Customer Reviews

El Condor [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

This is actually a slightly entertaining movie about a couple of mismatched rogue operators (Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef) who contrive to rob the Mexican version of Fort Knox. Mariana Hill (who in my opinion was the hottest totty to ever fill a Star Trek mini-skirt in "Dagger of the Mind") does what is necessary to drive a fortfull of soldiers to distraction.
However, it must be pointed out that this--like all the rest of the titles in WB's "Archive Collection"--is not a commercial-standard DVD, which is why you won't find it sold in stores. It is a DVD-R, without menues, subtitles or audio options. DVD-Rs tend to be more susceptible to unreadability from scratches and scuffs. There is copy protection, so you can't (legally) copy it to your computer disk drive to insure against the posibility of damage.
The video quality isn't that bad, but it isn't that good, either. My impression is that it is made from a copy of a VHS master. There is at times distracting grain, colors are not always accurate, and objects or people from even medium distance are not particularly as sharp as one would expect.
I liked this movie, and was happy to see it finally released on DVD (I'd also like to see much better films, like African Queen and Looking For Mr. Goodbar, on DVD as well). At $28.98 I was under the impression that this was a limited-edition release; nowhere was I told that this was a DVD-R. Well, now you know. You can get this more reasonably priced at moviesunlimited for $17.99, and a downloadable version at Warners' website for $14.99, which you could then burn to DVD-R at your heart's delight without the problem of copy protection.

Former Cleveland Browns fullback Jim Brown and veteran character actor Lee Van Cleef make an unlikely couple of comrades in "Blue Max" director John Guillermin's cynical, epic-scale shoot'em up "El Condor," co-starring Patrick O'Neal, Marianna Hill, Iron Eyes Cody, and Elisha Cook Jr. Lensed on location in scenic Almeria, Spain, this bloodthirsty, profane, R-rated oater depicts the misadventures of two soldiers-of-fortune who embark on a life & death struggle to acquire a fortune in gold from a heavily fortified garrison in the middle of a rugged desert. Hungarian André De Toth, whose chief claim to fame was his 3-D movie "House of Wax," made his share of westerns so he knew his way around the sagebrush. British director John Guillermin wound up helming a little of everything, including "King Kong" and "The Towering Inferno." "El Condor" doesn't rank as Guillermin's finest work, but he delivers the goods and doesn`t dawdle. American scenarists Steven Carabatsos, a script consultant on the original "Star Trek" television series, and "Black Caesar" director Larry Cohen penned the amoral screenplay where virtually everybody turns on everybody else. Obviously, these guys were channeling the landmark movie "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" where greed ruled the behavior of the participants.

Guillermin effectively establishes the old Western setting in the first scene with a snake crawling through the rocks high above a prison where the inmates are shackled in pairs and taking a break from hard labor. An elderly convict (Elisha Cook Jr. of "The Maltese Falcon") regales his fellow convicts with the story of Emperor Maximilian's lost gold salted away in the El Condor desert where not even armies can get it. The impressionable Luke (Jim Brown of "The Dirty Dozen") believes everything that his convict pal claims so when the camp commandant offers him amnesty by to deploy his skills with explosives, he rejects the offer as fraud and escapes. Later, armed and mounted, Luke tracks down Jaroo (Lee Van Cleef of "Sabata") and tells him about the gold, the army, and the fortress. Jaroo has his hands full when we first meet him. He is getting blind drunk in a saloon with several untrustworthy hombres who want his gold. He lures them to his mind, an elaborate system of tunnels and shoots it out with them. During this gunfight, Luke describes the set-up, but Jaroo believes that they cannot do it. but Luke convinces him that it can be done because the latter controls an army of Indians. Jaroo has three adversaries left to kill when he agrees to become Luke's partner. He asks Luke to help him. Luke sights a convenient cradle of rocks above the last three killers and creates an avalanche with a single bullet that kills them. Jaroo howls with laughter. He comments briefly about his relationship with the Apaches. "I sell them guns that don't work; liquor'd make a white man go blind; I violate their women; and, they still love me." Like good westerns, the heroes don't have it easy. At one point, our heroes are tarred and feathered and run out of town. This is probably the funniest scene with both Brown and Van Cleef plastered head to toe in tar with feathers. Later, Jaroo assembles about 85 braves led by their chieftain Santana (Iron Eyes Cody of "The Big Trail") and they set out to get the gold. Like most search for treasure movies, "El Condor" starts out as fanciful with our heroes imagining their future wealth until they hit rock bottom and discover the horrible truth. All the stacks of gold in the basement of the gigantic fortress are lead ingots painted gold. Inevitably, Luke and Jaroo shoot it out in the last few minutes with predictable results and Luke rides off with the girl.

Ultimately, despite its take-charge pace and Maurice Jarre's electrifying score, "El Condor" fails to generate any charisma. Indeed, this western cannot make up its mind whether it wants to be a buddy picture or a movie about the divisive effect of greed. Lee Van Cleef plays the kind of slimy villain that he developed throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, except here he adds comedy. Overall, Van Cleef steals every scene and he has a touching, off-beat scene with a small Mexican lad who he gives a gold nugget because they are both bastards. The problem with "El Condor" is that you cannot really like it because the protagonists aren't pals. Mind you, this could easily have been a funny, bloody, but enjoyable western if the filmmakers had allowed our protagonists to respect each other. Production designer Julio Molina built the sprawling fortress that the filmmakers would bequeath to other filmmakers for movies such as "Conan the Barbarian," "March or Die," and "A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die." The fortress looks like the eighth wonder of the world. Whatever else "El Condor" lacks, this unsavory western boasts spectacular production values.

The Warner Archive DVD-R contains only the movie without subtitles.

El Condor I enjoyed recently when it was Streaming instantly on netflix so I can't complain.It has one of my favorite Actors Lee Van Cleef,A Beautiful Woman or should I say Women,Plenty of Action and that's not just the shootouts and a touching moment which struck me as odd for Van Cleef's Character as I usually I am accustomed to his other character in the Man with No Name Trilogy.(His Best work). I just don't understand why Jim Brown was Cast?And why Van Cleef sometimes played the funny guy which was amusing,it would have been a five star effort if not for these shortcomings.

El Condor is very much not a spaghetti western even though it was filmed in Spain. The look and feel of El Condor is far more like a fairly violent American action western, more along the lines of Rio Conchos then anything filmed by Leone. El Condor has a British director, and mostly American cast and crew, it is not dubbed and and the soundtrack has not the slightest touch of Morricone. The sparse yellow background scenery is very Spain though.

El Condor is a very good tongue in cheek, action packed, buddy western (at least 3/4 of the way through) which ocassionally asks you to fill in alot of plot holes. The inexplicable relationship of Luke to the female lead for example or Luke's choosing Juroo as a partner in crime - as Juroo clearly does not know who Luke is.

There is quite a bit of gratuitous and unnecessary nudity which distinguishes El Condor from many other Westerns. Unfortunatly this fact only makes it unsuitable for kids (which is too bad because most kids would like it.) The nudity also causes it to be a bit embarrassing to watch with the wife.

Jim Brown's acting as a gunslinger is right up there with Mr Wayne - my opinion anyway. I dont think John would have played it any different. Jim was a seasoned actor by this stage of the game and he is pretty good - his Luke is likeable, calm, and tough. Jim is the hero as well as the straight man here and he is still the very best football player turned actor there ever was. The teaming of Jim and Lee is exactly what buddy action films are about.

Lee Van Cleef is the entertainment as well as the comic relief in El Condor. Rather then playing one of his usual laconic, ultra cool gunslingers (Sabata, Angle Eyes, Col. Mortimor etc), he plays his real age as a loud mouthed, hard drinking, saddle worn, aching boned, double crossing, two-bit, but likeable scoundrel named Juroo. This is the only film that I know of where Lee is able to demonstrate his large repertoire of acting chops - humor, action, pathos, sympathy, sincerity, kindness, gread, and treachery - demonstrating that he really was a talented and highly underused actor. Lee's rendition of Juroo reminds one of cross between Dragline, and Wile E. Coyote - you'd almost expect Juroo to have his weapons, supplies and army delivered in a box from the the Acme Co. Mr Van Cleef must have savored this role - he looks like he was having a heck of alot of fun.

The film races along with lots of horse back riding, action and humour and a ton of non-CGI explosions but is at its most entertaining whenever Juroo or the explosions are on screen. Juroo always elicits a smile and the explosions are always...well...explosions.

The explosions are beautiful and plentifull and almost a character in themselves. They are used for all kinds of purposes and sometimes as a lark. For example, explosions may be used to cause such things as tsumanis, avalanches or the sky to rain lady's undergarments and that is just a few examples. At one part of the film Jim and Lee do battle on a booby trapped run away wagon that will at any moment...explode - which of course it does.

Unfortunately the film and Juroo take a very dark turn three quarters of the way through leading to a very sour note ending. The ending also destroyed the chances of teaming Luke and Juroo in another film. I think that the choice to switch Juroo into a dark character and the downer ending ruined what should have been a fairly light and otherwise mini-classic, buddy-style-western.

There is an excelent and very memorable western musical score by Maurice Jarre that goes perfectly with the mood of the film. WB's print of the film is in top shape - clean, very sharp, widescreen and uncut. The sound is not five channel but it is crisp and clear. Nice rich and colorful photograpy and lots of good sparse western back round scenery.

Special cudos should go out to the stunt men in El Condor - a group of guys and gals rarely mentioned. There are quite a few thrilling well orchestrated stunts in El Condor such as the fight on the runaway wagon and a really insane horse back race through a field of explosions. Good job men.

El Condor is a good, exciting spaghetti western that will keep you entertained throughout, thanks in great part to the movie's two leads, Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef. Luke is a convict at work prison camp on the southwest. Another prisoner tells him of the mythical El Condor fortress that contains millions, and possibly billions, of dollars worth of Emperor Maximilian's gold, stolen by a Mexican general, Chavez. Luke escapes and teaming up with a grizzled old gold prospector, Jaroo, joins with a group of 84, not 100, Apache warriors to lay siege to El Condor and get their hands on the gold. This isn't one of the best spaghetti westerns, but it's not as bad as some people make out. There is plenty of action, especially the final assault on El Condor, and a fair share of nudity sprinkled throughout the movie. As well, plenty of backstabbing and double-crosses to keep you guessing until the end, which features a pretty good twist that caught me off-guard. Well worth a watch for fans of spaghetti westerns, just don't expect a classic.

The two leads, Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef, make the movie what it is. Jim Brown stars as Luke, the escaped prisoner who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the El Condor gold. Lee Van Cleef is excellent as Jaroo, the grizzled prospector who is in it for himself, which makes his character fun because you're never exactly sure what he's up to. Van Cleef definitely steals the movie, playing against type as Jaroo opposed to his Col. Mortimer or Angel Eyes. Patrick O'Neal is good in an atypical villain role as Chavez, the commander of El Condor who must deal with Luke and Jaroo while also defending a secret that could finish him off. Mariana Hill is good in a small part as Claudine, Chavez's woman who takes a liking to Luke. Hill has a full nude scene which caused a stir then, and it's still apparenty why now, Hill is gorgeous in her small part. Iron Eyes Cody plays Santana, the Apache chief who leads his warriors in support of Luke and Jaroo for his own personal riches. Most people know him as the Indian who shed at tear at the pollution in the US in a 1970s commercial.

The VHS offers a surprisingly good-looking standard presentation, especially compared to a lot of similar spaghetti westerns. It's not a great presentation by any means, but it is a clear, pretty well cleaned up presentation. I'd love to see a widescreen dvd, I say that for most VHS movies, but for now, we'll have to stick with the quality VHS tape. So for a spaghetti western with Jim Brown, a great role for Lee Van Cleef, and plenty of action, violence, and nudity, check out El Condor!

El Condor, now released by Warner Archive, is available as a widescreen single layer DVD from online sources (and as a download from Warner's web site). Although the manufacturer states that it has not been remastered or restored, the quality is excellent as seen on a high definition big screen using HDMI connections. There are occasional specks of dirt on the negative, but the color and picture quality is fine. The DVD is a major improvement over the fullscreen VHS tape released in 1994.

El Condor was shot in Andalucía Spain. It is not a classic spaghetti western but it is fun to watch - particularly with Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef in the lead roles. The movie offers a rare opportunity for Van Cleef to play against his villain type. Patrick O'Neal, commanding the El Condor fortress, also has some fun with his role. And Marianna Hill (billed as Mariana Hill) is a stunningly beautiful woman in her first major movie role. Memorable scenes include Hill as an exhibitionist, diverting the garrison's attention from a surprise attack by Brown, Van Cleef, and a small Apache army led by Iron Eyes Cody.

There's also a story involving a scheme to steal the gold treasury of Maximilian. That seems secondary to the violence and nudity which earned the movie an early R rating.

The DVD arrived in great condition and when I was told it would arrive. I shop at Amazon.com a lot and have never been disappointed with any product I have purchased.