El Dorado (1966)

[happydood]

Originally Posted by Musicguy

I know many of you prefer "Rio Bravo" but I just can't get into that film. The acting is way better in "El Dorado" and the film is more fun. Maybe many saw "Rio Bravo" first and got used to it so they like it better, but I can't see it.

Sorta curious if you saw El Dorado first...

[Early Memphis]

And then there are those of us who love both Bravo & Dorado, in any order. Go figure ...

[Rory]

Originally Posted by Musicguy

I know many of you prefer "Rio Bravo" but I just can't get into that film. The acting is way better in "El Dorado" and the film is more fun. Maybe many saw "Rio Bravo" first and got used to it so they like it better, but I can't see it.

I really like both movies, have the BDs to both, and plan to watch them over the holiday -- in fact in a couple hours! -- but I have to give the "artistic" edge to RIO BRAVO, though both are very commercial films and not truly the greatest of westerns (if you limit that list to ten or twenty).

Anyway, I bought EL DORADO twice on DVD, the last being the Paramount "Centennial Collection" in 2009, which came with a slipcover. That's where I keep my EL DORADO Blu-ray. Hate the cover for the BD.

[balthazar_bee]

In the whole RB vs. ED issue, there really can't be any clear victors.

Every time I find myself rearing up to proclaim Rio Bravo markedly superior to El Dorado, I take a moment and think about all the priceless bits in the latter film. I mean, it's got Robert Mitchum for god's sake, and Jimmy Caan, not to mention a leaner running time, and a generally breezier sense of fun. Maybe this is down to a greater variety of locations?

But in the showdown, it's hard to top Rio Bravo. It's kind of the ultimate "hang out" movie; the suspense builds gradually, but steadily, and in the meantime we get to spend time with Angie Dickinson, sing songs with Deano, and listen as the sound of a mariachi band grows ever more ominous. Ward Bond drops by too, carrying Ricky Nelson in tow.

And it came first, so there's that.

Ah, but which one do we watch more often? Honestly, probably El Dorado. And damned if I can figure out why. Must be Mitchum.

[Arch Stanton]

This got a 4/5 review? I've just looked at the screenshots and it's beyond hideous.

[Musicguy]

Originally Posted by happydood

Sorta curious if you saw El Dorado first...

I did see "El Dorado" first, found "Bravo' hokey. Love Caan and Mitchum. I like Dean Martin but not in westerns. Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan kill it for me

[Duke_45]

love...love...LOVE the bluray of El Dorado! Now if only Paramont could release The Sons Of Katie Elder and In Harms Way with the same stellar type transfer, life will be good!

[Michael24]

Forgot this had been released until I saw the thread pop up last night. Need to get this. I've still yet to see Rio Bravo but I've loved El Dorado since I was a kid. Great cast. Michele Carey is quite a looker, too.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by Musicguy

I did see "El Dorado" first, found "Bravo' hokey. Love Caan and Mitchum. I like Dean Martin but not in westerns. Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan kill it for me

Wow. Okay. I get where you're coming from, but Walter Brennan kills it? I love him. I'm always surprisingly impressed by Ricky Nelon tho he's not the greatest actor, but Dean Martin is legit at just about everything he did. When they sing in the jailhouse, I have a mile-wide stupid grin on my face.

I like El Dorado a lot, but Rio Bravoid might be the greatest western ever for me.

[Iamspartacus]

Watched El Dorado first and loved it then watched Rio Bravo and liked it. Rewatched both and have now decided that Rio Bravo is about the best western ever with El Dorado in the top seven or eight.

[The Great Owl]

Rio Bravo is my favorite film starring John Wayne, and it's one of my favorite westerns all around. Of course, I also saw it before I saw El Dorado.

There's something more "basic" about Rio Bravo that appeals to me, but they're both top-tier great western movies.

[Blu Titan]

Watching this now...looks fantastic. Anyways, does anyone know why John Wayne ride is a mule . No respectable cowboy or gun fighter would be caught riding a mule around.

[bipbop13]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Watching this now...looks fantastic. Anyways, does anyone know why John Wayne ride is a mule . No respectable cowboy or gun fighter would be caught riding a mule around.

you'd be surprised at how many "cowboys actually rode mules & donkeys. There was even an influx of camels from foreign shores at one point, as they could travel longer distances without water. There were actually wild camels in the southwest U.S. stemming from this right up until the '50's.

[Duke_45]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Watching this now...looks fantastic. Anyways, does anyone know why John Wayne ride is a mule . No respectable cowboy or gun fighter would be caught riding a mule around.

Are you sure you are not thinking of "The Comancheros"? There is a scene in that movie, where a prisoner that John Wayne is extraditing back to Texas, bonks him over the head with a shovel. When he wakes up, he finds the prisoner has taken his horse, and left him with a donkey (which John Wayne then rides back into town on).

I can't remember a scene in El Dorado where Duke is riding a donkey, but that could just be my bad memory at work.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by Duke_45

Are you sure you are not thinking of "The Comancheros"? There is a scene in that movie, where a prisoner that John Wayne is extraditing back to Texas, bonks him over the head with a shovel. When he wakes up, he finds the prisoner has taken his horse, and left him with a donkey (which John Wayne then rides back into town on).

I can't remember a scene in El Dorado where Duke is riding a donkey, but that could just be my bad memory at work.

Not a donkey but a mule ...they refer to it as a horse but it's definitely a mule. I was thinking that maybe he had an injury and decided to ride a mule since its shorter than a horse... have seen dozens of JW westerns and he always rode horses unless the role called for something else.

[Duke_45]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Not a donkey but a mule ...they refer to it as a horse but it's definitely a mule. I was thinking that maybe he had an injury and decided to ride a mule since its shorter than a horse... have seen dozens of JW westerns and he always rode horses unless the role called for something else.

Hmm, still cannot recall a scene in El Dorado where Duke is riding a mule. He rides a horse called Cochise (which he famously backs out of Ed Asner's ranch), for all the scenes I remember.

He did buy a mule in Cahill US Marshall, from a rancher named MacDonald, after his horse got spooked and ran away. And since there is also a MacDonald in El Dorado, could that be the connection(?).

[Rory]

Someone's confused here, including me. Where in the running time of El Dorado is Wayne riding a mule? I've watched it many times, on Blu-ray just a couple months ago, in fact. Can't recall it.

If it's there, "Well, I'll be a suck-egg mule!"

[kidglov3s]

Watching this disc and movie for the first time, and it's been a while that I've been as annoyed by EE. Even with the filtering this would be such a nice looking disc if they hadn't applied it (and without the filtering, even better). It's one thing to see this stuff on an old master but this was clearly a really good scan that they went and messed up. Reading about the film it seems I ought to track down Rio Bravo.

[Rich65]

Originally Posted by Rory

Someone's confused here, including me. Where in the running time of El Dorado is Wayne riding a mule? I've watched it many times, on Blu-ray just a couple months ago, in fact. Can't recall it.

If it's there, "Well, I'll be a suck-egg mule!"

He rides a horse for all the scenes he is on horseback. I've seen this movie many times (it's one of my favorite John Wayne movies) and he never rides a mule in it. It was always the horse named Cochise.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Not a donkey but a mule ...they refer to it as a horse but it's definitely a mule. I was thinking that maybe he had an injury and decided to ride a mule since its shorter than a horse... have seen dozens of JW westerns and he always rode horses unless the role called for something else.

Can you elaborate, maybe mention the time of the scenes or the colours? If you're referring to the animal with the spotted pattern, it's clearly an Appaloosa horse.