The Canadian Cinephile’s Reviews

Howard Hawks directed El Dorado, the 1966 western released by Paramount Pictures. The film was written by Leigh Brackett and based on the novel “The Stars in Their Courses” by Harry Brown. Hawks has said that El Dorado fits in the middle of a trilogy about variances of the theme of a sheriff trying to defend his office against outlaw elements in his town. Rio Bravo, which is the film for which Hawks is probably best known, was the first film in the series and Rio Lobo was the last to close it out. All three films starred John Wayne. El Dorado is the film in the trilogy to represent a variation on the theme, however, as Robert Mitchum plays the sheriff who becomes a drunk and needs to rely on the kindness of others to defend his town.

The legendary John Wayne stars in El Dorado as Cole Thornton, one of the fastest draws in the West and a legendary gun-for-hire. He opens the film with his old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum), as Thornton reveals he has turned down a job which would have required him to fight Harrah. As Thornton heads back to confront the man who hired him for the job, the corrupt Bart Jason (Ed Asner), he encounters a family in some trouble and accidentally shoots one of their boys. After a chain of events and the passing of a few months, Thornton finds out that his friend, Harrah, is on the bottle after a falling out with a woman. To add to the complications, a top gunfighter is on his way into town to help Bart Jason fight the sheriff. Knowing Harrah is in no condition to fight alone, Thornton rushes to his side with the help of Mississippi (James Caan), a knife-wielding friend with a huge shotgun, and sets things straight.

Originally, Wayne wanted to play the part that eventually went to Mitchum. After starring in Rio Bravo, Wayne read the script for El Dorado and wanted to play the drunk. He was persuaded that it would be bad news for his career, however, and Mitchum was hired instead. Apparently Mitchum asked about the story of the film and was told by Hawks that it had good characters, so Mitchum knew very little about the film before signing on. As it were, Mitchum’s performance steals the show here and takes the spotlight away from Wayne. He proves his versatility in his mood swings and in his efforts to play a man trying to regain his dignity. That is by far the most interesting component of what is otherwise a very average and forgettable Western film.

El Dorado is a funny film, both intentionally and unintentionally. There are moments in which the editing and cutting is so bad that it’s obvious that scenes were extremely rigged. One scene in which James Caan’s Mississippi leaps into the road under horses is suddenly lighted with drastic differences and a dummy is obviously placed under the horses, making for some laughs and rewinding to see it all again in slow-motion. Also, Mitchum’s Harrah needed to use a crutch after being wounded. Mitchum’s continuity was so bad that he kept switching arms throughout the shooting of the film. It became so obvious that Wayne’s character actually mentions it in the film and Hawks left it in because he was amused.

There are many interesting tidbits of trivia behind the scenes that make the film enjoyable, too. The hilarity of having John Wayne dislike Ed Asner to such a large degree, for instance, makes their scenes together much more compelling after the fact. Apparently on the set, Wayne would refer to Asner as “that New York actor.” Asner was a liberal and this apparently bothered Wayne, who was obviously not a liberal actor. Flashes of attitude with Wayne were not altogether uncommon on the set of El Dorado. According to James Caan, he and Wayne mixed it up during an altercation in a game of chess and Robert Mitchum had to intervene. The legend of John Wayne of movie sets is always interesting, isn’t it?

It’s also fun to watch a film like El Dorado for goofs and mistakes. Obviously the inserted dummy under the horses is one. A lot of the shots in the film appear to be a patchwork of other shots, such as the shots in which Mitchum’s Harrah is striding down the streets in the opening shot. Watch the shadows and it becomes apparent that the shots were done at various times of day, making for a quite funny look. There are moments in which Wayne’s character braces his fall with his paralyzed arm or when hats change positions or when shadows suddenly appear and disappear in obvious fashion. Part of the fun in watching films like this one is in spotting the details that tilt the hand of the filmmakers.

El Dorado is most certainly not the best in terms of crafted storytelling, bold characters, or structured solid filmmaking. It is, however, a reasonably fun Western that passes the time. There’s nothing particularly memorable about it, John Wayne’s performance, or the action. Mitchum is the highlight here and it is fun to see a young James Caan playing with the big boys of the genre in Hawks and Wayne. If one were to do a patchwork of Rio Bravo and this film, they’d look alike and together would form a great Western. As a standalone picture, however, El Dorado leaves a lot to be desired and likely stands up better in the context of the full trilogy from Howard Hawks.

5/10