John Wayne likely needs no introduction to anyone who has ever been exposed to a television for more than a few hours. Even now, 30 years after his death (June 11, 1979), his influence is still felt and his legend continues to grow. Working for legendary director Howard Hawks, Wayne stars as Cole Thornton, a hired gunman who, instead of taking on a job that goes against his moral character, teams up with Sheriff J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum), a long-time friend and fellow gunman, to stop ruthless landowner Bart Jason (Edward Asner) from forcing a neighboring family into selling their water rights. After being turned down by Thornton, Jason hires another crew of gunmen to get the job done. It falls to Thornton and Harrah, along with Thornton's young sidekick known as "Mississippi" (James Caan) and a deputy, to stop Jason from killing off Kevin MacDonald (R. G. Armstrong) and his family. While the story is classic Western in every regard, the movie is still gripping, even 40 years later. Hawks has a wonderful way of creating characters that have very human weaknesses, men that the audience can readily identify with. The actors keenly portray moments of anxiety and mortality, reflecting issues that, though not current in a temporal sense in relation to the movie setting, still hold as much sway today as they did four decades ago. Perhaps more surprising to me was the lighter side of the characters that was so expertly conveyed in the film, especially in reference to Wayne's character. Now admittedly, I have not seen all of Wayne's 170+ movies (ok, so I've only seen perhaps 10 of them), yet his reputation is not that of a light-hearted, comedic man. Without question, the chemistry between Wayne, Mitchum and Caan is obvious on film and speaks volumes in regards to both the actors' nature and the vision of the filmmaker.
The El Dorado Centennial Collection release comes on two DVDs. The first DVD contains the movie, which has had obvious and well-done color correction applied. For those interested, the film track includes two audio commentary selections. The first is by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, who did a great deal of biographical work with both Howard Hawks and equally legendary director John Ford. The second track is by film historian and critic Richard Schickel and features actor Ed Asner and author Todd McCarthy. Disc 2 contains the majority of the special features offered with this release. The primary offering is a 7-part featurette entitled "Ride, Boldly Ride: The Journey to El Dorado." This 30+ minute narrative goes behind the scenes of the making of the film, featuring still shots and film clips, as well as some audio recordings, and covers areas such as the relationship between Wayne and Hawks, as well as how relative newcomer James Caan was worked into the script. It is a well-made and equally well-paced piece, covering a great deal of material without going so far that it begins losing the interest of the viewer. The second feature is a five minute short film about the art featured in the movie. The final featurette is another five minute interlude, this time featuring an interview with producer A. C. Lyles as he remembers his time with John Wayne. All of these were well worth the time invested in watching them. The DVD also offers several photo galleries which include lobby cards and production set photographs (one of my favorites being a candid shot of Wayne over a chess board engrossed in a game against James Caan). As a final touch, the theatrical trailer is also included.
El Dorado is, all things considered, a great piece of movie-making featuring larger-than-life actors dealing with timeless and still meaningful dilemmas of morality, friendship and mortality. For the fan of Western films and the John Wayne aficionados, this release is a must-have for your collection, and I do not hesitate in saying that, for fans of great movies in general, this is a good one to add to your library.
