This is the cult film to top all cult films. Full of allusions to the occult, obvious religious symbolism and gratuitous obliquity, it is by turns gory, sexy, funny, pretentious and infuriating.
I can't say I followed this all the way through. I wasn't prepared to do the work required, nor was I sure that the effort would be repaid. But there's plenty enough to enjoy, and it's plainly a work of some intelligence and great personal investment.
Jodorowsky plays an elite gunfighter, dressed in black, who in the opening scene avenges a slaughter committed by a small gang. He's accompanied in this by a naked 7 year old boy, presumably his son.
He sets out on a mission, to find and kill the four best gunfighters, each of whom has their own philosophy. So far, it's a parody of spaghetti Westerns, or rather a tribute to them as many of them were parodies themselves. Jodorowsky adopts the genre to pursue a spiritual quest, which wasn't clear to me (because I didn't care enough), but it includes lions, lesbians, dwarfs enclosed in a mountain, and rabbits.
I can well see that this was popular with stoned students in the 70s, attempting to decipher the allegories, some of which are obvious - Jodorowsky as Christ is hardly subtle when he shows stigmata. I'm not concerned about seeing more of his films, although my vid store has the boxed set.
Imdb
I can't say I followed this all the way through. I wasn't prepared to do the work required, nor was I sure that the effort would be repaid. But there's plenty enough to enjoy, and it's plainly a work of some intelligence and great personal investment.
Jodorowsky plays an elite gunfighter, dressed in black, who in the opening scene avenges a slaughter committed by a small gang. He's accompanied in this by a naked 7 year old boy, presumably his son.
He sets out on a mission, to find and kill the four best gunfighters, each of whom has their own philosophy. So far, it's a parody of spaghetti Westerns, or rather a tribute to them as many of them were parodies themselves. Jodorowsky adopts the genre to pursue a spiritual quest, which wasn't clear to me (because I didn't care enough), but it includes lions, lesbians, dwarfs enclosed in a mountain, and rabbits.
I can well see that this was popular with stoned students in the 70s, attempting to decipher the allegories, some of which are obvious - Jodorowsky as Christ is hardly subtle when he shows stigmata. I'm not concerned about seeing more of his films, although my vid store has the boxed set.
Imdb
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