights to) it until June of 1971!

Alternate versions
Many Spanish and other non-English versions are censored, missing most of the sex and violence. Japanese prints on laserdisc have one piece of minor censorship (the scene with the Franciscan monks being ridden and humiliated).

Connections
Featured in Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: Alejandro Jodorowsky (1991)

User reviews176

Review

Featured review

7/10

Not for the weak of heart

"El Topo" was one of the first midnight-movie cult hits because of its visually stunning, mentally exciting indulgence in gratuitous sex and exaggerated violence

Avenging angel El Topomeant to be wise and mysticalrides into a town whose population has just been massacred He guns down some of the cruel and perverse bandits responsible and brutally punishes their leader He leaves his seven-year-old son with some monks and goes away with the gang leader's woman, Mara

In the desert sands, El Topo and Mara make love, and she quickly falls in love with him After their frantic love-making, she tells him that he can prove that he's the 'best' by killing the Four Masters

For no apparent reason other than to please Mara, El Topo begins his mission, defeating and killing each of the Four Masters

The film has been quite controversial It lacks clarity and has painful emotions that make it quite compelling