El Dorado (1967)

Very best movie i ever watch

Best movie ever!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This slam-bang Western is truly a very fine diversion, with filmmaker Howard Hawks at the top of his game. Hawks works from an engaging screenplay by Leigh Brackett, who (loosely) adapted the Harry Brown novel "The Stars in Their Courses", and gets excellent performances out of just about everybody. It gets serious, but never too serious, and is generously laced with comedy. The fact that this was a big box office success showed that audiences still had an appetite for what could be seen as "old-fashioned" entertainment.The Duke plays Cole Thornton, an aging gunslinger approached by nefarious rancher Bart Jason (Ed Asner) to work for him. Thornton turns the job down when he realizes that he'll have to go up against old friend J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum), the sheriff of the nearby town. Circumstances leave Thornton feeling indebted to the MacDonald family, the peaceable folk whose ranch is targeted by Jason. So he joins their cause, and is soon working alongside a young gambler named Mississippi (James Caan), who likes to use knives because he really isn't good with a gun.The Duke and Mitchum are a believable pair of friends, and together with a baby faced Caan (a few years away from scoring big as Sonny in "The Godfather") and a steadfast Arthur Hunnicutt as Bull, they all make a good team. The cast is full of good actors, with Christopher George a pleasure to watch as a smooth, confident hired gun. R.G. Armstrong, Paul Fix, Robert Donner, Johnny Crawford, and Adam Roarke all put in appearances as well, and the lovely ladies present also have good roles with which to work: Charlene Holt as Maudie, and feisty Michele Carey as "Joey" MacDonald, one of Armstrongs' kids. Olaf Wieghorst, who plays gunsmith Swede Larsen, did the beautiful paintings for the credit sequence.First rate photography combines with enjoyable atmosphere, some fun lines of dialogue, and plenty of Western violence in the "clutch yourself and fall down" tradition, which all help to make this a wonderful viewing experience. Nice music score by Nelson Riddle, too.There is a scene where Mississippi pretends to be a Chinaman in order to confuse a henchman, and people could easily see it as being racist. It has often been cut out of TV showings of the film.Essentially a reworking of Hawks' earlier "Rio Bravo", although Hawks himself would always deny this.9 out of 10.

Director Howard Hawks basically remade his 1959 hit RIO BRAVO with Robert Mitchum in the Dean Martin role and James Caan filling in for Ricky Nelson. Alas...no Angie Dickinson.But, it is still a darn entertaining Western with John Wayne as outlaw Cole Thornton coming to the aide of drunk Sheriff J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum) with the assistance of young greenhorn Mississippi (James Caan).It has good shootouts, strong bad guys (Edward Asner and Christopher George) and comedy banter between two giants of the screen - Wayne and Mitchum.The only thing it is missing is beauty shots of sprawling vistas, but that is more of a John Ford thing more than a Howard Hawks thing.7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis)

The comparisons to "Rio Bravo" are unmistakable and if you've seen that picture further words aren't necessary. What I had to constantly keep reminding myself throughout the story was that Robert Mitchum was the drunk sheriff and not Dean Martin. Or as John Wayne's character Cole Thornton would remark - "I'm lookin' at a tin star with a drunk pinned on it".After watching about sixty of John Wayne's films over the years and catching this one earlier today, it struck me that his performance here was about the most natural in any of the ones I've seen. In other words, he didn't even seem to be acting most of the time, just carrying on with buddies Mitchum, James Caan and old-timer Arthur Hunnicutt who probably had the best lines of banter throughout going back and forth with Cole and J.P. Harrah (Mitchum). I know, Wayne detractors will say he wasn't acting in any of his pictures, but I think that would be a disservice to the Duke.So as a big time TV and Western movie fan, I thought it was pretty cool that the film makers had two thirds of the 'Rifleman' regular cast show up here. Paul Fix had the role of old Doc Miller and Johnny Crawford showed up long enough to get shot by Cole Thornton in an early scene. Wouldn't it have been cool if Chuck Connors had a role in this one? Instead, we have almost one-armed John Wayne twirling his rifle like Lucas McCain did on his own show.As for James Caan, I don't know, he seemed to be out of place here a couple of times, especially when he took off the hat. Joey MacDonald (Michele Carey) liked him better with it off, but to me he looked a little goofy with his hair plastered down like that. His Chinese impression was a bit embarrassing too, and I don't mean that in a politically correct way. It was just plain old embarrassing.But overall, a decent Western and if you're a fan of the principles, you'll have to add this one to your watch list. For trivia fans, John Wayne rides an appaloosa in the picture, going by the name of Cochise. I thought that was pretty cool.

Aging gunfighter (John Wayne), drunken sheriff (Robert Mitchum), cantankerous old deputy(Arthur Hunnicutt), and a knife-throwing gambler (James Caan) team up to protect a rancher and his family from hired gunmen. Contrary to what some say about this movie, it's not a remake. It borrows a lot from Rio Bravo but there are a lot of differences, too. Wayne and Mitchum are great. Really good cast backing them up. Arthur Hunnicutt is lots of fun. James Caan has a nice rapport with Duke. Charlene Holt and Michele Carey are the sexy and tough Hawksian women. Christopher George and Ed Asner play the heavies. A good western with likable actors, nice direction, and a fun script.