Movie Reviews by Edwin Jahiel

EL DORADO (1967)

A sequel of sorts, by Howard Hawks, to his Western "Rio Bravo." It's a formulaic but comfortable situation in which a group of variously handicapped good guys fight the bad 'uns. Tough and aging John Wayne is hired by a rich nastie to kill El Dorado's nice by bottle-hitting Robert Mitchum --who turns out to be Wayne's old amigo. It's not hard to guess that the two will team up, that Mitchum will sober up, that they will rid the town of its nefarious characters. An old bullet has paralyzed Wayne's gun hand; Mitchum is on crutches; James Caan can't shoot; Arthur Hunnicutt is old. The Hawksian themes of hardiness, camaraderie, professionalism and integrity are beautifully treated. Film is a pleasant mix of macho Western humor , banter , jokes, and of strong action. The actors do not strain too much or take anything too seriously -- instead they do their thing breezily and very well . It is convincing by the genre's conventions, though it requires an effort today to accept Ed Asner as a villain. The movie cannot get an A, but a solid B minus will do. There's something phony about its blatant, flat and unrealistic studio lighting of exteriors and interiors. Unseen sources provide more lumens to the town's main street than they do to most major metropolitan areas today; the sheriff's quarters also have a high level of flat lighting too. Lamps and lanterns make no sense in this context. This imparts some cheer to the movie but strains credibility and hurts modeling and three-dimensionality.