El Dorado

El Dorado is a wonderful film. It is elegiac, always entertaining, skillful and I think warm-hearted too. The film looks beautiful, the cinematography and scenery are both a delight to the ears. Nelson Riddle's score is pleasant too, while the film is brilliantly directed by Howard Hawks, the script is thoughtful and entertaining, the story never loses momentum and the pace while deliberately elegiac is spot on. There is also a superbly staged preface, which is one of the assets that gave El Dorado its heart. The acting from the leads is superb, John Wayne is a great charismatic presence here and Robert Mitchum gives one of his best performances, and they work very well together. All in all, a wonderful film and a textbook example of a fine movie of its genre. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Rio Bravo worked so well for Howard Hawks and John Wayne that they tried to recreate the magic here, but it doesn't quite work. It's not a bad movie, but the plot isn't as good as in Rio Bravo, nor is the supporting cast. Robert Mitchum, though a great actor, doesn't come close to the job Dean Martin did in Rio Bravo, and Keenan Wynn's portrayal isn't remotely in the same class with Walter Brennan's in Rio Bravo. James Caan doesn't measure up to Rick Nelson, nor Charlene Holt to Angie Dickinson, either. Nice try, guys, but no cigar.

Howard Hawks basically remakes Rio Bravo and invites John Wayne to the party again. Wayne is the veteran professional gunman, Cole Thornton who turns down a rich rancher as the drunken sheriff in town, Robert Mitchum is an old buddy who has taken to drink. When the rich rancher hires another gunman, Cole, Sheriff Harrah, his deputy and hot headed young cardsharp, Mississippi (James Caan) band together to stop the wealthy rancher bullying the poor ranchers over the water rights. However they might not be a match to the rich rancher's posse. The rancher having been jailed by the Sheriff, his men are out to spring him. Mitchum is a drunk, his deputy is too old, Mississippi is to inexperienced and volatile, Cole has a bullet lodged near his spine. The film is not as good as Rio Bravo although this is slightly shorter and in some ways the casting is better. Caan is a better actor than Ricky Nelson for example. Hawks does place an in joke against the rising new wave of French cinema where the Sheriff shoots a piano and not the piano player. However the film is hokey and looks old fashioned given it was made in 1967 and movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid hovering ahead.

It may be 1967, but director Howard Hawks and screenwriter Leigh Brackett, working from Harry Brown's book "The Stars in Their Courses", turn back the clock with this leisurely-paced variation on 1959's "Rio Bravo". John Wayne stars as a hired gunslinger with a big heart (it's pretty much the same role he had the last time), while Robert Mitchum stands in for Dean Martin as the besotted sheriff. Charlene Holt takes over the proverbial love-interest part formerly filled by Angie Dickinson, and James Caan substitutes (quite well) for Ricky Nelson as the young greenhorn. It's acceptable fare, but not exceptional; the joshing and fisticuffs are rousing, but the shootouts aren't choreographed well and the romantic asides bubble under the main action. Hawks is hardly reticent in regards to introducing these new relationships, and much of the film is made up of camaraderie. That seems to suit the Duke just fine, as he looks more comfortable alongside Mitchum and Caan than with Martin and Nelson (though he is seven years older here and obviously not as energetic). This production, most of which was filmed in the studio, looks just like a western from the previous decade, with only the wear and tear of the main players to remind us we've moved on but that Hawks and Wayne have not. **1/2 from ****

I really enjoyed this movie. It's one of Wayne's better films and it's nice to see him paired with Robert Mitchum. However, it very quickly became obvious to me that this is essentially a remake of Wayne's earlier picture, Rio Bravo. The plot is the same and Mitchum is playing the same drunk character that Dean Martin played in Rio Bravo. The earlier film is much better--mostly because it was so much more original. Yes, I'm sure some astute viewers will also find a few other minor differences between the films, but overall it's almost the exact same experience. So my advice is try to see Rio Bravo first--then, if you'd like, see this film. After all, in 4 out of 5 cases original films are better than remakes.

The credits claim that Leigh Brackett's screenplay for 1967's "El Dorado" is based on a novel, "The Stars in Their Courses" by Harry Brown. The on-screen evidence indicates it was based on Brackett's own script for 1959's "Rio Bravo," in which John Wayne is a gunfighter joined by his buddy, a drunken sheriff, in guarding a town against a corrupt cattle baron. They are joined by a callow but dangerous youth, and a curmudgeonly deputy. In "Rio Bravo," these roles were admirably filled by Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan. In "El Dorado," the Duke once again takes on the gunfighter role, but is joined this time by Robert Mitchum, James Caan, and Arthur Hunnicutt. Nothing wrong with that lineup, even though Caan can't sing like Ricky (Mitchum could probably do a fair imitation of ol' Dino, though). Like "Rio Bravo," this one is directed by Howard Hawks who liked to steal from his own movies. Several scenes in "El Dorado" are nearly exact duplicates of moments from "Rio Bravo" (Mitchum blasts holes into a piano when he suspects that the pianist's off-key playing denotes fear of the killer hidden behind it, whereas Martin found his prey in a saloon balcony after spotting blood dripping into a shot glass). "El Dorado" is faster paced than the first film, but then it has a shorter running time. It's a pleasure through and through, but "Rio Bravo" is superior. In the latter film, you almost feel that you're holed up with the Duke, Dino, Ricky, and Walter, rather than just watching them.

In the Broken Saloon at El Dorado, two old friends, each with a reputation, meet again But Sheriff J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum) greets Cole Thornton (John Wayne) with a pointed rifle Harrah has heard his friend works now for Bart Jason (Edward Asner). Thornton admits Jason offered him good money but he doesn't know what he has to do to earn it Harrah explains that Jason showed up here around the end of the war with a pocketful of money and nobody could find out where he got it, but everybody else around here was broke Having money, he started to grow But now he needs more water There's only one place to get it Trouble is somebody was there ahead of him, about 20 years ahead His name is Kevin MacDonald (R. G. Armstrong). MacDonald got four boys and a girl All worked real hard They hung together through the rough times and how things were looking up, MacDonald was not ready to sell So he's holding and Jason was pushing, and the sheriff was standing right in the middle Warned that Thornton has gone to Jason's, MacDonald has left his youngest boy out there to do a man's job He went to sleep When Cole came by, Luke (Johnny Crawford) woke up, jumped up and started firing his gun All Cole was seeing was somebody shooting at him from the rocks Thornton, thinking himself the target, shoots and drops the boy Luke explains the error then To escape the pain of his mortal wound, he kills himself Thornton takes his body to his fathers' place, and after he explains what happened, his sister, Joey (Michele Carey), a wild cat in buckskin pants who didn't believe him, tried to kill him Her brother stops her and her father asks her to get in the house After Thornton leaves the ranch, Joey (Michele Carey) ambushes Cole at a creek, dropping him with her riffle bullet He manages to get back on his horse and escapes to Maudie's place, where Doc Miller (Paul Fix) treats him The bullet was dangerous up against his spine, however, as Doc advises him to find a better surgeon for the bullet's removal After a short time, Thornton leaves El Dorado One of the best moments in the film came in a Cantina near the Mexican border when James Caan (Mississippi) enters the place and calls one of four men sitting at a dinner table, reminding him if he remembers him or if he remembers the blue hat he is wearing? Mississippi says he caught up with his other three companions and he killed them all, and that he was the last of the four He asks him to stand up and as the audience observed, Mississippi wasn't wearing, at all, any gun Obviously, when Jason just brought his outfit into town, the action started Robert Mitchum is 'the tin star with a drunk pinned on it.' He was too mad to be scared and too sick to worry about it.. Charlene Holt plays Maudie the gambler's widow who throws her arms around Cole, sees Harrah, and bursts out laughing when she finds her old flame and her current one are friends She tells the sheriff that Cole gave her a stake, and helped her get on her feet Michele Carey plays Joey, the wild girl who thinks that Mississippi looks a lot better without that silly hat Christopher George plays Nelse McLeod, a dark, thin-faced man with a scar on his eye "El Dorado" was the third of four Westerns that Howard Hawks made with John Wayne Hawks' massive reputation as a director of Westerns virtually rests on just two films ("Red River" & "Rio Bravo") but these two are sufficient to reveal a highly skilled, intuitive filmmaker, and one who has managed to satisfy large audiences and serious critics alike within a commercial system

As someone who has run a cultural cinema for over thirty years and programmed thousands of great films from the whole history of the cinema from Lumiere Bros forwards, I am often asked what I regard as the greatest film ever made. El Dorado is NOT the greatest film ever made (though it deserves consideration), but it IS my favourite of the thousands and thousands of films that I have seen. Why is this? Firstly, it is heroic. It announces this in the credit sequence of Olag Wieghorst's paintings of the old west, and delivers throughout its length right up to the final adrenalin gushing walk of the two old and failing gunfighters along the street in a town that they have made fit to live in. Secondly, it is sensationally subtle in its mise en scene. Look at the scene where the crippled Cole Thornton is exchanged for Bart Jason. After the exchange has been made, Cole is seen on the right hand side of the screen lit in warm hues by the table lamp. JP and Bull, who made the exchange, on the other hand are coolly lit (cool meaning not hot, please) by the greenish oil lamp. I cannot think of a more subtle use of lighting to express emotional relationships in all cinema. Camera and character movement within the frame are also brought to a new high. Look at the shot when Bull announces that Cole is leaving. It follows naturally from his (Bull's) spectacular entrance and results in a two-shot with Maudie whom we know loves Cole... then Bull, having, unknowingly, dropped the bombshell of Cole's departure moves out of frame to the right and the camera moves just far enough to put Maudie centre frame as we see the pain that the news gives her... Thirdly, it integrates its humour throughout the long and complex drama. Structurally the use of Bull and Mississippi as foils for JP and Cole is a complete masterstroke. Finally it is one of the most emotionally satisfying films I can remember. I weep in the closing moments every time I see it because I realise that I am about to lose these wonderful, wonderful characters who have transported me into a kind of heaven for the past two hours. So who do we mainly thank for this most magnificent film? I really must read Harry Brown's novel from which the screenplay was adapted... but I do know that as far as I am concerned Leigh Brackett is the greatest female script-writer - indeed greatest female film artist behind the camera - and not just because of this work. And when she worked with Howard Hawks glory almost invariably followed. I've already mentioned Olaf Wieghorst's paintings, which are also monumentalised by the title song - praise be to Nelson Riddle and John Gabriel (who plays Pedro) - which I would feel honoured to have played at my funeral. Then there is the small matter of John Wayne and Robert Mitchum - two towering stars who had by then become great actors, and magnificently naturalistic cinematography by Harold Rosson whose career spanned to almost 150 films as cinematographer with credits including Docks of New York, The Wizard of Oz, Singin' in the Rain and this, his last film, into which he put all of his love and artistry. Which brings us to Howard Hawks, the most unpretentious artist of the cinema, and one of its greatest. I know this film is a kind of remake of Rio Bravo, and he went on to do it again with Rio Lobo, but for me, this is his last full work - his health was failing on the shoot of Rio Lobo. There is something special in the last works of (some)truly great directors ... look at Gertrud, or Family Plot, or The Dead. It as though they are saying to us... 'OK... I'd like to do it over a dozen or so films, but I'm going to show you the real cinema in just one, because I might not get another chance....' So just the same as in Family Plot were Hitchcock's generosity and artistry come together in the biggest slice of cake he ever delivered, here Hawks gives us a kind of sublime perfection of cinematic structure and expression. One film to a desert island? This is it...

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source: El Dorado