Sightlines · reception
How El Topo was received
1970 · Alejandro Jodorowsky · El Topo on Sightlines
The arc
It exploded as an underground word-of-mouth sensation at midnight screenings in New York in 1970–71, then spent decades nearly impossible to see legally thanks to a rights war between Jodorowsky and Allen Klein — which only made its legend grow until the 2007 restoration finally let people watch the thing everyone had been mythologizing.
What’s debated
The eternal El Topo fight: transcendent psychedelic vision or self-indulgent shock-collage — and whether Jodorowsky the provocateur can be separated from Jodorowsky the guru.
Its footprint
This is the film that invented the 'midnight movie' — its months-long run at NYC's Elgin Theatre created the whole late-night cult-cinema ritual that Pink Flamingos and Rocky Horror later inherited, and it's the founding text of the 'acid western.'
Where it stands
A load-bearing cult object — the 'you must have seen this' entry of head-film canon, less watched than invoked, and a rite of passage for anyone going down the Jodorowsky rabbit hole.
Did you know? John Lennon was such a fan that he pushed Beatles manager Allen Klein to buy the distribution rights and put up $1 million to fund Jodorowsky's next film, The Holy Mountain.