Product Details

• Actors: Jim Brown, Lee Van Cleef, Patrick O'Neal, Marianna Hill, Iron Eyes Cody
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: January 18, 1994
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302877830
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,483 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Set in Mexico during the 19th century, a gold prospector (Jaroo) and an escaped convict (Luke) team up to go after the score of a lifetime. Along the way, they enlist the help of a group of Apache Indians. Together, they hope to storm a large, heavily guarded fortress full of gold.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite western film of all!, June 11, 1999

By 

Mr. E (My House) - See all my reviews

This review is from: El Condor [VHS] (VHS Tape)

El Condor is my favorite western of all time. This has everything you could want in a western action film. Apaches, gold, Mexican bandidos and soldiers, larger than life heroes, beautiful women and a great score by Maurice Jarre, who also did the music for Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago. There are a few details about the movie that are not logical, one of them plays a major part in the climax, so I will not reveal it, but you do not need logic to enjoy a film like this. I have watched El Condor dozens of times since first seeing it on TV as a little kid, and even in the face of giants such as The Wild Bunch and Good the Bad and the Ugly, El Condor is still my favorite western. I cannot understand how people can dislike this movie, but I have hardly ever seen a good review of it. Listen to me and not the other critics! If you like action and adventure, you will love El Condor!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Spaghetti Western Comes Home., September 12, 2002

By 

Raymond Rice "umpiricer" (Presque Isle, ME USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: El Condor [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Lee Van Cleef had become a world wide star making "spaghetti" westerns when in 1970 Warner Bros. finally had the grand idea to bring him back to the home market in this early Jim Brown vehicle. Cleef plays determinedly against type in this film: his Jaroo is an aging two-bit thief and saddle-tramp, happy to nurse his dreams of someday hitting it rich, when Brown (an escaped convict and demolitions expert named Luke) comes looking for him to help raid "El Condor," the mythical fortress where the Emperor Maximillian supposedly stored his fortune of looted gold. Brown's character is clearly modelled after the amoral "Gringo" of the spaghetti westerns but, remarkably, receives even less development. Van Cleef is more complex--a fact reflected by his growing presence as the movie progresses. The plot is predictably ludicrous, the action entertaining, and the gender politics embarrassing. ("What do you want?" Brown asks the ex-mistress of the fort's commanding officer at one point. "Whatever you want," she answers, and then falls into bed with him--after performing a striptease for the Mexican army.) Cleef's portrayal makes the film worth watching-- he even manages to grant a degree of poignancy to the requisite ironic conclusion.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars El Condor, March 2, 2009

By 

Bartok Kinski "A casual stroll through the lu... (Prague) - See all my reviews

This review is from: El Condor (DVD)

Vintage Lee Van Cleef and Jim Browm acted out their parts well. I always like these type of Westerns, they never date, but then I grew up on them. The stories always have the same theme but, coupled to the acting and stunning western scenery, they always capture me.

Having been fortunate enough to visit the scenery in Spain at "Cinema Studios Fort Bravo", ("Texas Hollywood") in the Desert of Tabernas, Almeria Spain (the only desert in Europe), and Andalucía, Spain doubling for the US in Arizona, New Mexico and California, the films give me added pleasure. Hope they go on remaking them so as to benefit from the new technology.

I enjoyed this film which I saw on television, but I did see it originally at the cinema long before DVD's or Videos were in existence.