Robin Hood of El Dorado (film)

Robin Hood of El Dorado (film)

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Robin Hood of El Dorado
Directed by	William A. Wellman
Produced by	John W. Considine, Jr.
Written by	Walter Noble Burns
Screenplay by	William A. Wellman Joseph Calleia Melvin Levy
Based on	"The Robin Hood of El Dorado"
Starring	Warner Baxter Ann Loring Bruce Cabot
Music by	Herbert Stothart
Cinematography	Chester A. Lyons
Edited by	Robert Kern
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	March 17, 1936
Running time	85 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

The Robin Hood of El Dorado is a western film directed by William A. Wellman for MGM in 1936. The film stars Warner Baxter as real life Mexican folk hero Joaquin Murrieta and Ann Loring as his love interest, with Bruce Cabot as Bill Warren. J. Carrol Naish portrays Murrietta's notorious nemesis, "Three-Fingered Jack". The movie portrays Joaquin Murrietta as the Robin Hood of Old California in 1850, a kind, gentle man who was driven to violence. Wellman made it a hard-hitting story about racial prejudice and violence by both sides—Murrietta and his Mexican band and the white settlers.

Contents

 [hide] 

• 1 Plot summary
• 2 Cast
• 3 Notes
• 4 Crew
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Plot summary[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2013)

In 1848 in California, a Mexican farmer, Joaquin Murietta (Warner Baxter), has turned criminal to avenge the death of his wife, Juanita de la Cuesta (Ann Loring) and brother Jose (Carlos de Valdez) at the hands of the Americans.

Cast[edit]

• Warner Baxter as Joaquin Murrietta
• Ann Loring as Juanita de la Cuesta
• Bruce Cabot as Bill Warren
• Margo as Rosita
• J. Carrol Naish as Three-Fingered Jack
• Soledad Jiménez as Madre Murrietta
• Carlos de Valdez as Jose Murrietta
• Eric Linden as Johnnie Warren
• Edgar Kennedy as Sheriff Judd
• Charles Trowbridge as Ramon de la Cuesta
• Harvey Stevens as Captain Osborne
• Ralph Remley as Judge Perkins
• George Regas as Tomas
• Harry Woods as Pete
• Francis McDonald as Pedro the Spy
• Kay Hughes as Louise
• Paul Hurst as Wilson
• Boothe Howard as Tablard

Notes[edit]

The screenplay was written by the actor Joseph Calleia, Melvin Levy and Wellman, with assistance from Robert Carson, whom MGM had assigned as his writing partner. In 1937 Wellman and Carson won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for A Star Is Born. The Robin Hood of El Dorado was based on the biography of Murrietta by Walter Noble Burns and was MGM's attempt as a follow up to Viva Villa!. The film's working title was "I AM JOAQUIN!"

Film historian Frank T. Thompson writes that "Wellman made a stronger statement on the subject of racism than a whole spate of later films (like Gentleman's Agreement)."^[1]

The Robin Hood of El Dorado also anticipates the revisionist westerns of the 1960s, especially The Wild Bunch (1969), directed by Sam Peckinpah. Both films mix violence and sentimentality with an undercurrent of regret for a vanishing way of life. Specifically, the Mexican folk song, La Golondrina, is used to similar effect—as a farewell to the outlaw band and as a prelude to extremely violent climaxes.

Art director David Townsend was killed in a car accident while scouting locations for the film.^[2]

Crew[edit]

• David Townsend - Art Director

References[edit]

1. Jump up ^ William A. Wellman by Frank T. Thompson, The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1983.
2. Jump up ^ Los Angeles Times, August 6, 1935, "Crash Kills Film Expert, David Townsend, Art Aide, Dead and Three Injured as Car Falls in Canyon" pg. A2

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robin Hood of El Dorado (film).

• Robin Hood of El Dorado at the American Film Institute Catalog
• The Robin Hood of El Dorado at the Internet Movie Database
• Robin Hood of El Dorado at AllMovie
• Robin Hood of El Dorado at the TCM Movie Database

[hide] v t e Films directed by William A. Wellman
1920s	Second Hand Love The Man Who Won Big Dan Cupid's Fireman Not a Drum Was Heard The Vagabond Trail The Circus Cowboy When Husbands Flirt The Boob You Never Know Women The Cat's Pajamas Wings The Legion of the Condemned Ladies of the Mob Beggars of Life Chinatown Nights The Man I Love Woman Trap
1930s	Dangerous Paradise Young Eagles Maybe It's Love Other Men's Women The Public Enemy Night Nurse The Star Witness Safe in Hell The Hatchet Man So Big! Love Is a Racket The Purchase Price The Conquerors Frisco Jenny Central Airport Lilly Turner Heroes for Sale Midnight Mary Wild Boys of the Road Female College Coach Looking for Trouble Stingaree The President Vanishes The Call of the Wild Robin Hood of El Dorado Small Town Girl A Star Is Born Nothing Sacred Men with Wings Beau Geste The Light That Failed
1940s	Reaching for the Sun Roxie Hart The Great Man's Lady Thunder Birds Lady of Burlesque The Ox-Bow Incident Buffalo Bill This Man's Navy The Story of G.I. Joe Gallant Journey Magic Town The Iron Curtain Yellow Sky Battleground
1950s	The Next Voice You Hear... The Happy Years Across the Wide Missouri It's a Big Country Westward the Women My Man and I Island in the Sky The High and the Mighty Track of the Cat Blood Alley Good-bye, My Lady Darby's Rangers Lafayette Escadrille
Television	Light's Diamond Jubilee (co-directed)