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El Dorado

El Dorado

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $13.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I think it is a good movie and recommend it to anyone!
Review: I think El Derato is a good movie and is a good movie for anyone. But I would mainly recommend it to western lovers. I would also recommend any of John Wayns movies, he was a greate man.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: John Wayne at his Best!
Review: This Film is the best John Wayne and Howard Hawks film together. Although Red River is a classic, I like El Dorado better. The camera shots of the background, the music score, acting, script, and directing are among the best of their career's. This film truly ranks as one of John Wayne's best!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Maybe the Duke's Best
Review: I'm 53 years old and have loved John Wayne since first seeing him at the movies as "Hondo" as a boy. I loved Rio Bravo, but have to give the edge to this remake. As good as the original was, El Dorado is more enjoyable and convincing to me. The Duke is as good as he ever was in his usual role as the hired gun with a conscience whose reputation alone strikes fear into the hearts of the bad guys. Few western actresses could match the young Angie Dickinson in Rio Bravo, but the male supporting cast is better in El Dorado. Mitchum is excellent, young James Caan adds charm and humor and Arthur Hunnicutt nearly steals the show in the Walter Brennan role as Mitchum's loyal, but crusty deputy, Bull. For my money, Hunnicutt is one of the great homespun character actors of all time and this is certainly one of his very best performances. Most don't know his name like they do the great Walter Brennan's but he's just as good or better. A then noname Ed Asner and Christopher George (TV's The Rat Patrol) are excellent as the main bad guys. George is actually somewhat likeable as a man willing to sell his gun to the most odious of crooks, but still possessed of a sense of fair play. Jim Davis (Jock Ewing of TV's Dallas) plays one of Asner's henchmen. This is just a great cast telling a great old west story.

A recent biography of director Howard Hawks points out that Hawks badly needed a hit late in his career when El Dorado was put together. His effort is evident. Even the opening credits are great--a series of beautiful western paintings by Olaf Wieghorst, who also appears as the gunsmith, "The Swede." The title song by George Alexander is memorable as well.

BTW, the poem Caan keeps quoting, which serves as the foundation for the title song, was Edgar Alan Poe's last poem--"El Dorado", of course. The movie was filmed just west of Tucson, AZ in what is today Old Tucson--a must tour for anyone interested in westerns. Westerns are still filmed there. Movies filmed there include Rio Bravo, El Dorado, McClintock, and Rio Lobo by Wayne, as well as many others such as Joe Kidd, Tombstone and even The Three Amigos.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Watch Rio Bravo with this 5 star classic.
Review: John Wayne was supurb in this true good vs evil western. I wish I could substitute Dean Martin in as the sheriff instead of Robert Mitchum and Walter Brennan as Bull. But this is still an amusing story.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Quintessential John Wayne
Review: If you like John Wayne and the classic western genre, you'll love this film. The cast is wonderful: John Wayne and Robert Mitchum (old friends and nemesis), James Caan (what a kid!), Ed Asner, and Christopher George.

Wayne and Mitchum are a little long in the tooth and there is talk of settling down, but there are scores to settle and justice to enforce first.

Near the end of the movie is a faux pas regarding crutches. Both the heroes are using crutches by this time and Mitchum mistakenly changes the side he's using. John Wayne picks up on the oversight and quips to Mitchum in an ad-lib ( I believe) that is very clever.

John Wayne is thoroughly the "Duke" here - his swagger, tough talk, hard-bitten quips, and ironic surprise at everything that happens. I don't recall him being as "Himself" as he is in this movie.

There are many comic moments amid the classic tale of hired guns, good versus evil, fights over water rights, and "top hand" winning the girl. All in all, a delightful film well worth watching.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than "Rio Bravo"...
Review: While many point out that El Dorado is a remake, I think it is, in fact, better than the first movie it is based on. First off, no singing or cast based on the need for singers! This is a REAL, honest-to-God, Western, with a big "W". John Wayne and Robert Mitchum really work well together. You can feel the history behind their friendship and this adds to the conflict, the struggle, they feel, as one has to watch the other recover from crawling into the bottle. James Caan brings a LOT to the cast, really allowing a way for much of the humor to enter the film.
Not much in extras - in fact there is only a trailer. 126 minutes of fun.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: NO "RIO BRAVO," BUT STILL WORTH A LOOK!
Review: The third of Howard Hawks four westerns starring John Wayne, "El Dorado" lacks some of the emotional impact, and even some of the excitement and foreboding, of "Rio Bravo," their previous work together. It is, for better and worse, a rehash of "Rio Bravo." For worse, it features the not-as-good Robert Mitchum portraying a character similar to Dean Martin's Dude, which was a powerful character in the earlier film. Also, the story is predictable for the most part. For good, though, James Caan does a better job as Mississippi in this film than Ricky Nelson did as Colorado in "Rio Bravo." The gunfights are also well-done. And, last but not least, it IS a John Wayne film, and no film Wayne did was bad, in my opinion.
Overall, a fine film that lacks the impact of "Rio Bravo," but is still an exciting John Wayne adventure! Grade: B+

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: John Wayne and Robert Mitchum in a Howard Hawks film
Review: I know that "El Dorado" is basically a remake by Howard Hawks of "Rio Lobo," which was made a whole seven years earlier, but I like this 1966 film better. It is not just that you have both John Wayne and Robert Mitchum fitting comfortably into their roles but you also have young James Caan and old Arthur Hunnicutt in colorful supporting roles. There is a sense of fun to the proceedings even as everybody takes them seriously.

Wayne is Cole Thornton, an ace gunslinger who turns down an offer to join up with hired gun Nelse McLeod (Christopher George) at the behest of Bart Jason (Edward Asner), the big shot of the town of El Dorado, because it means going up against old pal J. P. Harrah (Mitchum). But it turns out that Harrah has been hitting the bottle hard, so Thorton decides to help his old friend. Unfortunately he is wounded by a bullet that is lodged near his spine and causes paralysis from time to time. Also on their side are old Bull Harris (Hunnicutt) and the young Alan Bourdillion Traherne (Caan), who is called "Mississippi" by his friends for obvious reasons. Maudie (Charlene Holt) is the woman who would like to see Colt and J.P. live to die of old age and Joey (Michele Carey) is the young hothead who shots Thornton and catches the eye of Mississippi.

This is an interesting film from Wayne's perspective because the Duke keeps letting his co-stars have most of the big moments. True, the script dictates that his character has to allow Mitchum's drunken sherrif to redeem himself, but Wayne gets credit for being the rock on which this film is made. Ultimately, "El Dorado" is driven more by the engaging characters than the action of suspense. It is also one of the last Westerns to have a rowdy theme song, with George Alexander, backed by the Mellomen, singing the title written by Nelson Riddle and George Alexander.

In addition to Hawks and Wayne being around for both films, Leigh Brackett did the screenplay for both as well and I think a large measure of the success of "El Dorado" goes to her for creating these characters. She obviously gets the credit for the dialogue, which really does not provide the sort of one-liners that you want to quote ad infinitum, but which still provides a lot of humorous little moments driven more by the characters than the words. The result is not a classic Western in the John Ford mold, but still it is a solid one which makes it well above average all things considered.


Rating: 4 stars
Summary: ONE OF WAYNE'S BETTER 1960'S WESTERNS
Review: El Dorado is basically a remake of 1959's Rio Bravo with Robert Mitchum playing the Dean Martin Role and James Caan playing the Rick Nelson role as a young gunman. The Trio are joined by Mitchums deputy "Bull" in trying to protect a family of rancers from an evil land baron trying to run them off their land.

It's classic Wayne with lots of humor mixed in with the action. Wayne and Mitchum were very good together and Mitchums scenes playing the drunken sheriff are very funny.

Ed Asner plays the evil land baron with Christopher George as his hired gunslinger who wants to challenge the older Wayne to see who is faster on the draw.

Not as good as Rio Bravo but better than Rio Lobo which was basically yet another re-make of the same plot.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Is this the #1 JW movie or only #2?
Review: I can't decide if this is the best western ever made or the second best ever! The characters such me in every time they are so well done. Robert Mitchem playing a drunk or Dean Martin.


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