In 1959, Howard Hawks directed RIO BRAVO, the blueprint for EL DORADO. Sadly, Howard Hawks could not improve on his earlier work and his direction was less inspired 8 years later.
RIO BRAVO provided the blueprint: John Wayne was the sheriff who arrested the brother of a rich criminal. The latter wanted his brother out of jail, and he placed the town under siege to achieve it. Wayne had only a former pistol wizard, now a drunkard (Martin), an old cripple (Brennan), and a courageous law-abiding youngster (Ricky Nelson).
Mitchum replaces Martin. He starts prim, proper and fit as the local sheriff, but then he disappears for about 30 min, and when he returns... you guessed it, he has become a drunkard! Thankfully, good pal, domineering Wayne, lends a hand. Arthur Hunnicutt replaces Walter Brennan's Stumpy, but Brennan had stolen the show in RIO BRAVO, and Hunnicutt simply does not compare.
Mitchum, a fine actor, is given a jagged part, and he is no competition for Dean Martin, who played the role of his life in RIO BRAVO.
James Caan, a better actor than Ricky Nelson, has a similarly unconvincing part, blowing into town on the back of a revenge drive that has already cost the lives of four men for killing his guardian.
Otherwise, it's the same atmosphere, a certain carelessness by the leads strolling the streets at night in spite of knowing that they are targets, and a not particularly convincing villain in Ed Asner.
Action stunts are not bad, but unmemorable. Each character gets a couple of scenes to shine with the fists or a weapon of choice, all of which was seen in 1959 and to better effect. Photography offers of the same claustrophobic town and night shots, and the script is a reprint of RIO BRAVO. Dialogue is less inspired, despite some crisp repartee between Wayne and Mitchum.
RIO BRAVO was a box office success, and Hawks obviously thought the formula would work again. It does, to some extent - it is not a bad movie and, in light of the current Covid-prompted confinement, it is a way of killing time if you have nothing beter to do. But that's about it.
RIO BRAVO provided the blueprint: John Wayne was the sheriff who arrested the brother of a rich criminal. The latter wanted his brother out of jail, and he placed the town under siege to achieve it. Wayne had only a former pistol wizard, now a drunkard (Martin), an old cripple (Brennan), and a courageous law-abiding youngster (Ricky Nelson).
Mitchum replaces Martin. He starts prim, proper and fit as the local sheriff, but then he disappears for about 30 min, and when he returns... you guessed it, he has become a drunkard! Thankfully, good pal, domineering Wayne, lends a hand. Arthur Hunnicutt replaces Walter Brennan's Stumpy, but Brennan had stolen the show in RIO BRAVO, and Hunnicutt simply does not compare.
Mitchum, a fine actor, is given a jagged part, and he is no competition for Dean Martin, who played the role of his life in RIO BRAVO.
James Caan, a better actor than Ricky Nelson, has a similarly unconvincing part, blowing into town on the back of a revenge drive that has already cost the lives of four men for killing his guardian.
Otherwise, it's the same atmosphere, a certain carelessness by the leads strolling the streets at night in spite of knowing that they are targets, and a not particularly convincing villain in Ed Asner.
Action stunts are not bad, but unmemorable. Each character gets a couple of scenes to shine with the fists or a weapon of choice, all of which was seen in 1959 and to better effect. Photography offers of the same claustrophobic town and night shots, and the script is a reprint of RIO BRAVO. Dialogue is less inspired, despite some crisp repartee between Wayne and Mitchum.
RIO BRAVO was a box office success, and Hawks obviously thought the formula would work again. It does, to some extent - it is not a bad movie and, in light of the current Covid-prompted confinement, it is a way of killing time if you have nothing beter to do. But that's about it.