A bizarre work of surrealist art. I don't know if I've just outgrown this kind of thing or if this one in particular is just sophomoric, but I didn't like it all that much. I didn't exactly hate it either. It surely has its share of outrageous and entertaining images and gags, but it feels like director Arrabal (best known for writing Jodorowsky's debut film, Fando and Lis) is doing little besides trying to shock the audience. So we get all kinds of penis torture, cannibalism, and poo play, and it gets tiresome long before the film is over. What little story there is has on-the-lam murderer George Shannon running into holy fool dwarf (Hachemi Marzouk) in the desert. The dwarf shows him how he lives in the desert, so Shannon later repays him by bringing him back to Paris. The dwarf, an outcast, continuously points out how silly the modern world is. I rented the film because it was the only one with Emmanuelle Riva that Netflix carried that I hadn't already seen. In particular, the film wasn't worth seeing as a memorial to the recently deceased actress. She plays Shannon's mother and murder victim. She barely says a word and catches some guy's ejaculate. Not her proudest moment.

I'm glad I saw this film. I almost didn't, I hated it after ten minutes and demanded it be turned off at 20 minutes. I saw it to the end mostly because the friends I was watching it with found my infrequent outbursts amusing and because we collectively wanted to see if we could get through it. If nothing else the experience gave me a quick and easy answer any time someone asks me what the worst film I've ever seen is. I liken it to eating a raw egg; it's something horrible you put yourself through under the vague understanding that it might be beneficial. Also you need to suppress the urge to vomit throughout.Giving a synopsis of the film's plot seems beside the point as that's not really important. The film is essentially a string of metaphors and commentary about nature and the state of the modern world ranging from macabre to perverted to ludicrous, (often all of the above,) all with the subtlety and finesse of an atom bomb. There may be those who appreciate this surrealist kind of film-making and while I don't count myself as one of them I do have an appreciation for it if it is clever. However Fernando Arrabal's approach is like a Gothic teenager's idea of insightful commentary; he is immensely pretentious, blatantly obvious, and nowhere near as clever as he thinks he is. So Arrabal makes up for this by trying to be shocking. On that count he clearly succeeds but for me personally that just added to the film's overall absurdity and unlikeability rather than adding to any artistic merit.There is some form of value in I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse, some artistic intent. But it is so hilariously awful, so disgusting, and so overall disturbing that you have to ignore a lot to try and appreciate that. This is a very bad film but I still say it's worth seeing, if only just to see if you can. A twisted sense of humour and a strong stomach is mandatory though.

I think this movie is Arrabal's attempt to achieve something that looks like surrealism, taking scenes from Jodorowsky's "El Topo" and turning then into just senseless images. It seems like if he was just searching for things that would look "surreal", so to put them in the film. The plot, besides all the misleading "surreal" stuff, turns out to be a simple (and very used) boring movie plot; the guy that takes the native man from his environment and shows him the city blah blah blah. Besides this, there are still good things in the movie, like the lady from the TV news in the beginning of the film or the police trying to capture the main character. I didn't like the film, but what i do like is what Jodorowky has done with Arrabal's work, turning it into a masterpiece.

The late 60's/early 70's were a time of experimentation for most filmmakers. In fact filmmakers got away with things back then that few would be able to get away with now. Arrabal and his first two features, VIVA LA MUERTE and this, are no exceptions.One thing you still can't do without scandal is full frontal male nudity - especially of children. The scene where the little naked boy is gunned down by a firing squad of an Army of Christians could be reinterpreted today as a metaphor for how children always get caught in the crossfire when religions declare war on one another. The nudity symbolizes innocence. The 10 second scene is in no way pornographic but try doing that today and you will be shut down before you can call action.One scene predate's THE CRYING GAME by 20 years. It's too good to give away. The character of Marvel would be seen now as a Arab stereotype for sheer ignorance of all things western. Political correctness aside, the character is too funny and likable to hate.Cannibalism, still a taboo topic, is treated by Arrabal here as a mere plot device. No wonder this movie had censorship problems, which Arrabal addresses in the DVD interview segment. My only regret is that he didn't include scene by scene audio commentary as Jodorowsky did for DVD of FANDO & LIS -which is based on the Arrabal play. It would be especially helpful in this particular scene because it looks like they may have used an actual cadaver. This finale even tops the VIVA LA MUERTE finale in which a bull is sacrificed on camera. Unless you're doing the latest installment in the FACES OF DEATH series, you just can't do that kind of stuff in a narrative feature today.Those who see this now as merely a pretentious art film, forget how shocking it must have been then. That's especially true when you consider that it's a gay love story. One of the most unusual ever filmed. It's unsettling in a way that is stimulating. This movie was buried by the censors in 72. No major studio would green light such a production today. If you think you've seen it all, this is one you've got to go back and see in order to say that. Filmmaking could move forward if filmmakers looked back at the "scandals" the "Panic" movement of Arrabal, Topor and Jodorowsky caused in those days. It's a miracle that a film like this can survive intact. Definately not for all tastes but 10 of 10 anyway.