El Dorado (1966)

“Next time you shoot somebody, don’t go near ’em till you’re… sure they’re dead!” – Cole

Number of Times Seen – 1 (18 Nov 2013)

Brief Synopsis – A gunslinger shows up in the town of El Dorado and volunteers to help the local sheriff deal with a corrupt rancher trying to steal water from a neighboring rancher.

My Take on it – This movie seem to be a copy of the great John Wayne movie Rio Bravo (1959) and it suffers due to that.

Many of the character traits of the main characters are identical in both; a drunk lawman, an old coot and  a young hotshot named after a US State helping out the sheriff, a crooked local rancher trying to take over ranches nearby and of course John Wayne as the hero.

The only main difference here is that Wayne is a gunslinger for hire instead of the local Sheriff, but no matter how you look at it, he is still the hero.

There are even parts of the script that copy Wayne’s previous outing and due to all these similarities, you feel deja vu throughout the movie.

All in all this is just a mediocre version of Rio Bravo (1959).

It’s too bad.  This was a monumental pairing of Wayne and Robert Mitchum and why couldn’t it have been done in an original setting and story?

Nice to see Ed Asner and James Caan in supporting roles.

Bottom Line – Good movie, but too similar to Rio Bravo (1959). This just feels like a less interesting version of it.

Rating – BAFTA Worthy