Torgo is a character from the movie: Manos -- The Hands of Fate. He was a monster(?) who's monstrous feature was oversized knees (see picture on left). In the movie he was a care taker (of sorts) who would "take care of the place while The Master was away." The Master was some kind of evil undead... guy... He would hibernate in a room full of his wives (who also hibernated)...
Torgo would wobble a lot when he walked and while this happened a theme of sorts would play. You can here this theme using the control below...
The movie Manos was seen in episode 424 of the TV show MST3K. Being considered the worst movie ever seen on the show, the episode was made fairly popular among long time fans. Being the show is about watching bad movies, this is saying a lot. In this way Torgo was made quite popular, in an infamous manner. His character was extreamly obscure, to say the least...
From the man who brought you your lawn fertilizer!
The movie was actually written & directed by Hal Warren, who apparently was a fertalizer salesman. I actually once recieved an e-mail from his son:
Glad to see someone carries my fathers legacy. My dad wrote, directed and stared (as the father, of course) in the movie. Thanx for making my day.
Sincerely,
Joe Warren
I also received an email from a member of the Reynolds family. His niece from Austin, TX has kindly shared the memory of John Reynolds (the actor who played Torgo). It also contains information that will help to clear up some myths running around the internet about him.
John Reynolds was an amazing poet, writer and actor whose acting abilities were actually regarded quite highly. He had been in drama studies with Timothy Leary in California at Berkley and then returned to El Paso to be closer to his immediate family. He did the movie on a lark (similar to Hal Warren's bet) and he did not live to see the movie released. He did not regard the movie as anything other than it was, which was simply a horror genre film. He did unfortunately commit suicide in 1966 but it was not due to anything in regard to the movie or his part in the movie. He was very creative and outgoing and extremely literary and would have thought it great fun that this movie has garnered all this "ill-begotten" horrorifying success. He would have loved the MST (mystery science theater) version of it. He had a great sense of humor.
As an immediate family member I would like to set the record number of rumors that surround him to rest. And let him rest in peace as well.
I've most recently received an EMail from Hal Warren's youngest daughter, Wendy:
Greetings,
Just wanted to send you an Email telling you I was referred to your site. I am Hal Warren's Baby (youngest daughter) and Joe Warren's baby sister. I loved your site and enjoy seeing anything that keeps my dad's movie alive. If you have any questions about him or his movie that I can help with let me know...
I really love how you have created the way to keep Torgo and Manos alive and kicking and your halloween costume was great. Great idea to stick the speakers in the knees. anything to keep them lumpy the better!
Take Care
Wendy Warren Barbieri
The Master has arisen!
Watch out Torgo, The Master does not approve...
Anyone for BBQ'ed Torgo hand?
Video Clips
These are some video clips from the MST3K episode. If you downloaded these clips prior to March '05; you will find that, again, the quality of these clips has been improved. They are now at a resolution of 416x320. The sound on them is faint, however, so you may need to turn up your speakers to hear them.
Buy the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode that started it all:
MST3K: Manos - The Hands of Fate on DVD or VHS thru Amazon.com!!!
You can even buy the Non-MST3K version of Manos - The Hands of Fate!!!
Buy Manos - The Hands of Fate on DVD or VHS!!!
Buy New $14.99!
Buy New $9.48!
Buy New $7.98!
Entertainment Weekly: The Worst Movie Ever Made
The June 10th issue of Entertainment Weekly (which has Russell Crowe on the cover) features an article titled "The Worst Movie Ever Made". It's about The long, strange journey of "Manos: The Hands of Fate". It's a very detailed article explaining the creation and the more modern popularity of the movie. It also mentions your's truly (Bobby Thompson) towards the end of the article with a couple quotes from me (these are on page 52 near the top of the second column).
There's a link below to the article on the EW website. Prevously you needed a subscription to the magazine (or an AOL account) to view the whole article online, but it appears now that the whole thing is now available thru the EW website for free. If you browse though the article, my name & this site are mentioned twards the top of the 5th page.
Oh, and if you happen to run into me, and have a copy of the magazine on you, I'd be happy to sign it! (Sorry, it's the closest I've been to fame in recent history...)
The author of the article, Dalton Ross, has kindly sent me a couple pictures he took on the Coldwell Ranch (the location the movie was filmed)... He gave me permission to put them up (and I've finally gotten around to doing it).
You can see the place as of today is very broken down. But some of the photos still look very familiar. I personally have alwasy wanted to visit the ranch. My guess is there won't be anything remaining unless I can get out there very soon.
The following photos come courtesy Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly, and are assumably under Copyright. Images are posted here with permission.
Behind Manos
Richard Brandt has written a couple articles with interviews with cast & crew memebers from Manos.
The articles give an insight into Manos not avalible anywhere else. Take a look at what's there...
These are screen savers based on Torgo.
The AfterDark for Mac verson requires AfterDark 2.0 or higher, for the classic Mac.
The Windows verson requires pretty much any verson of Windows. There is now a version made by me for Mac OS X!!!
I'm not sure who these are by (except for the Mac OS X version, of corse), there are some credits in the savers themselves. The two versions (AfterDark for Mac & Windows) are symiler, but there are a couple minor differences between them.
You can view technical details about the Mac OS X Screensaver here.
Torgo Shirt
The Torgo T-Shirt!!!
This is a page that sells a Torgo T-Shirt, among other things.
One of these days I'm gona order one for myself, just because having a Torgo T-Shirt would rule!
Unfortunately the shirt appears to no longer be available. Even more unfortunate, I never bought one while they were available. :(
I'm hoping I can make a symiler shirt and put it on The Torgo Store. Keep your eyes peeled!!!
Me As Torgo
*I* Am Torgo!
Halloween 2000 I dressed up as Torgo (picture on right)! I had been planning on doing this for years, last halloween I actually did it. This picture was taken at my work.
Also for the costume I encoded an MP3 with the Torgo theme and put it on my Rio MP3 player. Needing a place to stash the speakers, I placed them in the knees!
I applied for this award once many, many years ago. After all, what good is a Torgo site without a Golden Torgo? However, I never got a response
I re-applied for it (as it appeared to be under new management), and low and behold I won!!!
This is a great honor, and I would like to thank Hal Warren, along with all the members of the cast and crew. I'd also like to thank the city of El Paso, and Judge Colbert Coldwell, who's ranch was used for the film. Most of all I would like to thank John Reynolds, without whom none of this would be possible! Your memory will continue to live on Mr. Reynolds!!!
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