El Dorado (1967)

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  • OK. I'm going to go out on a limb here and risk alienating the cognoscenti. If you look at my profile you'll see that El Dorado is listed as my favorite movie of Duke's movies.


    This means, of course, that I consider it better than a lot of other top choices, but it also means that I rank it better than the movie that preceded it and is what El Dorado is considered a remake, Rio Bravo.


    It's not that I don't like Rio Bravo. Its just that I have several factors that make El Dorado seem better in my opinion. For one thing I think that Robert Mitchum pulled off the drunk sheriff much better. (Dean Martin was great in The Sons of Katie Elder, but I just didn't warm up to "The Dude")


    Second (and really this should have been first) I found the sing-a-long scene in Rio Bravo to detract from the story. I realize this was necessitated by the presence of Martin and Ricky Nelson, but it did not compute that these guys would have a sing-a-long while dozens of gunmen are outside threatening their lives.


    On the positive side of El Dorado, aside from the fact that Robert Mitchum is #3 on my list of favorite actors (behind Wayne, of course, and Burt Reynolds), I loved the Caan character. James Caan still needed a little more work to be as good as he was a few years later as Sonny Corleone, but he was good. And Christopher George was really good. Angie Dickinson was a better potential love interest than Charlene Holt (and better looking), I'll concede that point to Rio Bravo.


    This, of course, is only my opinion, and I welcome any dissenting comments, but that's the way I feel.


    Quiggy

  • I agree Quiggy! El Dorado is my daughter and grandkids favorite movie! My daughter actually wants to dance to the theme song at her wedding! By the way if you’ve never considered the theme song I think it’s one of the finest ever written. It has great allegorical meaning. It was also written, if memory serves, by one of the cast members.


    Tbone

    Tbone



    "I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please."

  • I think they both have their pluses and minuses. I don't favor either one over the other. Both are great entertainment. There is just one thing that bothers me in El Dorado, and that it the way Duke curls his hand up when he loses the use of it. Just doesn't look right to me.


    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • Tbone-


    I actually had to look it up. Thank God for the internet. John Gabriel was "Pedro" in the film. Which is a credit to his acting ability since I thought the actor was actually Hispanic and I don't think Gabriel is.


    One thing I did know about the opening was that Olaf Weighorst (who played "the Swede") painted those opening pictures.

  • Yes! His art is wonderful! The Gilcrease Museum used to have his art study on exhibit there. Unfortunately they decided to take it down a few years ago.

    Tbone



    "I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please."

  • Yeah some things changed when management of the museum transferred to the University of Tulsa and not for the better in my opinion.

    Tbone



    "I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please."