A discount rehash of Rio Bravo

I may as well have just rewatched Rio Bravo, for Hawks laid a discount rehash of what is arguably his masterpiece before my very eyes.

El Dorado is definitely fun and a good time when it wants to be but besides John Wayne, I couldn’t take anyone and anything here seriously, even actors I love like Robert Mitchum and James Caan. Not that their acting was bad by any means but simply because every time I saw Mitchum, I saw Dean Martin. Everytime I saw Caan, I saw Ricky Nelson. Charlene Holt, I saw Angie Dickinson. Arthur Hunnicutt, I saw Walter Brennan. All of whom were just not as compelling as the original performances.

The film also completely glosses over and strips the drama, conflict and inner demons of the characters, all of the elements which made Rio Bravo the stand-out western it is.