Here’s the most outrageous entry in the 1970s revisionist western craze. SOLDIER BLUE (1970) and CUT-THROATS NINE/Condenados a vivir (1972) are often cited as the pinnacle of neo-western excess, but the Mexican-Canadian co-production EL HOMBRE DESNUDO (THE NAKED MAN; 1976) outdoes them both in raunch, gore and just about every other category, including that of indifferent filmmaking.
…gore and just about every other category, including that of indifferent filmmaking.
Rogelio A. González (1920–1984) was a journeyman director whose career spanned thirty years yet produced shockingly few notable films. He remains best known in the English speaking world for another North/South of the border production, the Edgar Allan Poe inspired no-budgeter ONE MINUTE BEFORE DEATH/THE OVAL PORTRAIT (1972).
EL HOMBRE DESNUDO’s aesthetic is laid out in a six minute opening sequence in which a young woman, trudging through a snowbound wilderness, is set upon by a scumbag who rapes and brutalizes her, depicted in Sam Peckinpah-inspired slow motion (Peckinpah, of course, utilized slow mo in an artful and poetic manner, which definitely isn’t the case here). The scene concludes with a (supposed) Native American stranger (José Alonso) intervening, forcing the rapist to strip naked and then shooting him dead. There follows another slow motion sequence, this one depicting the corpse falling into a river, that lasts a comparatively economical three minutes.
More slow mo follows as a gun toting criminal quartet whose ranks include Moe (Barry Coe), a sadistic creep with severe mother issues, massacre several people in a nearby town (actually the historic British Columbia mining community Barkerville). They’re employed by a trio of rich assholes desperate to get the townspeople to sell their land.
Re-enter our friend from the opening scene, who’s determined to assist the townspeople for reasons that aren’t immediately clear. This “guardian angel” helps to nurse Virginia (Céline La Frenière), a local beauty who was shot multiple times by Moe, back to health, and also circumvent another massacre. In so doing he kills one of the baddies and pulls down the fellow’s pants to examine his naked ass. It’s not the last time the stranger will do this, as he’s looking to avenge the rape and murder of his mother when he was a child, and the only identifier he has for the culprit is a mark on the guy’s butt.
This isn’t anyone’s idea of a well-made movie. The story, which incorporates (read: rips off) elements from NEVADA SMITH (1966) and ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968), is perilously thin, resulting in what without all the slow motion would likely be a short film.
This isn’t anyone’s idea of a well-made movie.
The slow mo is so prevalent it’s easy to mistake it for artfulness, particularly since González doesn’t bother to sync the soundtrack with the slowed-down imagery, which gives the scenes an oddly hallucinatory feel. The use of music is equally incongruous, particularly the up-tempo honkytonk that plays over the final shoot-out. It’s possible that González may have had arty pretensions, but he seems most interested in including as much blood and sex as he possibly can.
The squib work is impressive, with the slow motion kicking in every time somebody gets shot, allowing for a close-up examination of the blood spurting, flesh ripping, innard spilling and penis bursting (not something you’ll find in any other western) effects. The snowbound Canadian locations are also quite striking (and recall Sergio Corbucci’s nihilistic 1968 classic THE GREAT SILENCE/Il Grande Silenzio).
The squib work is impressive, with the slow motion kicking in every time somebody gets shot…
In the cast is the Mexican heartthrob José Alonso, the once-prolific American supporting actor Barry Coe (1934-2019), and the 1960s Mexican starlet (and José Alonso’s then-wife) Irma Lozano (1944–2013), whose nude scenes constitute her, and the film’s, best “acting.” Also on hand, if you look VERY closely, are appearances by actor Ty Haller, of DR. FRANKENSTEIN ON CAMPUS (1970) and DESERTERS (1983), and, in her feature debut, 1980s sexpot (and two time Martin Scorsese alumni) Helen Shaver.
Vital Statistics
EL HOMBRE DESNUDO (THE NAKED MAN)
Uranio Films
Director: Rogelio A. González Jr.
Producer: Ing Jose Lorenzo Zakany
Screenplay: Rogelio A. González, Salvador Macias Pérez, Myriam S. Price
Cinematography: Fernando Colin
Editing: Carlos Savage
Cast: José Alonso, Barry Coe, Irma Lozano, Céline La Frenière, Sam Moses, Barney O’Sullivan, Terry Kelly, Kathleen Payne, Hagen Beggs, Don Gran Bery, Dax Logan, John Scott, Ivor Harries, James Nelson, Maxim Hamel, Hans Hiardie, Helen Shaver, Ty Haller