EL TOPO
DIRECTED BY ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY
PRODUCCIONES PANICAS
DOUGLAS FILMS
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INFORMATION FROM IMDb
Plot Summary
El Topo decides to confront warrior Masters on a trans-formative desert journey he begins with his 6 year old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man. El Topo (the mole) claims to be God, while dressed as a gunfighter in black, riding a horse through a spiritual, mystical landscape strewn with old Western movie, and ancient Eastern religious symbols. Bandits slaughtered a village on his path, so El Topo avenges the massacred, then forcibly takes their leader's woman Mara as his. El Topo's surreal way is bloody, sexual and self-reflective, musing of his own demons, as he tries to vanquish those he encounters.
Written by David Stevens
Cast
Alejandro Jodorowsky ... El Topo
Brontis Jodorowsky ... Hijo
José Legarreta ... Moribundo
Alfonso Arau ... Bandido 1
José Luis Fernández ... Bandido 2
Ali Junco ... Bandido 3 (as Alí Junco)
Gerardo Zepeda ... Bandido 4 (as Gerardo Cepeda)
René Barrera ... Bandido 5
René Alís ... Bandido 6
Federico Gonzáles ... Bandido 7
Vicente Lara ... Bandido 8
Pablo Leder ... Monje 1
Giuliano Girini Sasseroli ... Monje 2
CCristian Merkel ... Monje 3
Aldo Grumelli ... Monje 4
Mara Lorenzio ... La mujer
David Silva ... Coronel
Ignacio Martínez España ... Manco
Eliseo Gardea Saucedo ... Cojo
Héctor Martínez ... Maestro 1 (as Hector Martinez 'El Borrado')
Paula Romo ... Desconocida
Bertha Lomelí ... Gitana (as Berta Lomeli)
Juan José Gurrola ... Maestro 2
Víctor Fosado ... Maestro 3
Agustín Isunza ... Maestro 4
Jacqueline Luis ... Mujercita
Carlos Lavenant ... Verdugo 1
Eliseo Pereda ... Verdugo 2
Pablo Marichal ... Esclavo
Beatriz Beltrán Lobo ... Señora 1
Carmen Lamadrid ... Señora 2
Pepita González ... Señora 3
Cecilia Leger ... Señora 4 (as Cecilia Leguer)
Elvira Agosti ... Señora 5
Antonio Álvarez ... Prisonero 1 (as Antonio Alvarez)
and many, many more...
Directed
Alejandro Jodorowsky ... (as Alexandro Jodorowsky)
Writing Credits
Alejandro Jodorowsky ... (written by) (as Alexandro Jodorowsky)
Produced
Juan López Moctezuma ... associate producer
Moshe Rosemberg ... associate producer (as Moishe Rosemberg)
Saúl Rosemberg ... associate producer
Roberto Viskin ... associate producer / executive producer
Mick Gochanour ... producer (uncredited)
Music
Alejandro Jodorowsky ... (as Alexandro Jodorowsky)
Cinematography
Rafael Corkidi ... director of photography
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'.
First released as an underground film, it was thanks to John Lennon that the film acquired a worldwide distribution. He was so impressed by this movie that he urged a close friend of his to buy the rights and take charge of distribution.
Years later, Alejandro Jodorowsky, ashamed of the part he forced his own son to play, invited him to his house. He went with his son to the backyard and asked him to dig. Inside the hole, there was an old teddy bear and an old picture of his mother, and Alexandro said: "Now you are 8 years old, and you have the right to be a kid".
Alejandro Jodorowsky said the film was not intended to be a comedy, a tragedy, a political film or a religious film. It was everything.
Since the early 90's, Jodorowsky has been attempting to make a sequel to "El Topo," originally called "The Sons Of El Topo" (Los Hijos Del Topo). Sometime between 1996-2002, this was changed to "Abelcain," due to ownership disputes with Allen Klein. Additionally, the name of the character El Topo (The Mole) was changed to 'El Toro' (The Bull). Jodorowsky stated, "I am now working on a Franco-Canadian production called Abelcain, which is a new version of the same project. The character El Topo has become El Toro. A single slash added on letter P changed a subterranean rat into a charging bull." A 2002 article in The Guardian had stated that long-time Jodorowsky fan Marilyn Manson was attached to star in the film as Cain. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the plot would follow Cain as he teams up with his long-lost brother Abel to battle an enemy adept at technological witchery, and in doing so overcome the curse that marks their destiny. In 1996, a teaser poster was released, even though no footage had actually been shot. However, due to Jodorowsky's difficulty to raise money for the project, as of 2007, the project appears to have been put on hold indefinitely.
Used sets left over from Day of the Evil Gun (1968).
The title of the movie and the main character's name are a metaphor of the underground cinema in the sixties. The mole digs holes so as to emerge from the underground to the surface. This was happening with some low-budget movies that quickly gained mainstream popularity.
After decades of speculation, a sequel to the film, titled "The Sons of El Topo", was finally released in 2016, not as a film, but as a graphic novel, published in France by Glenat BD.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list.
Entertainment Weekly ranked this Number 11 on their "Guilty Pleasures: Testosterone Edition" list in their March 30, 2007, issue.
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During the scene in which El Topo's female companion tries to drink water from a river, only to discover that it is bitter in taste, El Topo tells her that Moses found water in the desert and that the people tried drinking it but that it was bitter and so they called it "marah". In Hebrew, "marah" means "bitter". Marah is also one of the locations which the Torah identifies as having been traveled through by the Israelites during the Exodus
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Crazy Credits
Showing one item
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!
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Filming Locations
Cañón de la Huasteca, Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, Mexico
Grutas de Villa García, Nuevo León, Mexico
Bavispe, Sonora, Mexico
Samalayuca, Chihuahua, Mexico
Durango, Mexico
Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
Torreón, Coahuíla, Mexico
Mexico
Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Estudios América, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico (studio)
Huivulay, Mexico
Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico
Pedriceña, Durango, Mexico
San Luis Potosí, Mexico