Can a remake improve on the original? You Judge!

The original, in this case, was Rio Bravo, starring John Wayne, written by Leigh Brackett, and directed by Howard Hawks. Wayne had the assistance of Dean Martin as the town drunk, Walter Brennan as the town curmudgeon, and Ricky Nelson as the young acolyte. Right? Remember the scene where Dino flashes to the baddie on the balcony by the blood dripping in his drink?

Now, then, the remake is El Dorado, starring John Wayne, written by Leigh Brackett, and directed by Howard Hawks! Are you still with me? Wayne has the assistance of Robert Mitchum as the town drunk/sheriff, Arthur Hunnicutt as the bugle-blowing town curmudgeon, and James Caan as the young acolyte. Only in this movie, instead of hiding on the balcony, the baddy is hiding behind the piano which causes the piano player to play badly -- which, in turn, results in some bullet holes in the piano with the same effect as the balcony scene in Rio Bravo.

Although it's easy to find Wayne fans, and/or Mitchum fans, and/or Caan fans who will actually fight you to prove that one of the films is better than the other. As far as I'm concerned, to paraphrase as a metaphor, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." There's them that likes Rio Bravo, and them that likes El Dorado. Which, to my way of thinking, is like someone saying "I like my right foot better than my right hand."

Although the themes are very similar, and the characters are very similar, and even the outcome is very similar, it must be kept in mind that most Westerns share the themes, characters, and outcomes on a regular basis. While the exceptions stand out in people's minds, they are still exceptions, of which The Oxbow Incident, Stagecoach, The Magnificent Seven, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance come most readily to mind. Even High Noon did a lot of sharing with Bad Day At Black Rock -- see what I mean.

With that out of the way, let's get on with reviewing the movie. During the time I used to live in movie theaters, Howard Hawks was a name to conjure with. It was HH (did you ever play that old kid game where someone gave some initials and you had one minute to figure out the name that went with the initials?) who directed such landmark films as Scarface with Paul Muni and George Raft; Dawn Patrol with Richard Barthelmess and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; Barbary Coast with Edward G. Robinson and Miriam Hopkins; Only Angels Have Wings with Cary Grant and Jean Arthur; Sergeant York with Gary Cooper - and I could go on and on. In terms of his direction, El Dorado ranks among his five best (I'll let you figure out the other four).

For star John Wayne, he had already done over 90 westerns, and was trying to expand his characterizations. He had originally wanted to play the drunken sheriff, but HH would have none of it and insisted on Duke playing the quick-gun Cole Thornton. Despite his disappointment at forced sobriety, Wayne turned in his usual excellent flippantly serious portrayal.

Wayne's counterpart, Robert Mitchum, had played in 25 westerns by this time, and knew enough about a horse to ride with the best of the cowboys. His past history of "drug" use (he admitted to marijuana and anything harder than that is actually unproven) and his drooping eyelids gave him an overall appearance and image that supported his casting as the drunken Sheriff J.P. Harrah. To top it all off, he turned in a really solid performance that brought dimension and life to the role.

James Caan, as the young knife-thrower Alex Bedillion Treherne - also known as "Mississippi," successfully controlled his Bronx-origin trappings and managed dialogue that didn't sound like a Manhattan cabbie. This was Caan's first western of record, but he managed to make it look natural -- which I can personally guarantee is NOT easy for greenhorns. Combined with his dexterity with a knife and his inability to use a six-shooter, Cann turns "Mississippi" into a genuinely likable character.

Arthur Hunnicutt made a profitable career out of persevering in his natural Arkansas drawl and his lean homely plainness. Despite having played modern country-sheriffs and other "civilized" roles, Hunnicutt had a background in over 35 western films at the time of El Dorado and used his crusty homespun charisma to add yet another valuable character to the overall film.

The plot is simple. Two fast-gun war buddies part ways. One (Wayne) heads for a life as hired-gun while the other (Mitchum) chooses the path of law enforcement. Time passes. Wayne accepts employment with a baddy, only to find out that the baddy wants him to go against his old pal Mitchum. Unaware of the direction Mitchum's life has taken, he stands up for his friend and refuses the employment.

Wayne heads back to warn Mitchum that there are people out to get him and, en route, accidentally kills a young man who appeared to be shooting at him. In turn, he is shot by the man's sister and is left with a bullet lodged near his spine - near enough to be an ongoing threat to his life. Upon recovery he again heads back to help his friend. This time, while en route, he witnesses a young man exact revenge from the man who killed the young man's friend -- fast knife against fast-gun and the knife wins. This provokes another gunsel and gives Wayne an opportunity to save Caan's life.

Caan, naturally, appreciates Wayne's assistance and wants to join him in aiding his friend. When Wayne finds out Caan can't shoot a sixgun, he takes him to a gunsmith friend to find a weapon. This particular scene is one of the richest of the entire movie -- if you know the details. So, here goes.

The opening titles of El Dorado are displayed against some truly fine western scene paintings. These paintings are the work of artist Olaf Weighorst. As part payment, HH had Olaf cast in the role of the Swedish gunsmith "Swede Larsen." Given Caan's need for a weapon he could shoot, "Swede" comes up with a sawed-off shotgun, and the dialogue goes something like this;
Wayne: What kind of pattern does this scatter-gun shoot - how wide a field does it cover?
Swede: Don't know. Never tried it out. The man that owned it couldn't see very well. He just shot in the direction of the sound.
Wayne: With a gun like this, how'd he get hisself killed?
Swede: The piano was playing so loud he couldn't tell where the sound was coming from. Shot the piano player. They hung him.
Wayne: There's been some I wanted to shoot, too. We'll take it.

Another of the choice lines is delivered when Mitchum, irritated by Wayne's obvious disapproval of his alcoholism, asks;
Mitchum: All right, what do you think you're looking at?
Wayne: I'm looking at a tin star with a drunk pinned on it.

The action picks up when Wayne and crew (including Mitchum and Hunnicutt) go against Christopher George, who Edward Asner hired to replace Wayne when Wayne quit earlier in the movie. I won't tell you any more about the plot and, for real western fans, I don't need to. Matter of fact, you'd be disappointed if I thought I did need to, and angered if I went ahead and told you.

Most of the rest of the cast were primarily TV actors and actresses, including Edward Asner, who played baddy Bart Jason. Asner, of course, will forever be best known for his role as Lou Grant on TV. One bit of interesting trivia here is that the man playing the bartender in Bart Jason's saloon is John Mitchum (uncredited), Robert Mitchum's brother, who probably got the job because he had written the poetry for John Wayne's patriotic LP record album, America... Why I Love Her.

I can't honestly say that this is the best movie that HH ever made, or the best movie that John Wayne ever made, or even the best that Robert Mitchum ever made. All I can say is that it is one of the best wholly traditional westerns ever made, populated by believable characters made credible by good solid acting. The script manages to be very similar to Rio Bravo while still retaining much that is original. I don't know about you but, if I had to choose between a meal at McDonald's and renting this movie, I'd take the movie without hesitating a bit! I know it won't agree with most of your opinions, but I simply have to give this film top rating for its very highly specific genre even though it would rate lower overall.

Oh, yeah, one final bit of trivia: All of the main actors, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Hunnicutt, Jim Davis (Jock Ewing of TV's Dallas), and writer Leigh Brackett all died of cancer. Is there something about Hollywood I don't know?