Justin here, today I'll be talking about one of my favorite John Wayne movies, El Dorado (1966).
I've seen a lot of John Wayne movies, and there are even more that I haven't seen. I get asked sometimes where the best place to start with John Wayne is, my answer is always El Dorado. It's not his best movie by a long shot, and it's not the his worst movie, but it has qualities of both and is always entertaining.
The production values look very cheap by today's standards. The sets are all facades and paintings, some obviously so. This is the studio system at work. I'm sure if I was a little more astute I'd recognize the sets from other 60's westerns. The story is needlessly convoluted, and has nothing to do with the legendary lost city of gold. El Dorado has very fun characters though. Watching it, it's easy to imagine catching this as a matinee in the theater or as a Saturday afternoon movie in the 60's or 70's.
In addition to John Wayne, El Dorado has my other favorite 50's and 60's tough guy, Robert Mitchum, Mitchum plays the failing sheriff of the town of El Dorado and a hopeless alcoholic. He's a long time friend and rival of John Wayne's for the affection of a lady. Wayne though is a hired gun but with a sense of morality who realizes he is working for the bad guys and quits and tries to restore Mitchum to his dignity. The supporting cast is equally entertaining, James Caan plays Alan Bourdillion Traherne AKA Mississippi, a pretty white boy who throws knives, carries a sawed off shotgun and wears a silly hat. Charlene Holt plays Maudie, a sort of old west proxy for Anne-Margaret a la Viva Las Vegas. Arthur Hunnicut, a character-actor with a familiar face rounds out the cast as Bull, an over the hill Indian fighter with a penchant for bugling.
Like I mentioned earlier, the story is very convoluted and ultimately just an excuse to put all these characters together. It's one of those fun old brainless movies where it's clear who the good guys and bad guys are. We're free from any nagging ambiguity and instead can just kick back and root for the good guys.
El Dorado was also one of Howard Hawkes' last movies just before another John Wayne vehicle, Rio Lobo. Just like with Wayne, I wouldn't consider this to be one of his major works along the lines of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, His Girl Friday, or Sergeant York. El Dorado succeeds as being a great example of a 1960's mid-budget studio western. Watching John Wayne and Robert Mitchum ham it up at each other is worth the time investment alone as my worn out VHS copy can attest to.
Over the mountains of the moon
Through the valley of the shadow
Ride, boldly ride
For the hills of El Dorado. -Justin