John Lennon has continued to inspire millions of people with his music despite his death in 1980. However, what inspired him? Among various musicians, such as Elvis and Chuck Berry, Lennon was inspired by film. On several occasions, Lennon expressed his love for cinema and said that it often helped to form his own artistic vision, including his passion for the counterculture movement. However, one film in particular stood out for the singer-songwriter.
El Topo, a hallucinogenic interpretation of the Western genre directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, was a film to which Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono felt deeply connected.
Oko descibed Jodorowsky as a “rare genius” and Lennon reached out to his manager and told him to offer $1 million to Jodorowsky for any new project he wanted to make.
The two, who were deeply spiritual, went to see multiple screenings of El Topo, a film Jodorowsky hoped would create an image that wouldstay with the viewer, while creating a hallucinogenic experience comparable to enlightenment that would be like being on “LSD without LSD”.
El Topo, released in 1970, was an avant garde surreal film about an outlaw that defies the Four Masters of the Desert due to the love of a woman.
A synopsis written by a fan reads: “It’s sort of a twisted Western meets spiritual allegory. Each gunman symbolizes different religious or philosophical beliefs.”
Lennon felt strongly about the film, so much so that he wanted to promote and also fund the director’s ambitions.
Lennon said:”We thought El Topo was a great work of art and we thought it should get exposure.”
Thanks to the endorsements of Lennon, Ono alongside other icons like Bob Dylan and Roger Waters, El Topo became an iconic part of the counter-culture movement.
On reflection, it can be said that Lennon’s love for El Topo was also influenced by Ono’s connection with the film due to her work as a conceptual artist.