My Favorite Movies: El Dorado

I am not a big western fan. There are a few I like, but not many. Among the few I like, one of my favorites is El Dorado. The movie has a great cast that includes John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, and Ed Asner. It has a wonderful script by Howard Hawks, who also directed it. Hawks was writer or director or both for great films such as Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, Ball of Fire, and The Big Sleep.

John Wayne plays Cole Thornton, a gun for hire who finds out his next job is near the same town where his old friend, J.P. Harrah (Mitchum) is the Sheriff. Cole decides to turn the job down when he finds out that the man who wants to hire him, Bart Jason (Ed Asner), didn't tell him the complete truth about the job. The only way Jason can continue to grow his business is to get the land (and especially the water on that land) that the MacDonald's have owned for over 20 years. Jason doesn't care how he gets the land, he just wants it.

I love the sound bites in the trailer. "The story of two close friends who didn't need an enemy to start a war." "Wayne and Mitchum - a pair of bull-headed battlers who lock horns and then join forces against the best guns in the west." "A beat-up band of misfits with nothing to lose but their lives." I really miss trailers with sound-bites like that.

There are so many great lines in the film, that I really couldn't leave any of my favorites out. So, enjoy a peek at El Dorado through the many great lines. And then go get the movie.

J.P.: Cole, that's about close enough to that gun.
Cole: I just wanted to see if you slowed down any.
J.P.: Not that much.

J.P.: I guess you're supposed to take care of me.
Cole: Well, not that I couldn't do it, Harrah, but I don't think I'd like that.
J.P.: I'm glad to hear you say that. Not that I couldn't handle you, but I don't think I'd like that either.

J.P.: I gather you knew him before you knew me.
Cole: Before me? I knew her when she was a kid.
Maudie: Didn't I tell you that J.P.?
J.P.: No, you never did. Up until now I thought you had good taste.
Cole: And up until now I thought she had good taste.

Maudie: Have you known him a long time?
J.P.: Yea. I've known him a long time. Since before the war. We've, uh, we've traveled some together.
Maudie: Sure, I know what that means. It means either you saved his life or he saved yours, or both. And neither of you will talk about it. Men.
J.P.: Would you like it set to music, Maudie, with a full orchestra?

Cole: Next time you shoot somebody, don't go near 'em until you know they're dead.

Cole: Who are you?
Doc Miller: The name's Miller. Some people call me a doctor, and some, other things.

J.P.: Doctor, can he be moved?
Doc: Sure, in a couple of hours. But don't go bouncing him around.
Maudie: He can stay here. I'll make him comfortable.
J.P.: Well, I've got a fine bed over at my place. It's narrow and it's hard and it's uncomfortable, but he won't get bounced around.

Cole: Pick up your gun.
Milt: Against him or you?
Cole: Me first.
Mississippi: Why should you go first?
Cole (to Milt): Pick it up.
Mississippi: Just a second, I...
Cole (to Mississippi): Tell me about it later.
Mississippi: I'll tell you about it now.
Cole: (to Mississippi): Shut up.

Nelse: (to Cole): You promise to take Milt's place?
Milt: You got a lot of faith in me, don't you Nelse?
Nelse: Faith can move mountains, Milt, but it can't beat a faster draw.

Cole: Just a minute son.
Mississippi: I am not your son. I am Alan Bedillion Treherne.
Cole: Lord almighty.
Mississippi: Yea, well, that's why most people call me Mississippi.

Nelse: You're pretty good with a knife. Can you use a gun?
Mississippi: Well, if I could, I'd be using one.

Cole: Wanna get something to eat, Mississippi?
Mississippi: Mr. Thornton, I would've walked right out here, right into those two fellas if you hadn't stopped me.
Cole: I asked you if you were hungry.
Mississippi: I'm trying to thank you.
Cole: I'm hungry.

Cole: If you're gonna stay around here, I got two pieces of advice for you. Get rid of that hat, learn how to use a gun.

Mississippi: Johnny didn't believe in guns. He always thought ---
Cole: He's dead. Think about that, unless you can learn to stay out of trouble.
Mississippi: That's one thing even Johnny couldn't teach me to do.

Mississippi: Cole! Cole Thornton! Where are you?
Cole: Close enough to blow your hat off, if I hadn't recognized it.

Cole: You know better than to follow a man that way?
Mississippi: Sorry. I didn't know there was another way.

Mississippi: You sure your friend's worth helping?
Cole: You just spent two years chasing some fellas that killed a friend of yours. You think your friend was worth two years?
Mississippi: I guess I asked a fool question.
Cole: You did.

Mississippi: I figure he'd be pretty mad, you turning him down and showing up on the other side.
Cole: I hope he is.
Mississippi: How come?
Cole: Fella in his business hasn't got a right to get mad. He gets mad, he's not so good. So, the madder he gets, the better I like it.

Cole: Why do you wanna keep stickin' your nose in this?
Mississippi: Maybe I could help. You saved my life two times.
Cole: But I'm gonna be too busy to keep doing that.

Mississippi: "Gaily Bedight, a gallant knight, in sunshine and in shadow, had journeyed long, singing a song, in search of El Dorado. Over the mountains of the moon, down the valley of the shadow, ride, boldly ride." Always liked that poem too. Make me want to --
Cole: Ride, boldly ride? Well, it don't work out that way.
Mississippi: I'm learning that.

Cole: I'm looking for a gun for a fella who can't shoot.

Mississippi: Well, where are we headed for?
Cole: To see a girl.
Mississippi: To see a girl?
Cole: Yes, a girl. Don't you think I could know a girl?
Mississippi: Always make you mad, don't I?
Cole: Mostly.

Maudie: So, J.P. found out the hard way. She ran off with a drummer.

Mississippi: Well, I found one thing out.
Cole: What's that?
Mississippi: You know a girl.

Bull (to Cole): If it hadn't been so dark, I might've spotted you. I might have anyhow, if I hadn't been trying to figure out what that other fella's got on top of his head.
Mississippi: It's called a hat.
Bull: Well, I'll have to take your word for that.

J.P.: What are you doing here?
Cole: I'm looking at a tin star with a drunk pinned on it.

Cole: Are you sure that Johnny Diamond wasn't an embalmer.

J.P.: Did we have a fight or something?
Cole: Or something.

J.P.: Wait for me!
Cole: Why?

Cole: What did they look like?
Matt: I know what they looked like. One of them was tall, one of them was short. One of them had a bad leg.
(Side note: Great description. They'd be easy to find. *wink*)

Girl: Is it that you look for three men?
Mississippi: That's right.
Girl: One walks with a leg which is not good? Another is very tall?

Cole: What kept you?
Mississippi: I talked to a girl. She said she saw --
Cole: A girl?
Mississippi: Don't you think I can know a girl?

J.P.: One got away, Cole.
Cole: You oughta know, you missed him.

Cole: Did you get him?
Mississippi: Who?
Cole: The fella that ran out of the church.
Mississippi: Well, yes and no.
Cole: What do you mean? Did you or didn't you?
Mississippi: I hit the sign, and the sign hit him.
Cole (sarcastically): That's great.
Mississippi: He was limping when he left.
Cole: He was limping when he got here.

Cole: If you have to use that [gun], make sure which way it's pointed.

J.P.: Joe, you're playing a lot of sour notes on that piano.
Joe: I know I am.
J.P.: You don't look very happy.
Joe: I'm certainly not.
J.P.: Wouldn't you like to move away from that piano, Joe?
Joe: You're darn right I would.
J.P.: Well, then, move!

Mississippi: There's somebody out there with a gun.
Bull: Everybody in town's got a gun.
Mississippi: Yea, not pointing at us, though.

Bull (to J.P.): First time in two months I've felt like doing nothing for you. Now you don't want me to do it.
J.P.: Was there something wrong with that, or is it just my hangover?

Mississippi: She would've shot that fella.
Cole: She shot me.
Mississippi: Uh, she, uh... Hmm. She's somethin'.

Bull: If you're gonna do that, here's a couple of badges. Now, raise your right hand. I forgot the words, but you'd better say "I do."
Cole/Mississippi: I do.
Bull: Now you're deputies.
Mississippi: You suppose these'll do any good if anybody takes a shot at us?
Bull: Give 'em a good mark to shoot at.

J.P.: I suppose I've asked this before, but who is he?
Cole: Tell him your name, Mississippi.
Mississippi: Alan Bedillion Treherne.
J.P.: Well, no wonder he carries a knife.

J.P.: Bull, do you suppose you could slip out the back door and get Doc Miller over here without getting shot?
Bull: If I thought I was gonna get shot I wouldn't go.

J.P.: Alan Bedillion Ter-who?
Cole: Terhane.
Mississippi: Treherne.
J.P./Cole: Treherne.
Mississippi: Yea.

J.P.: Bull, you suppose you could slip out the back door and bring us some food?
Bull: Without getting shot?
J.P.: I wish you would.
Bull: I don't know what he wants me to do - get shot or get food.
Mississippi: Want me to go with you?
Bull: Yea. If I get shot you can bring back the food.

Josephine (Joey): Good morning, Sheriff.
J.P.: Joey, I'm taking a bath.
Joey: Oh, don't mind me, Sheriff. I was raised with four brothers.
J.P.: Well, I'm not your brother.

Joey: You look a lot better without that hat.
Mississippi: Well, thank you, Ma'am.

J.P.: All right, let her come through this way. I'll close my eyes.

Cole: Mississippi, you wanna ride, boldly ride again? Might be some trouble.
Mississippi: Over the mountains of the moon, down the valley of the shadow... here we come.

Mississippi: These are the people who wait for people outside of doors. Kind of makes you wonder about that door, doesn't it?
Cole: You're learning, Mississippi.

J.P.: They've got McLeod and their gunhands, and they've got your brother. You just take a look around here. We've got two cripples, a green kid, and a noisy old --
Bull: Indian fighter.
J.P.: Indian fighter.

Mississippi: How you gonna get down from there?
Cole: That's easy. I'm gonna fall down.

Mississippi: "And when his strength failed him at length, he met a pilgrim shadow, 'Shadow,' said he, 'where can it be, this land called El Dorado?'" I'll see you, Cole.
Cole: I hope so.

Now, for those of you who are curious to see Alan Bedillion Treherne's (a.k.a. Mississippi) hat that everyone talks about, I won't make you wait until you see the movie (which I'm sure you want to now). It's a great hat. And the young James Caan doesn't look too bad himself (here he is with Michele Carey, who plays Joey).