El Topo

This was Alexandro Jodorowsky's first recognised cult movie in the early seventies. Shot in Mexico, El Topo (or the mole in English) is a gunslinger (played by Jodorowsky), who, dressed completely in black leather, rides on his horse with his seven-year-old son through the desert; until they come across a massacre of people. One of the survivors tells El Topo who the culprits are, and he then takes on the guise of God and seeks revenge. There is a lot of surrealistic imagery from then on as Jodorowsky explores violence, racism and religious themes, but it is absorbing and the ending is very obscure. An easy candidate for a cult movie.

Truly astonishing film from writer/director/composer Alejandro Jodorowsky. This is one of the most hypnotic films you'll ever see and is one that stays in the mind for days afterwards. Think Leone, Fellini and Peckinpah joining forces to make a mystical, existential and spiritual western and you're someway close to Jodorowsky's masterpiece. There are so many things to like and admire in this film from the sometimes purposely jarring editing and the beautiful music to the gorgeous vistas inhabited by a plethora of interesting and unusual characters. Track down a copy (Italy's Raro video currently has a decent dvd on release. I got mine from xploitedcinema) and you will not regret it. Be warned though - some of the images are pretty extreme, especially for 1971. A stunner and a definite must have for any serious film collector.

To say that Jodorowsky uses symbolism in this film is an understatement. There is no plot; it's all symbolism, a Biblical allegory exploring themes that only Jodorowsky and his fans can appreciate. The script, if it could be called that, is amateurish and pointless, featuring random acts of violence, which veers from silly to repellent. The self-indulgent Jodorowsky may be called a poor man's Sergio Leone, but doing so would be an insult to the Italian master. The acting is uniformly terrible, including Jodorowsky himself in the title role, a la The Man With No Name. Films like this give surrealism a bad name.

This is my first venture into Jodorowsky's territory and I can safely say that I'm highly impressed."El Topo" is one of the most bizarre and impressive movies you'll ever see.It features plenty of interesting,weird characters,lots of religious symbolism and extremely violent gun-fight scenes.One of the producers of this one is Mexican horror veteran Juan Lopez Moctezuma("Alucarda","Mary,Mary,Bloody Mary").I urge you to see this masterpiece right now.Simply breathtaking!

An almost impossible film to quantify and as crazy today as the guy who conjured it up over 50 years ago. Is it a Western or Religion or both? Whatever it is it's sure to bend your mind.

"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 Topo—meant to be wise and mystical—rides 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