'El Dorado' Part of Howard Hawks LACMA Retrospective

Story at LA Weekly

Better Late Than Never: Howard Hawks at LACMA
Retrospective surveys indomitable director’s final films

... Rio Bravo (1959), El Dorado (1967), and Rio Lobo (1970) all star an increasingly monumental John Wayne and were scripted by Ms. Leigh Brackett, retracing the same paths to diminishing returns. (Hawks: “You’ve got fellows with guns, and one of them’s a sheriff ... there isn’t much you can do.”) Hedged in by outlaws, the Law waits on reinforcements. This involves rolling cigarettes, propping his leg on whatever’s handy, and generally bullshitting. Wayne nurses a gunfighter-turned-lush (real-life alkies Dean Martin or ROBERT MITCHUM) back to self-esteem and humors a procession of orn’ry ol’ crackers (real-life crackers Walter Brennan, Arthur Hunnicutt and Jack Elam). Hawks shows he can still turn a scene on a dime, as in... El Dorado’s shift from pastoral openness to the intimate suffering of a gut-shot kid (one of the toughest scenes Duke ever played).

Film Schedule at LACMA.org
El Dorado screens March 20.