I wanted this movie for my John Wayne collection. I saw it when it can out in the movies and needed to add it to my DVD collection. This is one of the best of Waynes's Movies.

A comical and serious movie. Robert Mitchum and John Wayne together were really good.

They just don't make movies like this anymore, which is why I like these westerns more and more as time goes by. Good guys and bad guys, horses and guns, Robert Mitchum and John Wayne! What more could you ask?

Oh,and lets not forget the scene where commie-lib Ed Asner gets pistol-whipped by Robert Mitchum. That alone makes it worth buying.

John Wayne and James Mitchum were great in this movie. Lots of good humor and memorable quotes.

Some say that Howard Hawks made the same picture three times with Rio Bravo, El Dorado, and Rio Lobo. In the broad strokes, it is true. John Wayne isn't the straight romantic lead in any of them, but has his interests. There are several beautiful young women in different roles in the film and there is a younger man, usually a male star that someone is trying to push (Ricky Nelson, James Caan, and Jorge Rivero). And Wayne is fighting some mysterious guy with all the money trying to cheat and drive out an honest family. All the stories have enough twists to be enjoyable. And I liked this story very much.

In this movie John Wayne plays a hired gun named Cole Thornton. He comes into El Dorado and meets up with Sheriff JP Harrah (Robert Mitchum). The have known each other since before the Civil War, but something has passed between them. They respect each other, but aren't quite close friends. One of the problems is Maudie (the beautiful and captivating Charlene Holt). She has a relationship with the Sheriff, but she has deep affection for Cole, and that spoils it for Harrah.

The Sheriff is worried that Cole has gone over to a bad place and wants to fill him in on the truth about Bart Jason (Ed Asner) who has hired Cole. The truth is that Jason has been building a big spread that requires more water, but the water he needs is on land owned by the MacDonald family. The MacDonalds have been on their land and built their ranch over a lifetime and after much sacrifice and hard work. They don't want to sell. Cole is supposed to convince them to sell. Cole decides he doesn't want to work for Jason and heads over to his place to return the money he was paid - less traveling expenses. The MacDonalds have heard about Cole and left one of their sons as a watchman. A tragedy occurs and the boy's sister ends up shooting Cole with a wound that leaves a bullet pressing against his spine. Every now and again, it causes Cole shooting pain and temporary paralysis that increases with time.

Cole leaves the town and along the way picks up Alan Bourdillion Traherne (James Caan) as a traveling companion. Traherne is called Mississippi by Cole because he finds the name as absurd as the man's hat.

There are people on both sides of the fight over the MacDonald's land, but by the time Cole returns to El Dorado, Harrah is a sorry drunk. The story builds to a climax with Cole, Harrah, Bull Harris, and (Arthur Hunnicutt) under siege in the town jail. Christopher George does a nice turn as Nelse McLeod, the gun hired by Jason to counter Cole's support of Harrah.

I will let you watch the movie to see the way things work out. Sure, you can guess the final resolution, but the way the story twists and turns does keep us entertained. One of the lighter moments comes when Harrah sobers up and his companions demand that he bather. I will let you delight in the way the scene plays out.

Quite a good Waynestern.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI