El Dorado

Plot synopsis:
Cole Thornton (John Wayne), a gunslinger-for-hire, is hired by wealthy rancher Bart Jason (Ed Asner) to help him in a range war with the McDonald family in the town of El Dorado. The local sheriff, an old friend of Thornton, J. P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum) gives Cole more details that Jason had deliberately left out, including the possibility of having to side against Harrah. Unwilling to fight his friend, Thornton quits, to the relief of saloon owner Maudie (Charlene Holt), who is in love with Thornton (and was for a time a romantic interest of Harrah's).
The McDonalds learn of Thornton's presence in town. Fearing that he might come for them, Kevin McDonald (R. G. Armstrong) puts his youngest son, Luke, on guard. When Thornton passes by on his way back from rejecting Jason's offer, Luke (Johnny Crawford), who has fallen asleep, wakes and fires a wild warning shot whereupon Thornton reflexively shoots him. Luke is still alive when Thornton finds him, but he refuses treatment based upon the belief that a gut-shot man wouldn't have a chance anyway and commits suicide when Thornton turns his back on him.
Thornton subsequently brings the boy's body to the McDonald ranch and offers an explanation. The only McDonald daughter, Joey (Michele Carey), impulsively rides off before Thornton can finish his story and ambushes him shortly thereafter. Her shot is not fatal, but the bullet lodges next to Thornton's spine and in time begins to trouble him by occasionally pressing against the spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis of his right side. The local doctor, Dr. Miller (Paul Fix), does not have the skill to remove the bullet and Thornton soon departs El Dorado for a new job.
Several months later, Thornton runs into another gunslinger-for-hire named Nelson McLeod (Christopher George) and a young greenhorn with a peculiar hat called Mississippi (James Caan), who has come for revenge against one of McLeod's men for the murder of his old friend and mentor, Johnny Diamond. McLeod has been hired by Jason for the same job Thornton turned down and Thornton hears from McLeod about how Harrah has turned into a drunk after an unhappy love affair. Thornton decides to return to El Dorado, hoping to save Harrah from being gunned down by McLeod and his men. He is followed by Mississippi who also wishes to help, despite his lack of experience and terrible aim with a gun.
Once Thornton and Mississippi arrive in El Dorado, they hear more of the story behind Harrah's change. The two men then join with Deputy Sheriff Bull (Arthur Hunnicutt) in order to get Harrah sober and cleaned up. Mississippi contributes an old folk recipe for a hangover that he learned from Johnny Diamond, promising it will make any man unable to drink liquor for a while. The concoction proves to be violently effective, and leaves Harrah sober and furious. Within a day of their arrival, McLeod and his men also come to El Dorado and are hired on by Bart Jason. When one of them shoots one of the McDonalds, Thornton, Harrah, Bull and Mississippi chase the shooter and his friends into an old church and then into Jason's saloon. Harrah arrests Jason and takes him to the jail for his part in the shooting of one of the McDonalds. Later that night, Thornton and Mississippi decide to patrol the town in the hope of keeping the peace and are deputized by Bull. There is another shootout with McLeod and his men, which results in a minor leg injury for Harrah.
The next day, Maudie sends a message to Thornton and his friends, stating that McLeod's men are frightening her and her patrons. When Thornton and Mississippi go to help her, they are ambushed and Thornton has an attack that leaves him partially paralyzed and captured by McLeod. Subsequently, McLeod trades the injured Thornton for Bart Jason, a trade to which Harrah agrees, despite knowing that doing so will mean that nothing will stand in the way of McLeod going after the McDonalds.
Sure enough, McLeod and his men shortly thereafter kidnap one of the McDonalds in order to force Kevin McDonald to sign over his water rights to Jason. Thornton and the others are forced to quickly come up with a plan to rescue Kevin McDonald's son and neutralize Jason and McLeod. Despite Thornton's paralysis and Harrah's leg injury, the two of them, along with Bull and Mississippi, return to town on wagons. While Thornton distracts Jason and McLeod outside of the front of the saloon, Mississippi, Harrah and Bull attack from the rear. The kidnapped McDonald is rescued, with a little help from Joey McDonald. Jason, McLeod and his men are killed, and order is restored to El Dorado. Thornton also begins to imply that he may discontinue his wandering ways in order to stay in the town with Maudie.

Tags: murder

Review:
Making up for a poor script with an abundance of stunts and chases.
I am a total sucker for adventure movies.
I have watched all the best of them; Indiana Jones; Romancing the Stone; National Treasure; The Da Vinci Code; King Solomon's Mines; Jewel of the Nile.
And now I have watched one of the poorest attempts at replicating them: El Dorado.As it say's in my headline summary "El Dorado" is based on a very poor script where the "archaeology" plays an extremely small role.
Because of that it seems that the director has decided on filling the very obvious plot holes with endless and pointless chases, shoot outs and ever changing hostage and blackmail situations.
The problem is that no matter what happens and how many twists are used to try to confuse or shock the viewer we always know what is going to happen long before it does and all of the smoke, screens and mirrors never really cover up the fact, that there really isn't much of a story to engage in.These shortcomings are furthermore enhanced by the very poor acting displayed by the majority of the actors.
Some of the minor supporting actors are actually quite good, but they just can't carry the weight of the rest of the cast and the very poor script.Add to that the lacking of either skill or vision (possibly both) in the special effects/CGI section of the production crew.
The CGI portions of the movie (especially the ending) are so bad, that most people would expect more from the graphics of a 10 year old, cheap PC game.On top of all these shortcomings comes the ending of the movie which I will not reveal.
I just want to say that it is bad.
Very bad.
In fact so bad and so badly thought through, that you can't help but wonder how (in actual history) the Incans could have possibly lost to the Spanish when they had such great powers on their side.
It seems to me that the best part of the movie is actually the stunts and chases which are rather imaginative and well performed, so if you like that, you might like the movie - it's actually the reason why I gave the movie 3 instead of just 1 star...So just to sum it up, El Dorado is a very bad movie, based on a very bad script, with rather bad actors, containing very bad effects and CGI and with a very bad and unfulfilling ending..
Like a humourless A-Team/Airwolf episode..
A-Team and Airwolf are much better than this though!
Adventure Movieslike Indiana Jones work, because you never know whats coming next with the situations the characters find themselves in - there are many plot twists interlaced with 'fish out of water' characters who react with emotional range to their various situations - for example being trapped against a dead end wall in a temple with the Nazis/Baddies after them, Jones and his companions would show panic and terror before accidentally grabbing the right spot on a nearby sculpture which reveals a hidden door, perhaps by the woman trying to hit him for getting him into this mess!
In Indiana Jones characters are highly antagonistic to each other, providing not only humour but dramatic opportunities and interest for the viewer.
You become involved in the characters and the basic pantomime 'good and evil baddies and myth' story works.NOT THIS MOVIE THOUGH!
This has none of the above - cardboard cutout characters are stuck in place with a total lack of reactions and humorous situations.
The plot flies from basic pantomime 'good and evil baddies and myth' A to B, the goodies chased by the baddies without any emotional interest for the viewer.A scene typifies the whole film - the characters are trapped against a dead end wall with the baddies after them, Jack, the female lead and his geek sidekick are seemingly trapped and dead.
But of course they are not.
Jack simply hits the right spot so the wall raises and then comes down and hides them.
There is no explanation how he knows to do this.
But you knew that is exactly what would happen, being used to it from watching the simple plot and scriptwriting.
It's rather boring.There are no real problems for the hero, Jack in the script - unlike Jones (played as a character with human faults) he is played as a alpha male real man who can simply do anything.
The squeaky geek sidekick will of course never get any serious attention of the woman while a realman like Jack is around.
Jack is played as a deadpan character with few emotions who can always push the right lever or button.
The woman is strong willed but always falls in place next to Jack.
All this is set in stone from the start.
There is little in the way of antagonism or any dynamic between the characters while the baddies are after them, and for all these reasons a total lack of interest from the viewer.
Add in a few explosions and helicopters like in the A-Team/Airwolf episodes and there you have it.
Fast-paced adventure....
"El Dorado: Temple of the Sun" is an adventure movie in the likes of "Indiana Jones", "The Jewel of the Nile" and "The Librarian".
Set in South America, the movie kicks off in high speed and never really slows down.The story is pretty much similar to what you would find in the afore mentioned movies.
A treasure/relic hunter is looking for an ancient artifact (or in this case, the City of Gold), and being chased in hot pursuit by someone wanting the very same thing.
So it is pretty much textbook script here.
But despite it being an "Indiana Jones" clone, the story did work out well enough.
Only one thing did puzzle me; who was the 'bad guy' working for?
And truth be told, at the end when you find out, I was shaking my head in disbelief, because that was a bit ridiculous.
But you will see for yourself...Being set and filmed in South America was great, because it was like you were there yourself, running around in the jungle looking for treasure.
And the sets throughout the movie were nice as well.One thing always amuse me, and that is how poorly bad guys are at shooting when trying to hit the main characters of the movie.
It is so wrong.
When they shoot at other non-important people, such as the native people, they have perfect aim, but once the guns turn towards the heroes, the aim becomes way off.
That is so old and so cliché that it just doesn't work anymore.The cast in "El Dorado: Temple of the Sun" was pretty good, and most memorable were Shane West (playing Jack Wilder), Luke Goss (playing Col. Sam Grissom) and Natalie Martinez (playing Maria Martinez).If you like adventure movies, then "El Dorado: Temple of the Sun" is definitely worth checking out, because it is action and adventure from the very start and till the very end..
Beautiful scenery, Abysmal Sound editing, and obvious CGI.
As Audio Engineer, the sound team should be fired!
Episode one was watchable.
I could only stand the first few minutes of Episode two, the audio was so terrible I couldn't bear it.The scenery in Peru is beautiful!
The several elements of CGI were so obvious - sad.
I didn't have a problem with the acting for the most part, and the story was fun although I really wanted the bad guy dead from the very beginning.But all of the acting and wonderful scenery becomes moot if you can stand to listen to it.
I gave it 3 stars primarily for the scenery..
Complete Utter Fail.
Worst movie I've seen this year...Bad acting, bad screening, everything's bad about it...
CGI from the stone age...
I really can't find my words to describe such a fail of a movie.
And I thought Indiana Jones was lame...
Shane West, Oh God!!!
He doesn't have the slightest idea about acting...
everything he does is completely foreknown by any ten year old child watching.
It is so obvious that he is "performing".
And the other sidekick, Elden Henson, worse than everything you can imagine...
However, I would recommend you to watch it, C-movie section.............
.. Well worth the time.
The idea of creating a storyline around the Incan Empire, especially with the secretiveness of Atahualpa and the fall after the arrival of Francisco Pizzaro.
This mini series brings in historical facts with a science fiction twist.
It also has a "Indian Jones" feeling to is as Jack Wilder has training in archeology though has been trained to use it for treasure hunting.
However, his training in both comes in handy with the amount of people after him and what he's searching for..
The story has them traveling to some amazing historical places in the Incan Empire making anyone who has ever been curious about that civilization deeply involved in journey.
Great storyline..
very entertaining!.
Collection of clichés.
Small Indiana Jones.
With each piece of clock in perfect place.
Charming hero, beautiful girl friend and dusty companion.
South America as arena.
Subject - mythical city of gold.
So, a nice puzzle.
Bad guy - part of a conspiracy.
Corrupt army general.
Wonderful images.
And running, gun fires, old machines for protect artifacts, dusty story and victory of good guys.
A tale with well known lines.
But not boring.
For the meeting of elements from a way to rebirth adventures in a gray world.
For the errors , many childish of script.
For the large eyes front of spectacular fight scenes.
For the ambiguous line between good and bad.
And for Luke Goss in the role of without soul brute, for a Shane West as a kind of James Dean the explorer.El Dorado is perfect excuse for this action movie..
Lead over gold.
Jack Wilder (Shane West, "Nikita") teams up with Maria Martinez (Natalie Martinez) and the computer expert Gordon (Elden Henson, "Mockingjay") to search for El Dorado, the city of gold.
Mercenary Grissom (Luke Goss) is supposed to stop him by all means, because the gold owners fear for a drop in value of their gold if a huge additional amount gets on the market.
This is not making any sense, because historical artifacts would be locked into a museum, not molten and sold on the regular market, but anyway, it gives the villain the big advantage that he needs not to steal the artifacts, only destroy them, which allows more firepower.
Grissom tries a partnership with General Mata (Julio Oscar Mechoso), Jack Wilder also gets an offer he can't refuse, and soon we have at least 4 different parties pursuing and fighting each other over the gold before it's even been found...In the first half, they try at least to set up a story, but in the second half they give up and fill the time with explosions, gun battles and car chases.
Given the poor effects and poor acting (especially Shane West seems to be limited to staring at a certain angle which makes his forehead look impressive), entertainment at a very mediocre level.
If you are looking for a good Indiana Jones rip-off, look elsewhere..
Loved it!
Fun and Entertaining Story!.
I really enjoyed this one.
It's been a while since an excellent adventure story has been made and this one is definitely it.
Great story-telling, the acting was excellent and the cinematography was great.
unlike the last Indiana Jones film this film portrayed authentic Peruvians, with the correct music and factual data.
The last Indiana Jones movie confused Peruvians and Mayas and Aztecs and basically overlapped them all making it an insult to many Peruvians.
It was good to see someone actually did the research and used authenticity.
Good job to the director and the special effects were better than I thought they'd be.
Great job Shane West and cast, this was truly a fun adventure..
nothing unexpected.
if you do not ignore than "El Dorado" is part of a precise genre, the film is more than decent.
the recipes is used in right manner, the ingredients are the classic ones, the charm of Shane West is enough for a sort of Indiana Jones with great virtues or sins,Luke Goss did a not bad job and the adventure is pretty nice.
the adventure, the massacred myth and the fight for treasure.
nothing surprising.
like each film with so precise target, it is easy to say than the disappointment is yours fault.
because the acting or the special effects or the story are reasonable and it is bizarre to expect more.
so, new version of a sort of story so well known.
sure, in better versions..
El Dorado.
El Dorado.
I watched the two episodes last night and I thought they were great.
I wanted to be entertained and I was.
Exciting story; yes very similar to Indiana Jones but any treasure/artifact hunting film will be.
The story was good and well thought out, exciting while not being in the realms of the ridiculous.
I enjoyed Luke Goss's performance.
He is charismatic and those penetrating blue eyes riveting.
He does not get enough credit for his performance in this film.
It is the first time I have seen him act (only remember him in Bros!).
The locations up in the Andes, the jungle and coast were truly spectacular, wonderful to see, especially for an armchair traveller like myself.
I do not hold with the view that a film has to be 'Oscar' standard to be highly entertaining and in my opinion these two installments provide one with an excellent evenings viewing..
Disappoints where it counts.
Jack Wilder is a modern wannabe Indiana Jones that unfortunately doesn't come close to the original.
In this story Jack and his girl Maria has found a clue leading to the fabled city of gold, Eldorado.
But if that much gold would flood the market, the gold price would plummet and fortunes be lost, so a shady consortium of Wall Street traders send their mercenary Grissom to stop Wilder.
But when both a corrupt army general and the head of the drug cartel also show an interest in the gold, things get really chaotic.It is a good idea, albeit not an original one.
The search for treasure, and Eldoroado especially has been done so many times before.
In part, that is due to that the basis of the story is sound and allows for many opportunities.
Treasure, love, hidden artifacts and ancient legends combined always makes a good story.
But without anything extra, it is just one of many.
El Dorado is just one of many.And unfortunately, El Dorado disappoints when it really counts.
Action scenes and especially special effects are really poorly made, considering it is so recently made.
The CGI looks more like made in the mid nineties.Not very long, which is good, and not very memorable.
But not overly boring either.
It is just that there are so many much better treasure movies to see...4/10.
Very violent, not very adventurous.
With all the adventure films that have been made it's hard to be original.
One could opt for strong story lines, great acting or humour.
El Dorado has opted for violence.
And a lot of it.
The story is quite simple (finding gold) and the way to do that is apparently with the help of guns.
And riffles.
And more guns.
And shoot anybody who gets in the way.The acting and directing I find very, very sloppy.
I do like Shane West but in this film I think he's terrible.
In one scene he and his friends are strolling towards a village.
Then a dialogue starts and Shane's character (Jack) starts panting.
To make him more butch?
Someone must have told him it looks manly.
It sounds like Jack has asthma.
And Jack makes a habit of panting his way through his scenes.
There's a scene in a library and the hero and heroine are looking at some papers that are over 400 years old.
Normally one would handle these documents with care and respect whilst wearing gloves.
Nope, not here.
Like they hold yesterday's newspaper: opening and folding and throwing it about.
Most peculiar.
There are some special effects, very clever done yet totally misappropriate in this film.
Kids will love it, I think.
But then again, total body count is over a 100 (give or take a few) so you might think twice before you let your little ones see this picture.O well, it was a rather cold and rainy summer evening when it was aired in The Netherlands.
Ideal circumstances for this film.