This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Blistering performances.

The acting in this movie is really good.

(Flash Review)A rancher aims to overtake his neighbor's land to seize water rights for financial gain. The rancher is serious as he hires some gun slinging cowboys to do the dirty work for him. The sheriff in town is a drunk so occasionally ineffective. Wayne gets involved and comes to town and does an honorable job of talking sense and encouragement to the sheriff to enforce the law of the land. There was some nice character interactions between those two as well as Wayne and various cowboys in many different ways. Will Wayne be able to wrangle people to a just end or will main street become bloody mud and corpse riddled? There are many picturesque shots of the vast open lands that help make this a pure Western.

I've seen "El Dorado" several times, but hadn't ever noticed John Wayne's pants' belt buckle before today while watching the film on a very large screen TV. The buckle shows the Red River D brand from the 1948 Howard Hawks movie "Red River" starring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, and Joanne Dru; which was another classic Hawks directed western film. Also, in "Rio Bravo," Hawks again makes ties to "Red River" when Dean Martin sings "Settle Down," the main theme from "Red River" composed by Dimitri Tiomkin with lyrics by Frederick Herbert. I wonder how many other connections there are to "Red River" Hawks/Wayne movies? I'm going to have to look very closely at "Hatari" and "Rio Lobo."

This slam-bang Western is truly a very fine diversion, with filmmaker Howard Hawks at the top of his game. Hawks works from an engaging screenplay by Leigh Brackett, who (loosely) adapted the Harry Brown novel "The Stars in Their Courses", and gets excellent performances out of just about everybody. It gets serious, but never too serious, and is generously laced with comedy. The fact that this was a big box office success showed that audiences still had an appetite for what could be seen as "old-fashioned" entertainment.The Duke plays Cole Thornton, an aging gunslinger approached by nefarious rancher Bart Jason (Ed Asner) to work for him. Thornton turns the job down when he realizes that he'll have to go up against old friend J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum), the sheriff of the nearby town. Circumstances leave Thornton feeling indebted to the MacDonald family, the peaceable folk whose ranch is targeted by Jason. So he joins their cause, and is soon working alongside a young gambler named Mississippi (James Caan), who likes to use knives because he really isn't good with a gun.The Duke and Mitchum are a believable pair of friends, and together with a baby faced Caan (a few years away from scoring big as Sonny in "The Godfather") and a steadfast Arthur Hunnicutt as Bull, they all make a good team. The cast is full of good actors, with Christopher George a pleasure to watch as a smooth, confident hired gun. R.G. Armstrong, Paul Fix, Robert Donner, Johnny Crawford, and Adam Roarke all put in appearances as well, and the lovely ladies present also have good roles with which to work: Charlene Holt as Maudie, and feisty Michele Carey as "Joey" MacDonald, one of Armstrongs' kids. Olaf Wieghorst, who plays gunsmith Swede Larsen, did the beautiful paintings for the credit sequence.First rate photography combines with enjoyable atmosphere, some fun lines of dialogue, and plenty of Western violence in the "clutch yourself and fall down" tradition, which all help to make this a wonderful viewing experience. Nice music score by Nelson Riddle, too.There is a scene where Mississippi pretends to be a Chinaman in order to confuse a henchman, and people could easily see it as being racist. It has often been cut out of TV showings of the film.Essentially a reworking of Hawks' earlier "Rio Bravo", although Hawks himself would always deny this.9 out of 10.

On the cover, this seems like a run-of-the-mill John Wayne western. Sure, it's got the rough-and-tumble Wayne in his famed gunslinger role, it's got the gunfights, and it's got the saloons. But this one sets itself apart due to incredibly strong supporting roles by Robert Mitchum, James Caan, and Arthur Hunnicut.Every supporting character in this well-directed western has their own personality and feel like more than a typical Western stereotype. The sheriff, the sheriff's sidekick, John Wayne's sidekick, and the love interest all have their own unique flair and work together seamlessly.The humor is woven into the plot very well. Several scenes will even have your sides shaking with suppressed merriment!This is a John Wayne western, but it is among the best of the bunch and definitely in my top 10 Westerns.