Quote:
Originally Posted by
FLMountainMan 
FTFY. Guess it just shows how subjective art is....
I think that John Wayne movies have not aged well. It's hard to translate them to today. That said, as John Wayne movies go I'd have to say this was up there pretty high, IMO. I really liked The Shootist (his last movie) and True Grit. Some of the others are hard to watch.
I really love the fact that Rio Bravo and El Dorado are the exact same movie: Aging, and ultimately likeable gunfighter (John Wayne in both movies) returns to town to find that his old friend the Sheriff (Dean Martin in Rio Bravo; Robert Mitchem in El Dorado) has become a drunk who is being cared for by the crotchety, but good natured deputy (Walter Brennan in Rio Bravo; can't remember the guy in El Dorado) who provides the comic relief. Meanwhile the bad land/cattle baron (Ed Asner in one, can't remember the other) is taking over the town and the Sheriff is in no condition to stop him, so John Wayne comes to the rescue aided by a young, brassy gunfighter with a good heart (Ricky Nelson in Rio Bravo; James Caan* in El Dorado). Oh, and there's also a love interest for John Wayne who helps out too by providing information/food/nursing (Angie Dickenson in Rio Bravo, can't remember in El Dorado). Ultimately winds up in a show down where John Wayne is incapacitated (Can't remember in Rio Bravo, paralyzed by a prior injury in El Dorado) and the Sheriff must find the strength to overcome the odds and his own sloth to win the day.
I don't know another example of two so nearly identical movies being made by the same person in their career, but maybe there is one.
(EDIT: May have a couple of these facts wrong. Going by memory and didn't consult IMDB on any of it.)
*Actually just to add a twist, James Caan's character can't really shoot, but is an expert with a knife. He does wind up carrying a sawed off shotgun for the final battle, but winds up shooting John Wayne in the leg with it accidentally.