El Dorado (Paramount Pictures) (1966)

PUBLICITY EASY-GOING ROBERT MITCHUM SCORES AGAIN IN “EL DORADO” Robert Mitchum, who co-stars with John Wayne in Howard Hawks’ rugged Western adventure, “El Dorado,” a Paramount Pigtye: CRGIIIR innate scsisccietaiss EE cai riasscizctencks Theatre, rates as one of Hollywood’s most difficult interviews as far as press people are concerned. Though he’ll gladly agree to talk to newspapermen (and women), the surest way to get him to clam up is to start asking questions. The more his questioners want to know, the more likely Bob is to respond with a grunt or a monosyllabic answer. However, let the interviewer shut up and let Mitchum conduct the conversation as if it were a “happening,” and there’s no telling how much one is likely to learn. And of course, there is always the last resort expedient of asking other people, those close to him, about him. His main interests are his family (his wife and three children) and horses. But other bits of information are likely to come out when he talks about these. He has no great pretensions about his acting. He has been heard to remark that he regards himself as a reasonably facile journeyman actor. “It’s like being a plumber. I submit my credentials, agree on the price, do the job and then check out.” He claims not to enjoy working and each time he accepts a role he’s likely to imsist that he’s been “conned into working again.” He doesn’t socialize in Hollywood’s film colony. “I’m a bum. I like to sit. I don’t like people invading my privacy and I don’t invade theirs. I guess I’m just not the social type.” He isn’t terribly interested in food. If you ask him how he feels about drinking, he doesn’t answer. He’s toe busy pouring. He married Dorothy Spence in March, 1940. When they met, she was going with his brother. That didn’t stop him from moving in to stay. Facts which come out on occasion, but which he won’t talk about in response to direct questioning include: He was 14 years old when he read “War And Peace.” When he was 16, he was serving time on a Georgia chain gang. He writes poetry and children’s plays and has been published and produced. He spent two years bumming around the country holding down a variety of odd jobs. He served time in a California jail on a narcotics charge. He was a ghost writer for astrologer Carroll Righter. He has been a movie star for about 25 years and has made well over 100 films. He apparently knows nothing (and cares less) about the technical side of the film business. He doesn’t go to the movies and he doesn’t look at television. He has recorded and made the Cash Box most popular list with “The Ballad Of Thunder Road,” which he wrote himself. He is a genuine tough guy and has been known to acquit himself well in numerous brawls. He loves animals and often exhibits a tender side to his nature when dealing with them which later embarrasses him. He is an enigma and a contradiction, one of the few actors with whom most gossip columnists don’t even pretend to be on intimate terms. He is a damn good actor. Still #10423/115 Mat 2A DISGUSTED. . .“I’d have more privacy in the El Paso railroad station,” says Robert Mitchum to John Wayne and Charlene Holt in this scene from Howard Hawks’ “El Dorado,” a lusty Western for Paramount Pictures opening Besta eaters ss ab Ae ioeeees Theatre. “El Dorado” is set in Texas in the perfect era for tumultuous western adventure, the period following the Civil War when the cattle market was beginning to emerge. Story of a gunfighter and a sheriff in a range war, the Technicolor film also features James Caan and Michele Carey, and Arthur Hunnicutt. Still #10423/Spec/1 Mat 3A THE OLD WEST LIVES AGAIN when John Wayne and Robert Mitchum team up in Howard Hawks’ Technicolor Western, “El Dorado,” a Paramount Picture opening .......... at the Liste ete mcaawe Theatre. James Caan, Charlene Holt, Michele Carey, Arthur Hunnicutt and Paul Fix co-star in the blazing Western which was filmed on location in Arizona. PERFECT CAST, DIRECTOR, ANU ERA MARE “EL DURADO’ A SUPERIOR WESTERN “E1 Dorado,” a Paramount Picture opening ..................s000 Bb. BEC scscten ss tcanaanpinions Theatre, is a big, colorful, film, full of action, sex, humor and all the other ingredients one always hopes to find in arousing outdoor adventure yarn. Starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, “El Dorado” is set in Texas in the perfect era for tumultuous western adventure, the period following the Civil War when the eattle market was beginning to emerge and when empire-builders and gunfighters were governed by greed and the desire for power. John Wayne is the for-hire gunslinger, with Robert Mitchum playing his one time companion, now a law officer involved with a girl. There is the typical Howard Hawks scene of the two friends, temporarily estranged, almost beating each other insensible before they discover they are really on the same side and closer than ever, The film is also sprinkled with the typical two-fisted humor one expects in a Howard Hawks feature. It took 36 shooting days to film the exteriors in Arizona and an additional nine weeks to complete the interiors in Hollywood. During the location filming, the company headquartered in Tucson. Robert Mitchum leased former Senator William Nolan’s home, Wayne and Hawks lived at the Ramada Inn, spring training headquarters for the Cleveland Indians, and members of the group who had not brought their families were housed in motels. Tucsonians were hired as extras, wranglers, security guards and in service capacities, all adding up to a total of over 200 people working on the location scenes. A transportation fleet was brought in from Paramount’s Hollywood studio and this was augmented by 25 cars and 13 pieces of heavy equipment, obtained locally. Herds of cattle and horses were leased from local ranchers. “Old Tucson,” built in 1940 as a reproduction of Tucson as it was in frontier days, and which has served as a site for some 50 feature and television films, was one of the main locations for “El Dorado.” The town, 13 miles outside of Tucson, was originally a set for the Wesley Ruggles movie, “Arizona,” and since then each company using the site has changed it somewhat. It numbered 84 complete buildings when Hawks and company moved in. It still numbers 84, but the Hawks’ changes amount to the greatest remodeling job the community has ever known. When it isn’t being used for movie locations, “Old Tucson” is operated as sort of a westernized Disneyland by a syndicate which leases it from Pima County. The syndicate comprises some 65 stockholders. The town is a popular tourist attraction, drawing over 300,000 visitors annually who come from all over the world to watch the bank being held up six times a day and to see a re-creation (inspired by the Hollywood treatment of the event) of the famous “Gunfight At The O. K. Corral.” Other sites used by the company during the location filming were Sonoita Creek on the Oak Bar Ranch, between Nogales and Patagonia; The Amado Ranch near the town of Amado; cactus-studded Avra Valley in Pima County; and the Pantano Creek. For his role as Mississippi, James Caan had to learn knife-throwing and became quite expert at it under the tutelage of Rodd Red Wing, the multi-talented coach of Indian and Western business. Red Wing also taught Christopher George an ambidextrous fast draw with a .45 and Michele Carey how to handle a rifle. Perhaps his oustanding feat was in training Charlene Holt to do the spring shuffle and the fan spread with playing cards and to cut a deck with one hand. STILL THE BEST! ae Still #10423/6 MatiA BOX-OFFICE CHAMP John Wayne is teamed with Robert Mitchum in Howard Hawks’ “E] Dorado,” a Paramount Picture in Technicolor opening ...... at the Theatre. Story of a gunfighter and a sheriff in a range war, the lusty e Western co-stars James Caan, e Charlene Holt, Michele Carey, . Arthur Hunnicutt and Paul Fix. ~ ©0000000000668080800680806800668 e@oeee ee eee