The Daily Sabbatical

Last night, to celebrate the fact that my house in Garland is finally on the market (Want a house in the suburb famous for being the setting of King of the Hill? Now’s your chance! Mention this blog and get a special deal!) I had friends over to watch 1970 cult classic “El Topo.” Filmed by (and starring) Alejandro Jodorowski, El Topo is the film that gave rise to the midnight movies phenomenon, and was reportedly John Lennon’s favorite movie. El Topo is a spaghetti western gone mad. The movie starts with El Topo riding in the desert with his naked son saddled behind him and a black parasol held above. The first lines of the movie come when the man and boy dismount and the boy is told “Today you are seven years old. Now you are a man. Bury your first toy and your mother’s picture.” After submerging the picture and a teddybear, the boy follows El Topo to experience atrocities and absurdities that no man should have to experience.
Although quite disjointed, the movie contains many of the favored thematic tropes of the great Westerns, as well as more than a few from the Saturday Morning Kung Fu films. Here we have a revenge story, a la Josey Wales, a “save the village” tale, a la Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven, and an “outdraw the four masters story” a la, I don’t know, Game of Death? Oh, and lest I forget, all of this with a nice peppering of lesbian whip fights, dwarf love, and old women in bustiers. (There’s some blood too.)
Heavy with Catholic symbolism and twisted interpretations of Eastern Philosophy, El Topo is packed to the seams. The seams burst, to be sure, but that’s just part of the fun. Visually the movie is a stunner–the landscapes are outstanding and the color leaps off the screen. If you can, you should probably see this on the big screen, but unless you live in New York or LA, you probably never will so you’d better just rent it. As soon as possible. You might die tomorrow without ever seeing this bizarre film.