John Ford Taking Great Liberties With The

In his book, John Ford, Peter Bogdanovich quotes Ford as saying,

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I knew Wyatt Earp. In the very early silent days, a couple of times a year, he would come up to visit pals, cowboys he knew in Tombstone;
a lot of them were in my company. I think I was an assistant prop boy then and I used to give him a chair and a cup of coffee, and he told me about the fight at the O.K. Corrall. So in My Darling Clementine, we did it exactly the way it had been. they didn't just walk up the street and start banging away at each other; it was a clever military manoeuvre.

Of course, Ford was known to lie about things so its possible he didn't know Earp. However it really happened, I think he made a great movie.

One of the truly great westerns, but totally lacking in historical accuracy. But that does not take away any of the enjoyment I get from watching this classic. and just for the record my favorite "Wyatt Earp" movies are "Hour Of The Gun" with James Garner and "Tombstone" with Kurt Russell

Hi,

I agree with the lack of historical accuracy in my Darling Clementine regarding the characters.

However Wyatt Earp was about in the 1920s refereeing World Boxing fights and it is quite possible that he and Ford would have met and as both were inclined to stretch a tall tale as far as it would go, it is quite concievable that they would become great friends. Certainly in the video he American West of John Ford, Ford describes the fight as being exactlyas Earp had described it to him. I also believe that Ford ended up with Wyatt Earps winchester, whether presented personally to him or not I don't know.

in a previous thread I commented that for Ford to concentrate so much on making a good picture why did he have to make it so innacurate historically.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

Further to the last thread this extract is from Searching For John Ford by Joseph McBride. In it he has this to say about Ford's relationship with Wyatt Earp

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'Josephine Marcus Earp wrote that her husbands experience with Hollywood was like his experience with newspapermen. After he discovered that they paid no attention to what he had told them Wyatt's sly sense of humour was directed to the movie people. He pulled their legs telling them the sort of improbable things found in western fiction stories. To his amazement they swallowed these tales hook line and sinker, but were always sceptical of the truth. At this point my husband gave up in disgust refusing to have anything to do with 'those damn fool dudes' as he called them. Both Dwan's version of the Earp saga 'Frontier Marshal' (1939) and Ford's My Darling Clementine' (19446) were based on the fanciful 1931 biography by Stuart N Lake Wyatt Earp Frontier Marshal, which emroidered the the facts with the co-operation of Earp himself.
In his 1997 biography Wyatt Earp - the Life Behind The Legend', Casey Tefertiller wrote of Clementine ' Ford did have a few things a little askew such as killing off Doc Holliday and old man Clanton at the OK Corral, plus having the fight in the wrong location, but no one quibbles over details when a movie works.
Ford never would admit that he was doing anything less than a semi documentary re-creation of the October 26 1818 Gunfight at the OK Corral, with Wyatt Earp serving from beyond the grave as an un-credited technical advisor. When Earp visited Universal Ford told Bogdanovitch, 'I used to give him a chair and a cup of coffee, and he told me about the fight at the OK corral. So in my Darling Clementine, we did it exactly the way it had been'.
'Jack said that' responded Olive Carey. He's full of crap. God how he romances!'
Ollie conceeded that Ford and Harry Carey probably did meet Wyatt Earp at Unversal, but when asked if it was true that Ford learnt about the OK Corral directly from Earp, she snorted. 'Of course not'. He made that all up. You know damn well he made it all up.
But who really knows what John Ford and Wyatt Earp had to say to each other? Perhaps it was from Earp that Ford learned what it meant to print the legend'.

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In talkng with Peter Bogdanovitch when he gave his account of the story. It must be remembered that when he met Earp Ford was a lowly prop man and not the director he would later become.

Regards

Arthur

Hi,
I realise that historical accuracy, in Hollywood,
seems to go out the window!
The telling of the Wyatt Earp, and the gunfight,
regardless of accuracy,have made for some great films.
I like to watch them all together,
starting with:-
MY DARLING CLEMENTINE
HOUR OF THE GUN
GUNFIGHT AT OK CORRAL
WYATT EARP
TOMBSTONE

It's great to compare them that way,
but I still think TOMBSTONE comes out on top,
followed by GUNFIGHT.

Keith

I never liked My Darling .........until I got a copy of this off ebay for $1

Frontier Marshal (1939)
Directed by
Allan Dwan

Writing credits
Sam Hellman
Stuart N. Lake (novel)

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Genre: Western (more)

Plot Summary: Earp agrees to become marshal and establish order in Tombstone in this very romanticized version of the gunfight at the O.K... (more)

User Comments: My Darling Clementine Was a Remake of This Movie (more)

User Rating: 6.7/10 (27 votes)

Complete credited cast:
Randolph Scott .... Wyatt Earp
Nancy Kelly .... Sarah Allen
Cesar Romero .... Doc Halliday
Binnie Barnes .... Jerry
John Carradine .... Ben Carter
Edward Norris .... Dan Blackmore
Eddie Foy Jr. .... Eddie Foy
Ward Bond .... Town Marshal
Lon Chaney Jr. .... Pringle