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Anybody here see "El Topo"?

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Anybody here see "El Topo"?

Old 07-03-16, 01:24 AM
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Anybody here see "El Topo"?

I just got back from a midnight screening. What in the fuck...was that. That movie made "Head" seem coherent.
Old 07-03-16, 01:38 AM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

I saw it once a few years ago when it hit DVD... but you ain't seen nothin' until you check out his follow-up film, The Holy Mountain.
Old 07-03-16, 02:04 AM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

Why did you go in the first place? Were you not familiar with his movies?
Old 07-03-16, 02:14 AM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

Why did I go? Because I wanted to see the fucking movie.

But no, I wasn't familiar with the director.

Last edited by bluetoast; 07-03-16 at 02:21 AM.
Old 07-03-16, 03:25 AM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

After getting pumped up by a friend about Jodorowsky I really tried my best to love El Topo and The Holy Mountain but I just couldn't connect with either film. I just didn't like either of them at all. That was about a decade ago. However last year, I saw Jodorowsky's first film in something like 20 years "The Dance of Reality" and ranked it as the 9th best film I saw that year. I loved it. So I think it may be time to revisit El Topo and Holy Mountain. Maybe my tastes have changed.
Old 07-03-16, 07:52 AM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

I remember seeing EL TOPO on a double bill with BARBARELLA at the old Elgin Theater in Manhattan back in 1973 when EL TOPO was all the rage. I didn't care for it then and I've never felt the need to revisit it. At the time, it was seen as a surrealist political allegory making use of Italian western tropes, so the intellectual fans of Italian westerns liked it and promoted it, but those of us who simply enjoyed Italian westerns for what they were and went to neighborhood theaters to see them on double and triple bills with Blaxploitation and kung fu movies weren't in the mood for allegory. We just wanted to see an avenging anti-hero pull a gun out from under his poncho and shoot multiple bad guys in one fell swoop.
Old 07-03-16, 08:44 AM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

Funny you should mention Barbarella, that's part of the midnight series as well. I've seen it before, but plan on attending that too.
Old 07-03-16, 09:11 AM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

I've only seen The Holy Mountain from Jodorowsky (8 full-length movies in 60 years!). While I got a kick out of the weirdness, I can't say as I truly enjoyed the movie.
Old 07-03-16, 09:37 AM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

I rented both The Holy Mountain and El Topo from the underground movie video shop. I like parts of each. I bought the Jodorowsky set on DVD as soon as it was released, but I never watched the DVDs a second time.

Santa Sangre is definitely worth seeing. It's just weird horror, without packing the movie with educational moments.
Old 07-03-16, 10:25 AM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

El Topo is excellent. Not as weird as The Holy Mountain, which I did not like as much. I'm also not too crazy about Fando & Lis.
Now Santa Sangre is a great fucked up film that reminds me of Fellini, Hitchcock and Argento.

Last edited by inri222; 07-03-16 at 08:43 PM.
Old 07-03-16, 11:51 AM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

El Topo is great. I like Holy Mountain, as well, and watching Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem evokes Holy Mountain a lot, especially the last part of the film.
Old 07-03-16, 01:42 PM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

Originally Posted by bluetoast
Why did I go? Because I wanted to see the fucking movie.

But no, I wasn't familiar with the director.
I guess I should've been more specific in my question. WHY did you want to see THAT particular movie. Something about the movie had to have drawn you to a midnight showing. It seemed odd that the content totally surprised you.

I blind-bought his boxset but I knew what to expect. Mostly I learned from reading about him on here. Which I appreciate having members who are exposed to the non-mainstream flicks.
Old 07-03-16, 04:13 PM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

Ah in that case, all I saw/knew beforehand was a pic of a bloody western landscape and that it was a bizarre Mexican western. So I didn't know about the allegorical stuff going in. Plus, I'm interested in the repertory programming at the theater since it's lead me to interesting movies.

Next week will be some W.C. Fields shorts presented in person by his granddaughter.

Last edited by bluetoast; 07-03-16 at 04:18 PM.
Old 07-03-16, 06:12 PM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

Yes. Yes, I have. It's magnificent, although I prefer Holy Mountain.
Old 07-03-16, 08:31 PM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

El Topo is one of the great surrealist films. Jodorowsky is not subtle, but he has such a distinct eye and such wonderful ideas that it's hard to fault his brute force approach to art.

The Holy Mountain is even less subtle. Santa Sangre is his most accessible work. I'm also a huge fan of his comic books, especially The Incal. Jodorowsky's Dune is worth seeing to get a better idea of how Jodorowsky works.
Old 07-03-16, 10:08 PM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

Originally Posted by Supermallet
El Topo is one of the great surrealist films. Jodorowsky is not subtle, but he has such a distinct eye and such wonderful ideas that it's hard to fault his brute force approach to art.

The Holy Mountain is even less subtle. Santa Sangre is his most accessible work. I'm also a huge fan of his comic books, especially The Incal. Jodorowsky's Dune is worth seeing to get a better idea of how Jodorowsky works.
I actually found Dance of Reality his most accessible.
Old 07-03-16, 10:29 PM
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Re: Anybody here see "El Topo"?

Those who like Jodorowsky need to check out the films of his good friend and writer of Fando & Lis, Fernando Arrabal.


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