El topo (1970)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Writer:

Alejandro Jodorowsky (written by)

Release Date:

15 April 1971 (Mexico)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Western

Tagline:

See the naked young Franciscans whipped with cactus. See the bandit leader disemboweled. See the priest ride into the sunset with a midget and her newborn baby. What it all means isn't exactly clear, but you won't forget it.

Plot:

The gunfighter El Topo ("The Mole") and his young son ride through a desert to a village, whose inhabitants have been massacred...

Plot Keywords:

El Topo | Desert | Monk | Tunnel | Bizarre

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Alejandro Jodorowsky	...	El Topo
Brontis Jodorowsky	...	Son of El Topo, as a boy
José Legarreta	...	Dying Man
Alfonso Arau	...	Bandit #1
José Luis Fernández	...	Bandit #2
Alf Junco	...	Bandit #3 (as Alí Junco)
Gerardo Zepeda	...	Bandit #4 (as Gerardo Cepeda)
René Barrera	...	Bandit #5
René Alís	...	Bandit #6
Federico Gonzáles	...	Bandit #7
Vicente Lara	...	Bandit #8
Pablo Leder	...	Monk #1
Giuliano Girini Sasseroli	...	Monk #2
Cristian Merkel	...	Monk #3
Aldo Grumelli	...	Monk #4

Also Known As:

The Gopher
The Mole

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Klangfilm)

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Australia:MA (2007 re-rating) | South Korea:18 | West Germany:18 | Italy:VM18 (1974) | Australia:R (DVD rating) | Netherlands:18 | UK:18 | Hong Kong:III | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Estudios América, Mexico City, México D.F., Mexico

Company:

Producciones Panicas

Trivia:

Used sets left over from Day of the Evil Gun (1968).

Quotes:

[first lines]
El Topo: [to his son] You are seven years old. You are a man. Bury your first toy and your mother's picture.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Fear of God: 25 Years of 'The Exorcist' (1998) (TV)

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 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…