A drought-ridden rancher agrees to transport a dangerous outlaw to the town of Contention for a train bound to Yuma and its prison. This is the original adaptation of that Elmore Leonard story with Van Heflin as Dan Evans, the desperate family man who needs the money, and Glenn Ford as Ben Wade, the charming but deadly robber. Glenn Ford, who much more often was cast as the straight lead or the hero, has an absolute blast playing the smirking, bemused antagonist who is sure his men (led by Richard Jaeckel as the loyal Charlie Prince) will dispatch anyone who stands in their way to free him, especially amateurs. Directed by Delmer Daves (#87
The Hanging Tree) with wonderful cinematography from Charles Lawton Jr. (
The Lady from Shanghai, The Tall T) and a theme song sung by Frankie Laine (of course!) it is a tense, fun ride that eight MoFos voted for including a sixth place vote and somebody’s full 25-point first placer.
Howard Hawks and John Wayne re-teamed for
El Dorado, which is a variation on their earlier extremely successful
Rio Bravo and a precursor to yet another tweak of the same formula in
Rio Lobo. This time out Robert Mitchum is the alcoholic sheriff who needs help from his old friend (Wayne), a gunslinger initially brought in on the wrong side of a fight over water rights. James Caan is a young gambler and Arthur Hunnicut the old coot who join them in their crusade. In
Rio Bravo it was Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan filling the similar roles. This similarity is amusingly noted in
Get Shorty when Delroy Lindo’s character tells Travolta’s Chili Palmer, “This time it ain't no John Wayne and Dean Martin shootin' bad guys in
El Dorado,” referring to what was playing on television the night they first met, only to be corrected by movie buff Chili who says, “That was
Rio Bravo. Robert Mitchum played the drunk in
El Dorado, Dean Martin played the drunk in
Rio Bravo. Basically, it was the same part. Now John Wayne, he did the same in both: he played John Wayne.” Enough MoFos liked this version to make it the first movie on the countdown to crest 100 points. It only got six votes but four of them were top tens: a seventh, a fourth, a third, and a second.
The Sons of Katie Elder, North to Alaska, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Shootist, Red River,
The Cowboys, El Dorado, Two Mules for Sister Sara, and Pale Rider