El Condor (1970)

Why so much hype?

Load of rubbish!!

Absolutely Brilliant!

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

I saw this movie with my dad in 1970, something we had planned to see was sold out, and we both liked Westerns, so we picked this. Van Cleef does a good job, but Brown is his normal stiff as a board self. I found he was the same in real life when I met him in 1980. He knew someone I worked with from his football days and I guess he brought him to work to prove he really did know him. Patrick O'Neal as a Mexican is hilarious!The highlight is the Marianna Hill nude scene, but there are a lot of explosions and action to pass the time quickly enough. There are a lot of worse ways to spend an evening.

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 exploits of two soldiers-of-fortune who embark on a life & death struggle to loor a fortune in gold from a heavily fortified garrison in the middle of a savage 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, from "King Kong" to "The Towering Inferno" and from "Skyjacked" to "Tarzan Goes to India." "El Condor" doesn't rank as Guillermin's finest work, but he delivers the goods more competently than most and doesn't let the actors dawdle. Guillermin keeps the action charging ahead from one improbable predicament to another with aplomb. 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. The Jim Brown hero is the only honorable man amongst everybody. Obviously, Cohen and Carabatsos were channeling the landmark movie "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" where clashes between partners erupted from the greed in their blood.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.

When he is part of a chain gang, Luke overhears talk of a fort where millions of dollars worth of gold is hidden under the guard of part of the Mexican army. He escapes from his captors and enlists the help of gold prospector Jaroo to help him recover the gold. Jaroo has connections with a tribe of Indians who will be told it is a political matter and promised horses and guns for their help. The duo set out with their enlisted army to attack the fort of General Chavez and steal the gold.This film looked interesting to me because it had a black star in the lead as well as the grizzled Van Cleef. I didn't know anything about the plot but decided to give it a go. Despite some good touches along the way, there isn't really much that makes this western stand out – it's all pretty standard stuff. The ending has a good twist and a downbeat ending but it's nothing that unusual for a western of this sort. The film does have some good bits of light humour, however it also tries to have all the usual clichés thrown in as well – we have the two leads fighting, Jaroo being kind to a child (with sappy Mexican music in background), nudity and Wild Bunch style excessive violence at each stage.The film is still passable as long as you know what you're watching and don't expect too much. As a western it is quite fun if you're just after something undemanding with lots of gunfights. However more than that and you'll be disappointed. The cast carries the film at several points; or at least the lead two do. Jim Brown is a pretty good screen presence even if his skills as an actor leave a little to be desired. Here his physical presence and (slightly out of place, period wise) swagger. Van Cleef has a better character and it's a shame that he plays second fiddle to Brown for much of the film – but he is still very interesting to watch. O'Neal is only so-so, Iron Eyes Cody has little to do and Hill is pretty but not much else.Overall this is a passable western as long as you don't expect too much. It is nicely driven along by the screen presence of Brown and Van Cleef. Other than them and the odd good touch here and there, this film is quite unremarkable as westerns go.

Extremely enjoyable western adventure in the classic style of the late 60s and early 70s. The plot concerns a pair of rogue adventurers who team up with a tribe of Apache Indians to steal a fortune in gold from a huge fortress in Mexico during the mid 1860s. The heroes are extremely well portrayed, with Jim Brown as Luke, in a pioneering performance for African American actors in the early 70s; a non racially specific heroic role. Brown displays the cool confidence he showed in 'The Dirty Dozen' and '100 Rifles', showing once again that he was one of the most underrated action heroes of the 60s and 70s. Lee Van Cleef is also superb. Going against his usual casting as a polished, cool villain, Van Cleef plays a scruffy ne'r-do-well named Jaroo, who is first seen spitting whiskey into the camera. In spite of Jaroo's greed and unsavory habits, he is still a very sympathetic character. Just watch the great scene where he gives a Mexican boy one of his prized gold nuggets. Other characters of note are Iron Eyes Cody as Santana, the Apache Chief, and Patrick O'Neal as Chavez, the cruel yet honorable commandanté of the Fortress of El Condor. Mariana Hill is stunning (and totally naked at one point!) as the mistress of Chavez, a fickle beauty with the power to make men or break them. The battles are truly epic in scope, particularily the scenes of the final assault on El Condor, with hundreds of Mexican soldiers and Apaches clashing in the courtyard of the immense fortress. The music by Maurice Jarré is wonderful. One of his best scores, along with 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'The Professionals'. No one can say that 'El Condor' is a message movie, or socially relevant or challenging, but if you want an action packed western with larger than life heroes and villains, beautiful women and impossible odds, El Condor is the film for you! I have watched this film literally dozens of times since first sneaking into the living-room to catch it on the late show as a kid in 1979, and I never ever tire of it. I watch this film more often that 'The Wild Bunch', 'The Magnificent Seven' or 'The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly'! Buy a copy RIGHT AWAY!