My Darling Clementine (1946)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Samuel G. Engel (screenplay) and
Winston Miller (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

3 December 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

The Roaring West At Its Reckless Best!

Plot:

A Western retelling the tale of the Shoot-out at the OK Corral.

Plot Keywords:

OK Corral | Marshal | Doc Holliday | Wyatt Earp | Revenge

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Henry Fonda	...	Wyatt Earp
Linda Darnell	...	Chihuahua
Victor Mature	...	Dr. John 'Doc' Holliday
Cathy Downs	...	Clementine Carter
Walter Brennan	...	Old Man Clanton
Tim Holt	...	Virgil Earp
Ward Bond	...	Morgan Earp
Alan Mowbray	...	Granville Thorndyke
John Ireland	...	Billy Clanton
Roy Roberts	...	Mayor
Jane Darwell	...	Kate Nelson
Grant Withers	...	Ike Clanton
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Mac the Barman
Russell Simpson	...	John Simpson

Also Known As:

John Ford's My Darling Clementine (UK) (complete title) (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

97 min | Spain:102 min | 103 min (pre-release version) | West Germany:92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Norway:16 | West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Approved (certificate #11591) | Canada:PG (video rating) | South Korea:12 (2003) | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (re-rating) (1995) | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

An alternate "preview" version of this film exists. In the 1970s, 20th Century Fox donated some film to the UCLA Film Archives. In 1994, it was discovered that the UCLA print was different from the one being shown on TV. It was about 8 minutes longer with minor variations throughout and a slightly different ending. Both this archival 103 or 104 minute version and the 97 minute release version are included on the Fox DVD released on January 6, 2004.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Wyatt is playing poker, Chihuahua puts her leg up on a chair showing her dark stockings. A few minutes later, when Wyatt catches her signaling the gambler, he pulls her outside and pushes her in a horse-trough and she's no longer wearing stockings.

Quotes:

[Chihuahua has just been seriously wounded]
Wyatt Earp: Mac, you and Buck go down and clean up the saloon. Put a couple of tables together and put some lights around 'em. Doc, you're going to operate.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) (TV)

Shakespeare In Tombstone

Set amid the sweeping vistas and the towering sandstone buttes and spires of Monument Valley, this John Ford film, about Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his encounters with the Clanton gang in rowdy Tombstone, Arizona, fulfills our need to experience the Old West as mythic romanticism. The visuals are striking. El Greco skies oppress a majestic and lonesome landscape of rock, dirt, dust, and cattle. Ghostly human figures confront death in heavy rain. Indoors, small, overhead lanterns emit soft light in tough barrooms. The B&W cinematography conveys a somber, moody, idealized vision of the nineteenth century American frontier.

But the film's romanticism is not just the product of adroit cinematography. The relaxed narrative weaves multiple, seemingly insignificant plot lines into a unified whole, and thus depicts the Old West as a place and time of humor, wit, religious faith, amiable conflict, even poetry and philosophy.

And so, in his heartfelt soliloquy of "the undiscovered country", Granville Thorndyke (Alan Mowbray), that congenial thespian rogue who quotes Shakespeare and who seems so out of place, adds texture and soul to the script, as a precursor to violence and death. This is after all ... Tombstone.

Inspired by the real life gunfight at the OK Corral, the story is less factual than suggestive. It's not just the film's fanciful portrayal of the shootout that abets credulity. It's the setting ... Tombstone is nowhere near Monument Valley.

But this is not a textbook. It is a romanticized cinematic interpretation of a long-ago culture, using a textbook incident as a premise. The film's theme centers on the nobility of outcasts and the basic goodness and humanism of frontier people. It's a broad-brush character study of historical figures like Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), Old Man Clanton (Walter Brennan), the Clanton sons, and of course Wyatt Earp and his sons. Although one could argue that Fonda lacks the tough guy strength and roughness that we would expect for a frontier legend, the casting and the acting are overall quite good. Editing, costumes, and production design also enhance the film's credibility.

Understated and meditative in tone, "My Darling Clementine" is a different kind of Hollywood western, one that conveys a humanistic theme with emotional depth. Characters are multi-dimensional, unvarnished, and as striking and memorable as the stately buttes and spires of Monument Valley.