El Dorado (movie)

El Dorado is a 1966 western, released by Paramount Pictures, directed by Howard Hawks, and written by Leigh Brackett based on the novel The Stars in Their Courses by Harry Brown. It was the second film in a trilogy directed by Hawks varying the idea of a sheriff defending his office against belligerent outlaw elements in the town: the other two films were Rio Bravo (1959) and Rio Lobo (1970), all starring John Wayne. In El Dorado, Wayne is joined in the cast by Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Arthur Hunnicutt, Charlene Holt, Michele Carey, Ed Asner, Christopher George, R. G. Armstrong, Paul Fix, and Jim Davis. The variation of El Dorado is that Mitchum plays the sheriff who becomes a drunk while Wayne is a gunman who falls in with Mitchum and his deputy defending a rancher and his family against a corrupt cattle baron (Ed Asner). Though Wayne is the center of the film, Mitchum essentially steals the film through his performance as the drunken sheriff. Mitchum's versatility as an actor is proven by the shifts in moods he displays throughout — as a serious sober sheriff, as a drunkard, and then as a man trying to recover his lost dignity and prowess as a gunfighter. In between, Mitchum inserts humour and irony. A young James Caan provides good support to the two stars, as a knife thrower who can't handle a gun. El Dorado is also notable for being primarily a nocturnal piece, a chamber Western that takes place mostly at night, adding to the film's sense of wonder and excitement.