El Topo (1970)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: By turns intoxicating and confounding, El Topo contains the creative multitudes that made writer-director Alejandro Jodorowsky such a singular talent.
Movie Info
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Cast
as El Topo
as Mara
as Son of El Topo
as The Colonel
as Woman in Black
as Small Woman
as First Master
as Second Master
as Priest
as Third Master
as Fourth Master
as Second Master's Mother
as Brontis as a Man
as Sheriff
as Deputy
as Priest
as Bandit No.1
as Bandit No.2
as Bandit No.3
as Bandit No.4
as Bandit No.5
as Bandit No.6
as Bandit No.7
as Bandit No.8
as Monk No.1
as Monk No.2
as Monk No.3
as Monk No.4
as Armless Man
as Legless Man
as Executioner No.1
as Executioner No.2
as Slave
as First Woman
as Second Woman
as Third Woman
as Fourth Woman
as Fifth Woman
as First Prisoner
as Second Prisoner
as Third Prisoner
as Fourth Prisoner
as Fifth Prisoner
as Sixth Prisoner
as Child
as Boxer No.1
as Boxer No.2
as Woman In Church
as Man In Church
as Shopkeeper
as Man With Carrot
as El Gordo
as Comisario
Critic Reviews for El Topo
All Critics (41) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (32) | Rotten (9) | DVD (6)
It remains an aesthetically intoxicating trip.
The film is by turns comic and profound, hysterical and pompous, fully complex enough to deserve more than a simple yea or nay.
A dreary, protracted exercise in sadomasochism.
The movie's lure is sensual and unflagging; that's what makes it, for all its arty absurdity, the last great movie of the 1960s.
This is gutbucket Luis Buñuel , surrealism on the cheap, and it hasn't dated well -- the blood is patently fake and the gunshots are dubbed.
You may find it a tiresome, macho relic -- or a ragtag circus wandering through a fantasy realm part Treasure of the Sierra Madre, part Tolkien's Middle-earth.
Audience Reviews for El Topo
Though always intriguing and making use of stunning visuals and an evocative atmosphere, this esoteric Western of religious references is still an unripe Jodorowsky, clearly lacking in narrative structure before he started developing better his ideas in later works.
Super Reviewer
Alejandro Jodorowsky crafts a stunning, visceral and action packed Western film that can actually be compared to some of the genres finest works. El Topo is a great film, a film that is unprecedented in its raw energy, and fluid direction. Cult director Judorowsky also acts, and he delivers a film that is remarkable in the way that it showcases its violence. No other Western has taken such an approach as Jodorowsky. Brilliantly shot, acted and with a great story, this is a fine picture that is almost a forgotten classic of the genre. As far as Westerns are concerns, I would call El Topo as one of the finest along with Once Upon a Time in the West, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and The Wild Bunch. The film should definitely be rediscovered by genre fans, but due to some of its striking images, this may not appeal to everyone. If you're looking for something a bit different in the genre, El Topo is that film to watch. Alejandro Jodorowsky is a terrific filmmaker, and he doesn't compromise whatsoever. His vision is striking, unrelenting, and the sheer raw power of El Topo will grab your attention from the moment in starts. The story is well crafted and it is a film that resonates well, as Jodorowsky crafts a film that is very unique in the Western genre, a film that displays certain ideas that are the director's trademark. El Topo is a pleasant film, one that ranks among the finest in the genre, and if you've enjoyed many of the Spaghetti Westerns, you'll surely enjoy this one. The film has a raw power that makes it memorable due to its visuals, and you are simply enthralled at what you are watching. If you enjoy obscured, cult cinema, then El Topo is a film very well worth your time.
Super Reviewer
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Super Reviewer
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