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El Dorado (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| El Dorado | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Howard Hawks |
| Produced by | Howard Hawks |
| Written by | Harry Brown (novel The Stars in Their Courses) Leigh Brackett |
| Starring | John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Charlene Holt, Paul Fix |
| Music by | Nelson Riddle |
| Cinematography | Harold Rosson |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 17, 1966 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 126 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
El Dorado is a 1966 western movie starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. It was directed by Howard Hawks and released by Paramount Pictures. This film was written by Leigh Brackett. It was based on the novel The Stars in Their Courses by Harry Brown. Nelson Riddle wrote the musical score. The film was shot in Technicolor and lasted 126 minutes.
It was the second film in a trilogy directed by Hawks varying the idea of a sheriff defending his office against belligerent outlaw elements in the town: the other two films were Rio Bravo (1959) and Rio Lobo (1970), both also starring John Wayne.
The variation of El Dorado is that Mitchum plays the sheriff who becomes a drunk, while Wayne is a gunman who falls in with Mitchum and his deputy, defending a rancher and his family against a corrupt cattle baron (Ed Asner). Though Wayne is the center of the film, Mitchum essentially steals the film through his performance as the drunken sheriff. Mitchum's versatility as an actor is proven by the shifts in moods he displays throughout -- as a serious sober sheriff, as a drunkard, and then as a man trying to recover his lost dignity and prowess as a gunfighter. A young James Caan provides good support to the two stars as a knife-thrower who can't handle a gun. Mitchum inserts humour and irony into the movie. In one scene, he asks Caan for his full name ( Alan Badillion Trawho?) and when Caan replies, "Alan Bourdillion Traherne", Mitchum dryly comments, "Well, no wonder he carries a knife!" Arthur Hunnicutt also provides humor mixed with wisdom as 'Bull', an old indian fighter and deputy sheriff.
El Dorado is also notable for being primarily a nocturnal piece, a chamber Western that takes place mostly at night, adding to the film's sense of wonder and excitement. It was filmed at night to make the studio sets less obvious. It was the only on-screen pairing of Wayne and Mitchum.
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The similarity between Rio Bravo and El Dorado gave rise to an amusing exchange in the 1995 movie, Get Shorty. In this scene, LA drug dealer, Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo) breaks into the apartment of B movie and horror movie actress, Karen Flores (Rene Russo) in order to steal a valuable movie script. He accidentally touches the TV remote and switches on a cable channel, which is showing Rio Bravo. This awakens Flores and her boyfriend, mafia enforcer, Chili Palmer (John Travolta). The pair confront Catlett and in an attempt to talk his way out of the situation, Catlett confuses details about the respective casts of Rio Bravo and El Dorado. Palmer, a film-buff and would-be movie producer, is appalled at this lack of knowledge and proceeds to give the bemused Catlett, a tongue-in-cheek lecture setting the facts straight.
John Wayne had wanted to play the drunken part in both "Rio Bravo" and "El Dorado" but was persuaded not to.
When Cole Thornton (John Wayne) gets shot by Josephine MacDonald (Michele Carey), he is unwounded from the front and is wounded in his left backside near his spine. Many say that since he was riding toward her, he should have a wound in his front. This is not entirely true, considering that he was not riding his horse "directly" toward her. Cole actually had his left side exposed, and therefore, the bullet hit him on the side and it pushed its way toward his spine.
In El Dorado, Wayne (Cole Thornton) is joined in the cast by Robert Mitchum (Sheriff J.P. Harrah), James Caan (Mississippi), Arthur Hunnicutt (Bull Harris), Charlene Holt (Maudie), Michele Carey (Josephine 'Joey' MacDonald), Ed Asner (Bart Jason), Christopher George (Nelse McLeod), R. G. Armstrong (Kevin MacDonald), Paul Fix (Dr. Miller), Robert Donner and Jim Davis.
- El Dorado at the Internet Movie Database