El Dorado is a 1967 western movie starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, directed by Howard Hawks, and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Leigh Brackett and 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 ran 126 minutes. The original paintings in the credits are by Olaf Wieghorst. The supporting cast includes James Caan, Arthur Hunnicutt, Charlene Holt, Ed Asner, Christopher George, Michele Carey, R. G. Armstrong, Paul Fix, Johnny Crawford, Adam Roarke, and Jim Davis.
The movie is 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 are Rio Bravo (1959) and Rio Lobo (1970), both also starring John Wayne.
Plot
Cole Thornton (John Wayne), an infamous gunslinger, is hired by wealthy rancher Bart Jason (Ed Asner) to help him in a ranch war with the McDonald family. While making a stop at the town of El Dorado, the local sheriff and an old friend, J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum), approaches him and gives him more sensitive details about the mission of his which Jason had deliberately left out, including the possibility of having to face Harrah in combat. Unwilling to do this, Thornton agrees to quit, though the possibility of a clash between the two is briefly hinted at with the arrival of saloon owner Maudie (Charlene Holt), who is in love with Thornton (and was for a time also the romantic interest of Harrah's).
In the meantime, however, the McDonalds learn of Thornton's presence in town. Fearing that he might come for them, Kevin McDonald (R. G. Armstrong) puts his youngest son, Luke, on guard. When Thornton passes by on his way back from visiting Jason to tell him that he is not going to work for him, Luke (Johnny Crawford), who has fallen asleep, wakes and fires a wild warning shot, whereupon Thornton reflexively shoots him. Luke is still alive when Thornton comes to him, but he refuses treatment upon the belief that a gut-shot man wouldn't have a chance anyway, and commits suicide when Thornton is not looking. Thornton brings Luke's body to the McDonald farm and offers an explanation, but the only McDonald daughter, Joey (Michele Carey), impulsively rides off before Thornton can finish and subsequently ambushes him. Her shot is not fatal, but the bullet lodges next to Thornton's spine and in time begins to trouble him by occasionally pressing against the spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis of his right side each time. The local doctor (Paul Fix) is unable to remove the bullet and, after healing up, Thornton departs El Dorado for a new job.
About half a year later, Thornton runs into another gunslinger for hire named Nelse McLeod (Christopher George) and a young greenhorn nicknamed Mississippi (James Caan), who has come for revenge against one of McLeod's men. Thornton learns that McLeod has been hired by Jason for the very same job Thornton had turned down months ago, and Harrah has turned into a drunk after an unhappy love affair. Thornton returns to El Dorado, where he, Mississippi, and deputy sheriff Bull (Arthur Hunnicutt) try their best both to protect the McDonalds from Jason's scheming and restore the drunken Harrah to his old self.
Trivia
The similarity between Rio Bravo and El Dorado gave rise to an amusing exchange in the 1995 movie Get Shorty. In this scene, L.A. drug dealer Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo) breaks into the home 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.
Film footage from El Dorado was later incorporated into the opening montage of Wayne's final film, The Shootist, to illustrate the backstory of Wayne's character.
In the 2007 film Transformers, the character "Bumblebee", when communicating with the movie's main characters, pulls on radio/television airwaves to speak; one such set of dialogue being John Wayne's line: "Any more questions you wanna ask?", from El Dorado.
Cast
Poem
The poem repeated in the film is "Eldorado", a ballad poem by Edgar Allan Poe.
External links
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