Because of the our new thread
The Wyatt Earp Movies,
I have 'bumped' this.
As it is a John Ford movie,
just click on the link
John Ford- My Darling Clementine
Posts from ethanedwards in thread „My Darling Clementine (1946)“
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My Darling Clementine is a 1946 American western film directed by John Ford
and starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp during the period leading up to
the gunfight at the OK Corral.
The ensemble cast also features Linda Darnell, Victor Mature,
Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, and Ward Bond.The title of the movie is borrowed from the theme song "Oh My Darling, Clementine",
sung in parts over the opening and closing credits.The screenplay is based on the fictionalized biography
Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal by Stuart Lake, as were two earlier movies,
both named Frontier Marshal (released in 1934 and 1939, respectively).My Darling Clementine is regarded by many film critics as one of the best Westerns ever made.
I thought this was one of the better 'Earp' movies,
brilliantly directed by John Ford.
Although Ford claimed that he had based the script,
from Earp's own account of the story,
there are as usual, in most movies, variations from the truth!
Indeed, in this movie, there are , factual errors.However, this does not distract from a fine film
and a wonderful portrayal of Earp, by Henry Fonda.
Victor Mature was good as Doc, but nowhere near as inspirational
as Val Kilmer's in Tombstone
Great supporting characters, incuding Walter Brennan,
favourite Ward Bond, and a few of the John Ford stock company,
Jack Pennick and others.I enjoyed the movie, and even Ford's slant
on making Clementine the central character,
does not distract, from a memorable film.User Review
John Ford's Most Poetic View of the West...
17 August 2003 | by benburgaff (Las Vegas, Nevada)QuoteIf you're looking for a straight-forward, fairly factual presentation of the events leading up to the 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral', watch 'Wyatt Earp', or 'Tombstone'...But if you prefer your history more spiritual, and want to see a master storyteller paint a visual canvas of a West that may never have existed, but SHOULD have, then this film should be a treasured part of your video collection!
John Ford knew Wyatt Earp personally, and was familiar with the events surrounding the Tombstone shootout, but one of his greatest assets as a director was his ability to look beyond simple facts, and focus on what 'made' a legend. 'My Darling Clementine' is a story of icons, of Loners, accepting their own weaknesses and limitations, yet willing to risk their lives and abilities to aid others, then to walk away, allowing Civilization to grow. It's a classic theme of most great westerns, particularly in Ford's work (he would return to it in 'The Searchers', and 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'), as well as other directors ('Shane', 'A Fistful of Dollars', 'Unforgiven', and 'Open Range' are a few examples).
Wyatt Earp (wonderfully portrayed by Henry Fonda) and his brothers have an aloofness that makes their characters both deceptively simple, yet enigmatic at the same time. At the film's start, Wyatt's a cowpuncher who had walked away from the responsibilities of being a lawman, finding satisfaction with his brothers in the hard work and solitary life of the range. When the Clantons (led by Walter Brennan, in one of his greatest, yet most vicious roles), first approach the brothers on the range, they accept the old man's invitation to get a taste of city life, but it's clear that it will only be a brief stay before they move on, and Wyatt brushes aside any overtures of friendship.
Wyatt's lack of desire to commit to a larger community is stressed when he subdues an armed, drunken Indian with his bare hands in a saloon (based on an actual event in Earp's life), then turns down the city council's plea to accept the Marshall's badge. Only after a brother is murdered do the Earp brothers decide to clean up the town, as it had become 'personal'.
In counterpoint to Earp is another 'loner', Doc Holliday (sensitively portrayed by Victor Mature), an intellectual who fled the South, and had found his solitude through his guns, his gambling, and his illness. While Wyatt is a true 'Man of the West', however, Holliday is simply a lonely man with no place to go, only comfortable at a poker table. He is doomed, more by his own shrinking world, than by the disease that forces him to cough into his handkerchief.
The scenes of Wyatt in Tombstone are wonderful, as Civilization grows up around the uncomfortable stranger. Yet he toys with the idea of settling into this world, through his polite yet obvious attraction to Doc's lost love, Clementine. The scene of the outdoor church dance, where the stiffly formal Earp dances against the vista of a West being 'boarded in' is symbolic of what his own life, and the West, itself, was becoming, and is classic Ford!
The climactic shootout at the O.K. Corral is both powerful and raw, ultimately fulfilling the Earps' commitment to a world that needed their aid, and ending the downward spiral of Holliday's life, in a heroic and theatrical gesture.
It's often asked why Wyatt leaves, afterward, when Clementine and Tombstone are so attractive...The answer is simple, really; his work is finished, and his participation was no longer necessary. Civilization could now grow, unimpeded. The Loner would have no place there. Like Ethan, or Shane, or 'The Man With No Name', he must return to the solitary vistas that are his true home.
John Ford has truly created the 'Stuff of Legends' with this beloved classic!
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MY DARLING CLEMENTINE
DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD
PRODUCED BY SAMUEL G. ENGEL
20th. CENTURY FOXFor continuity, this movie can still be discussed here:
John Ford- My Darling ClementineInformation From IMDb
Plot Summary
Wyatt Earp and his brothers Morgan and Virgil ride into Tombstone and leave brother James in charge of their cattle herd. On their return they find their cattle stolen and James dead. Wyatt takes on the job of town marshal, making his brothers deputies, and vows to stay in Tombstone until James' killers are found. He soon runs into the brooding, coughing, hard-drinking Doc Holliday as well as the sullen and vicious Clanton clan. Wyatt discovers the owner of a trinket stolen from James' dead body and the stage is set for the Earps' long-awaited revenge.
Written by Doug SederbergCast
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
Robert Adler ... Stagecoach Driver (uncredited)
C.E. Anderson ... Townsman (uncredited)
Don Barclay ... Opera House Owner (uncredited)
Hank Bell ... Opera House Patron (uncredited)
Danny Borzage ... Accordionist (uncredited)
Frank Conlan ... Pianist (uncredited)
Jack Curtis ... Bartender (uncredited)
Francis Ford ... Dad, Old Soldier (uncredited)
Earle Foxe ... Gambler (uncredited)
Don Garner ... James Earp (uncredited)
Ben Hall ... Barber (uncredited)
Aleth Hansen ... Guitarist (uncredited)
Duke R. Lee ... Townsman (uncredited)
Fred Libby ... Phin Clanton (uncredited)
Mae Marsh ... Simpson's Sister (uncredited)
Margaret Martin ... Woman (uncredited)
Kermit Maynard ... Townsman (uncredited)
Louis Mercier ... François, the Chef (uncredited)
Jack Pennick ... Stagecoach Driver (uncredited)
Frances Rey ... Woman (uncredited)
Mickey Simpson ... Sam Clanton (uncredited)
Charles Stevens ... Indian Joe (uncredited)
Arthur Walsh ... Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Harry Woods ... Luke (uncredited)Writing credits
Samuel G. Engel (screenplay) and
Winston Miller (screenplay)
Sam Hellman (story)
Stuart N. Lake (book)Original Music by
Cyril J. Mockridge (as Cyril Mockridge)
David Buttolph (uncredited)Trivia
* This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1991.* On 28 April 1947 Henry Fonda and Cathy Downs starred in a live radio version of this film, broadcast on the Lux Radio Theatre.
* Actress Jeanne Crain was scheduled to play Clementine. Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck ruled against her, writing in a memo that the part was so small, Crain fans might be disappointed by not seeing her in more scenes. That's how contract player Cathy Downs got the part instead.
* Henry Fonda's first production after returning from U.S. Navy service in World War II.
* Tombstone, Arizona, is not located in Monument Valley. John Ford "placed" it there because Monument Valley is where he liked to film his Westerns.
* Director John Ford, who in his youth had known the real Wyatt Earp, claimed the way the OK Corral gunfight was staged in this film was the way it was explained to him by Earp himself, with a few exceptions.
* 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.
* Reportedly, Lloyd Bacon worked uncredited on this film with Darryl F. Zanuck re-editing this film in deference to preview comment cards.
Goofs
* Factual errors: Doc Holliday did not die at the O.K. Corral. He died six years later from tuberculosis.* Factual errors: In the film, "Old Man" Clanton (Walter Brennan) is shot and killed after the gunfight. In actuality, "Old Man" Clanton died in August 1881 - before the gunfight - and was not a principal in the gunfight itself or in the events immediately prior to the gunfight.
* Factual errors: The film shows Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and John "Doc" Holliday (Victor Mature) meeting for the first time in Tombstone, AZ. In reality, Earp and Holliday were good friends by the time they came together in Tombstone, as they had met years earlier at Fort Griffin, TX.
* Factual errors: Wyatt Earp was never the town Marshal of Tombstone. Virgil Earp was.
* Factual errors: No mention is made of Tom and Frank McLaury (both of whom were killed in the gunfight), Billy Claiborne (who was at the gunfight, but ran out), and Curly Bill Brocius and Johnny Ringo (neither were in the gunfight, but were Clanton Gang members).
* Factual errors: The ages of the Earp brothers is reversed. In the movie, James is in his late teens, Virgil is in his twenties, Wyatt is about thirty, and Morgan is well into his thirties. In actuality, at the time of the OK Corral gunfight, James was 40, Virgil was 38, Wyatt was 33, and Morgan was 30.
* Factual errors: In the film, the OK Corral gunfight happens in 1882. It actually happened on October 26, 1881.
* Factual errors: The gunfight took place in the afternoon, not in the morning.
* 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.
* Factual errors: The movie shows James Earp killed (murdered) with his marker showing "born 1864 died 1882". However, James Earp was actually born in 1841 and died in 1926 of natural causes. It was Morgan Earp who was murdered on 18 March 1882.
* Factual errors: The movie shows Virgil Earp killed (murdered - shot in back) by Old Man Clanton. However, in actuality, Virgil survived being shot from ambush on 28 December 1881, but never fully recovered from the wound in his left arm. He lived until 1905, succumbing to pneumonia at age 57.
* Continuity: At the beginning of the film when Wyatt Earp is preparing for a shave, the lather is yet to be applied by the barber. A second after the gunshot strikes the mirror, Earp's entire chin is lathered, even though the barber is still "preparing" to apply it.
* Errors in geography: Monument Valley is used as background in many of the scenes, and the town of Tombstone is depicted as located near Monument Valley and within view of the mesas and buttes there. In reality, the town of Tombstone, Arizona is located approximately 340 miles south of Monument Valley, far too distant for any of Monument Valley's mesas and buttes to be visible.
* Factual errors: The film has Ike, Phin and Sam Clanton being killed in the gunfight. Neither Phin nor Sam were present (Phin died on Jan. 5, 1905). Ike was at the gunfight, but ran out of the fight claiming he was unarmed. He was killed in a shootout on June 1, 1887, six years after the gunfight.
Filming Locations
Arizona, USA
Devil's Tower National Monument, Devil's Tower, Wyoming, USA
Kayenta, Arizona, USA
Moab, Utah, USA
Monument Valley, Arizona, USA
Monument Valley, Utah, USA
Utah, USAPrevious discussion:-
My darling Clementine