In 1959 Howard Hawks made a Western, "Rio Bravo", starring John Wayne and with a screenplay written by Leigh Brackett. The film told the story of how a fearless gunfighter (played by Wayne) defends a town against a gang of ruthless outlaws with the aid of a motley collection of characters, including a drunkard, a semi-comic but brave old man and a young greenhorn.
In 1967 Howard Hawks made another Western starring John Wayne and with a screenplay written by Leigh Brackett. The film told the story of how a fearless gunfighter (played by Wayne) defends a town against a gang of ruthless outlaws with the aid of a motley collection of characters, including a drunkard, a semi-comic but brave old man and a young greenhorn.
This second film was not, officially, a remake of "Rio Bravo"; it was, for example, given a new title, "El Dorado". There are a number of differences between the films. In "Rio Bravo" Wayne played the sheriff of the town. In "El Dorado" Wayne's character, Cole Thornton, is not a lawman but a hired gunslinger who is originally hired to fight for the villains; he quits when he discovers just how villainous they are. The town sheriff, J.P. Harrah, is an ally of Thornton but is of limited use as he has become an alcoholic following an unhappy love-affair; in "Rio Bravo" it was the out-of-town gunfighter played by Dean Martin who had the drink problem. "El Dorado" also contains a sub-plot about how Thornton shoots a young man in self-defence and is then forced to justify himself to the man's family.
The similarities between the two films, however, are far from accidental. There are a number of deliberate hints that "Rio Bravo" was Hawks's inspiration, such as the fact that both films have a Spanish title, in each case the name of the town. The characters played by Arthur Hunnicutt here and Walter Brennan in the earlier film are very similar to one another. In each case the young greenhorn is named after an American state, Colorado and Mississippi. The surname of Wayne's character may be a reference to another of his earlier films, "The Quiet Man", in which he also played a man named Thornton.
Seen by itself, "El Dorado" is not a bad film. It is attractively shot, competently acted (Robert Mitchum is particularly good as the broken-down alcoholic sheriff Harrah) and has a fast-moving story. It is, however, in some ways a disappointment. In the earlier part of his career, Hawks had been a very varied director. Although he had made some classic westerns, he was not exclusively, or even primarily, a "western director" like John Ford. He had worked in a number of genres, generally with great success, also making classic war films, comedies, films noirs and even musicals like "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". It is therefore disappointing to see him at the end of his career repeating himself by effectively remaking one of his earlier films. This was to be his penultimate movie; his last, made three years later, was "Rio Lobo", another film- again with a Spanish title- which can be considered as an unacknowledged remake of "Rio Bravo", although with perhaps a greater degree of originality than "El Dorado".
Perhaps, however, Hawks was not entirely to blame. By the late sixties there were growing signs that the traditional Western had been done to death. So many had been made over the previous few decades that it was becoming increasingly difficult to use the genre to say anything new. (Those who did manage to do so were generally younger "revisionist" directors like Sam Peckinpah and Don Siegel who were willing to challenge the received idea of the Old West as one long struggle between the good guys and the bad guys). Even people who have not already seen "Rio Bravo" might find "El Dorado" lacking in originality and freshness, relying as it does on over-familiar situations and character-types, similar to those found in dozens if not hundreds of other Westerns dating back to the twenties and thirties. It was this lack of freshness which was to be a significant factor in the decline of the Western from the late seventies onwards and from which it has never entirely recovered, despite a modest revival in recent years. 6/10
In 1967 Howard Hawks made another Western starring John Wayne and with a screenplay written by Leigh Brackett. The film told the story of how a fearless gunfighter (played by Wayne) defends a town against a gang of ruthless outlaws with the aid of a motley collection of characters, including a drunkard, a semi-comic but brave old man and a young greenhorn.
This second film was not, officially, a remake of "Rio Bravo"; it was, for example, given a new title, "El Dorado". There are a number of differences between the films. In "Rio Bravo" Wayne played the sheriff of the town. In "El Dorado" Wayne's character, Cole Thornton, is not a lawman but a hired gunslinger who is originally hired to fight for the villains; he quits when he discovers just how villainous they are. The town sheriff, J.P. Harrah, is an ally of Thornton but is of limited use as he has become an alcoholic following an unhappy love-affair; in "Rio Bravo" it was the out-of-town gunfighter played by Dean Martin who had the drink problem. "El Dorado" also contains a sub-plot about how Thornton shoots a young man in self-defence and is then forced to justify himself to the man's family.
The similarities between the two films, however, are far from accidental. There are a number of deliberate hints that "Rio Bravo" was Hawks's inspiration, such as the fact that both films have a Spanish title, in each case the name of the town. The characters played by Arthur Hunnicutt here and Walter Brennan in the earlier film are very similar to one another. In each case the young greenhorn is named after an American state, Colorado and Mississippi. The surname of Wayne's character may be a reference to another of his earlier films, "The Quiet Man", in which he also played a man named Thornton.
Seen by itself, "El Dorado" is not a bad film. It is attractively shot, competently acted (Robert Mitchum is particularly good as the broken-down alcoholic sheriff Harrah) and has a fast-moving story. It is, however, in some ways a disappointment. In the earlier part of his career, Hawks had been a very varied director. Although he had made some classic westerns, he was not exclusively, or even primarily, a "western director" like John Ford. He had worked in a number of genres, generally with great success, also making classic war films, comedies, films noirs and even musicals like "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". It is therefore disappointing to see him at the end of his career repeating himself by effectively remaking one of his earlier films. This was to be his penultimate movie; his last, made three years later, was "Rio Lobo", another film- again with a Spanish title- which can be considered as an unacknowledged remake of "Rio Bravo", although with perhaps a greater degree of originality than "El Dorado".
Perhaps, however, Hawks was not entirely to blame. By the late sixties there were growing signs that the traditional Western had been done to death. So many had been made over the previous few decades that it was becoming increasingly difficult to use the genre to say anything new. (Those who did manage to do so were generally younger "revisionist" directors like Sam Peckinpah and Don Siegel who were willing to challenge the received idea of the Old West as one long struggle between the good guys and the bad guys). Even people who have not already seen "Rio Bravo" might find "El Dorado" lacking in originality and freshness, relying as it does on over-familiar situations and character-types, similar to those found in dozens if not hundreds of other Westerns dating back to the twenties and thirties. It was this lack of freshness which was to be a significant factor in the decline of the Western from the late seventies onwards and from which it has never entirely recovered, despite a modest revival in recent years. 6/10