El Dorado is a 1966 American Western film directed and produced by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne and Robert Mitchum.

The supporting cast features James Caan, Charlene Holt, Paul Fix, Arthur Hunnicutt, Michele Carey, R. G. Armstrong, Ed Asner, Christopher George, Adam Roarke, and Jim Davis.

The film received critical praise and was commercially successful, generating North American rentals of $5,950,000 on box-office receipts of $12 million.

[4] J.P. Harrah is sheriff of the town of El Dorado and observes that his old friend, gun-for-hire Cole Thornton, has just arrived in response to a mysterious job offer from wealthy landowner Bart Jason.

The only daughter of the MacDonald clan, Joey, rides off before she can hear the truth, and shoots Thornton on his way back to town.

Over time, the bullet in his back presses against his spine, causing bouts of temporary paralysis in his right side.

They patrol the town to keep the peace, stopping an attempted attack by McLeod's gang on the jail, during which Harrah is hobbled by a bullet to the leg.

Jason and McLeod's men kidnap Saul MacDonald and demand that Kevin turn over his water rights for the return of his son.

El Dorado finally reached the theatres in June 1967, a month after The War Wagon had opened.

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson praised El Dorado as "... a tough, laconic and amusing Western that ambles across the screen as easily as the two veteran stars.

... [T]he barbed, pungent and frequently funny dialogue, plus some murderous gun forays, add up to crisp entertainment.

"[9] Roger Ebert awarded the film three and a half stars, stating: "El Dorado is a tightly directed, humorous, altogether successful Western, turned out almost effortlessly, it would seem, by three old pros: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and director Howard Hawks.