James Caan was a spry 27 when he landed the role of knife-throwing gambler Mississippi in Howard Hawks’ first remake of Rio Bravo, titled El Dorado. Starring alongside John Wayne, who had several on-set spats but also famously showed loyalty to co-stars, and Robert Mitchum in the 1966 Western was a huge break for him, and over time, he’s recounted some wild tales about the on-set antics and sometimes heated clashes with the Duke.
Acting beside Wayne, who music icon Elvis Presley was in ‘awe of’ after their meeting, meant that Caan, who stood at the same 5ft 7in stature as Tom Cruise, had to don three-inch lifts to measure up to the iconic Western star. The two forged a bond during filming, but not without Wayne, who once savagely ‘punished’ a movie director after a public insult, having his share of fun by playfully intimidating the up-and-coming actor.
Caan, who passed away in 2022 and would have celebrated his 85th birthday this week, reminisced in past interviews about how Wayne would affectionately call him “kid” and tease him with comments like “You’re doing a lot of smiling Jiminy Cricket” in reference to his hat.
They would occasionally engage in chess games during breaks, and once, a serious accusation of cheating by Caan led to a fierce argument with Duke, which required Robert Mitchum to step in and defuse the situation, reports the Express.
On The Tonight Show in 1997, Caan reflected on his experiences with Wayne, saying: “If he could intimidate you, he’d stay on you forever until you just crumbled. He’d try you. So this one night I remember I was between he and Robert Mitchum and Howard Hawks was about 72 at the time and we’re outside in this big old Western town.”
The Godfather star recounted how Duke would come up to him during filming, instruct him to turn around in the scene, take a step, and “Give me that look that you me.”
The young actor obliged, but director Howard Hawks would interrupt with a loud “Cut!” telling him not to move.
This tug of war continued, with the Western icon insisting on a half step until the Mississippi-born star lost his cool. Caan confessed, “I was gonna hit him!” In the nick of time, Mitchum dashed in and defused the situation as he had with a previous chess game dispute.
An Instagram post from John Wayne “The Duke” captured this moment.
Caan acknowledged with a laugh: “He knew what he was doing, he was having a good time at my expense!” The conflict became the foundation for a strong friendship, as they routinely tried to one-up each other on set. Caan reminisced about how he disrupted Wayne by silently taunting him with the words “You snake!” which inevitably caused the Duke to chuckle.
The teasing escalated until one incident when Caan, then 27, found himself locked out of his dressing room. When he finally got the key and opened the door, he was greeted with an avalanche of trash.
Caan said: “Garbage just came out! He piled it with garbage, he was like a 12-year-old kid Duke.”