El Dorado
And as his strength
This land of Eldorado?"
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow--
"Shadow," said he
"Where can it be--—from Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe.
El Dorado is a classic 1966 Western movie directed by Howard Hawks, written by Leigh Bracket based on the novel The Stars in Their Courses by Harry Brown, starring John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and James Caan.
Famed gunfighter Cole Thornton (Wayne) comes to the small Texan town of El Dorado, hired by carpetbagger Cattle Baron Bart Jason (Ed Asner), and stays at the hotel owned by Maudie (Charlene Holt). The town's sheriff, J.P. Harrah (Mitchum), is an old friend of Thornton and warns him off: Jason wants to start a war with his neighbors, the MacDonald family, over water rights, and the MacDonalds are the rightful owners. Taking the hint, Thornton rides out to Bart Jason's farm and tells him the deal is off because he does not want to go up against Harrah. In the meantime the MacDonalds have heard about Jason's intentions, and as Thornton passes their territory, he is shot at by one of the sons, Luke MacDonald. Cole Thornton shoots back in self-defense, hitting Luke MacDonald in the stomach; the pain is too much for the boy, who commits suicide with a revolver Thornton overlooked. He brings the body to the MacDonald homestead and tells the family what happened, but Luke's tomboyish sister Joey (Michele Carey) will have none of it and shortly afterwards bushwhacks him as he rides back to El Dorado. Thornton survives and overpowers Joey MacDonald, but it is discovered that her bullet is lodged against his spine and the local doctor is not good enough to extract it without risking his death or paralysis. So after he is healed enough to ride, he leaves town and his friends J.P. and Maudie, promising to return when he can face the MacDonalds again.
A few months later, Cole Thornton reappears in a small town on the Mexican border. In a local cantina he witnesses a young man, Mississippi (James Caan), approaching a group of tough guys and challenging one of them. The man is the last of four men who had killed an old gambler, his surrogate father, and Mississippi wants revenge. The man's boss, gunslinger Nelse McLeod (Christopher George), is intrigued and watches, because Mississippi does not carry a gun. In a duel across the table, Mississippi manages to kill his opponent with a thrown knife before he can shoot. Thornton then saves Mississippi's life by shooting the gun out of the hand of another of MacLeod's men who now wants to avenge his late comrade. Impressed by his quick draw, MacLeod offers Thornton to take the dead man's place in his outfit for his next job - a range war in El Dorado. It should not be too difficult, he says, the only person who could interfere is the local sheriff, and he now is too drunk to shoot straight. Thornton politely refuses.
Grateful towards his lifesaver, Mississippi follows Thornton who the next morning sets off to El Dorado to aid his friend and because of his blood debt towards the MacDonalds. He witnesses Thornton falling off his horse as the moving bullet partially and temporarily paralyses him, and offers his help. Since Mississippi is a completely useless shot, Thornton at first refuses, then sees to it that he buys a sawn-off shotgun. The two make it to El Dorado ahead of McLeod's group; Maudie tells them that J.P. came to his sorry state after falling for a bad woman passing through town. With the help of Mississippi's hangover recipe they manage to sober J.P. up somewhat, but they still have to face McLeod's and Bart Jason's men heavily outnumbered: a gunslinger in constant danger of being laid low by the bullet nudging his spine, a recovering drunk sheriff, a useless shot, and crusty deputy Bull Harris (Arthur Hunnicutt)...
Some film buffs see El Dorado as a somewhat inferior remake of Rio Bravo, frequently blaming Arthur Hunnicutt for not being Walter Brennan, but the film is very watchable and quite enjoyable on its own.
Nelse McLeod-->Call it... professional courtesy.
- The Alcoholic: J.P. Harrah, when he is re-introduced.
- Artistic Title
- Awkwardly-Placed Bathtub: J.P. Harrah is forced to take a bath in the middle of the sheriff's office because there are hired guns in town waiting to kill him, and because he needs to keep watch on a prisoner the gunmen are after.
- Cattle Baron: Bart Jason.
- Combat Pragmatist: Cole Thornton.
- Deleted Scene: A group singalong similar to the ones in Rio Bravo was cut.
- Determined Homesteaders: The MacDonalds.
- Fauxreigner: Mississippi doing a horrid impression of a Chinese Launderer to sneak up on a thug.
- Foreshadowing: The Swede tells Mississippi a story about a gunfighter who had lousy eyesight who tended to shoot in the general direction of where he heard the other guy coming from. He shot a particularly noisy piano player. When J.P. Harrah and his posse go into a bar looking for a wounded gunman they were tracking, the trail of blood leads behind a piano being played by a very nervous and off-key piano player.
- Genre Blind: Mississippi
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: McLeod has a scar over his right eye.
- The Gunfighter Wannabe: Mississippi.
- The Gunslinger: Cole Thornton and Nelse McLeod.
- Halfbreed: Nelse McLeod is part Indian, which makes ex-Indian fighter Bull Harris's "danger sense" tingle.
- Handicapped Badass: Cole Thornton. Joey puts a bullet in his back in revenge for Cole killing her brother. It only bothers him sometimes, but when it bothers him, it bothers him hard.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Cole and J.P.
- Hideous Hangover Cure: It includes gunpowder.
- Hometown Nickname: Mississippi and The Swede. We learn Mississippi's real name, many times, but it's just too long for anyone to bother remembering.
- I Have Your Wife: In the later part of the film, Jason and McLeod try to blackmail Kevin MacDonald by holding his son Saul hostage. This not only brings Saul's sister Joey up in arms, but also his wife.
- Ironic Echo: Well don't you think I know a girl? The first time said by Cole while he and Mississippi are traveling. The second time by Mississippi after he stopped for a chat while they were tracking down a group of gunmen. Granted, she was telling him where to find them.
- Knife Nut: Mississippi.
- Literary Allusion Title: The title refers to the poem Eldorado (1849) by Edgar Allan Poe, which is recited by Mississippi at various points in the film. The hero of the poem is an ageing knight who loses his strength searching for the legendary city of gold, while the hero of the film is an ageing gunfighter whose strength his sapped by his life-threatening wound.
- Living MacGuffin and Hostage for Macguffin: The villains capture Cole Thornton and offer to trade him for Bart Jason, who is in jail awaiting trial for murder.
- Mysterious Informant: The Mexican girl sitting by her window who tells Mississippi that the gunmen, he Cole, JP and Bull are after are hiding in the church.
- Nice Hat: Inverted: Everyone singles out Mississippi to ridicule him for his hat, which he wears for sentimental reasons.
- And Subverted by the same character, wearing a tray for a potted plant on his head as part of a Paper-Thin Disguise.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Mississippi, because he's got more name than most characters have bullets.
- Overly Long Name: Mississipi's real name is Alan Bourdillion Traherne.
- Please Get Off Me: Mississippi sneaks up on and tackles a mysterious gunman hiding out across the street from The Sheriff's office, discovering it to be Joey MacDonald, who, true to form, trades a few words before asking him to get off. He replies that he's actually pretty comfortable before getting socked for his trouble.
- Prisoner Exchange: JP is forced to release Jason to McLeod and his men in exchange for Cole whom they captured.
- Professional Gambler: Mississippi by schooling. He does card tricks to pass the time during The Siege.
- A Real Man Is a Killer: Subverted, in his introductory scene, Mississippi kills the last of four men responsible for the death of his mentor. With a knife. In a gunfight. He gets nothing but flak from everyone else for most of the rest of the movie because of his relative inexperience.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Mississippi was on one that lasted two years to avenge the murder of his mentor Johnny Diamond. He found and killed the last of the four men responsible when he met Cole.
- Running Gag: J.P. Harrah can never seem to remember meeting Mississippi, probably because he was too schnockered to stand most of the times they are introduced.
- Several different people dropping by while J.P. is taking what is widely stated to be a well-needed bath and giving him bars of soap. Adding to his indignity, the sheriff's office lacks a private place to bathe, so he's basically in the middle of the room as people parade through.
- The Sheriff: J.P. Harrah.
- Shout-Out: To Shoot The Piano Player, directed by noted Howard Hawks admirer Francois Truffaut.
- The Siege
- Tap on the Head: Mississippi
- Throw It In
- Time Skip: The movie jumps six months ahead after the first act.
- Tomboy and Unkempt Beauty: Joey (Josephine) MacDonald.
- The Western
- Worthy Opponent: McLeod considers Cole Thorton this.
- Would Hit a Girl: Mississippi. At first because he didn't know she was a girl. Afterwards because she hit him first, but not to the point of trying to hurt her.
"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied,--
"If you seek for Eldorado!"