Starring: Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan Directed By: John Ford Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Binding: DVD Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 06, 2004 Running Time: 96 minutes Theatrical Release Date: December 03, 1946
Description: Henry Fonda, Victor Mature and Walter Brennan star in John Ford's acclaimed film that climaxes with the famous gunfight at O.K. Corral. As Wyatt Earp (Fonda) and his brothers head for a peaceful life of ranching in 1880's California, tragedy moves Wyatt to pin on a badge once more. But when he becomes the law in Tombstone, home to Doc Holliday (Mature) and the Clanton boys, it's only a matter of time until the Earps and Doc face the Clantons in one of the most remembered battles of the Wild West. Featuring Linda Darnell and Ward Bond, My Darling Clementine is considered to be one of Ford's finest films.
Amazon.com essential video: The most famous and sublime treatment of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, John Ford's My Darling Clementine is by any measure one of the most classically perfect Westerns ever made. Henry Fonda plays a hard, serious Wyatt Earp leading a cattle drive west with his brothers when a stopover in the wild town of Tombstone ends in the murder of his youngest brother. Wyatt takes up the badge he had turned down earlier and tames the wide-open town with his brothers (Ward Bond and Tim Holt), all the while waiting for the wild Clantons (led by Walter Brennan's ruthless Old Man Clanton) to make a mistake. Victor Mature delivers perhaps his finest performance as the tubercular gambler Doc Holliday, an alcoholic Eastern doctor escaping civilization in the Wild West. Ford takes great liberties with history, bending the story to fit his ideal of the West, a balance of social law and pioneer spirit. Though the film reaches its climax in the legendary gunfight between the Earps (with Doc Holliday) and the Clantons, the most powerful moment is the moving Sunday morning church social played out on the floor of the unfinished church. As Earp dances with Clementine (Cathy Downs)--Fonda's stiff, self-conscious movements showing a man unaccustomed to such social interaction--Ford's camera frames them against the open sky: the town and the wilderness merge into the new Eden of the West for a brief moment. --Sean Axmaker
Classic This is one of the greatest westerns ever made. I've seen all the Earp movies and this is by far the best.
...and her shoes were number nine... My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946)
I have to admit that my review of My Darling Clementine is certain to be colored by my deep and abiding love for Tombstone, George Cosmatos' ponderous-yet-gripping telling of the same story (the lead-up to the shootout at the O.K. Corral). While I certainly enjoyed Clementine-- I have yet to run across a John Ford film I haven't enjoyed-- when I put it up against Tombstone, it seems pale and rushed.
You already know the story. Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his brothers, retired from the law business, are driving a herd of cattle into Tombstone, where they hope to set up shop as ranchers. Wyatt heads into town to do some business, leaving the herd outside town with his youngest brother (John Garner) standing guard. When he gets back, the herd is gone, his brother is dead, and the entire town know full well that the Clanton family, headed up by a sinister figure known only as the Old Man (Walter Brennan), are responsible. Meanwhile, in town, Wyatt finds out that while there's a legal system, the real power is Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), and so gravitates towards him as Wyatt plots his revenge, which has gone down in history as the Shootout at the O. K. Corral.
It's certainly not a bad film; the actors range from competent (Mature, who seems miscast but does the best he can with what he's got) to excellent (Fonda and Brennan, among others), and one can never fault John Ford's impeccable direction. Still, nothing about the movie feels quite right; again, I say that I'm probably comparing at, at least subconsciously, with Tombstone, which spends far more time on character development, especially where Doc Holliday is concerned; Victor Mature doesn't really have much to do in the film save provide a foil for Henry Fonda.
Not bad, but it's been done better. ***
NOT AS GOOD AS THOUGHT IT WOULD This movie hit the theaters on December 3, 1946 starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp, Linda Darnell as Chihuahua, and Victor Mature as Doc Holiday. Earp is trying to cattle across country when they're cattle rustled during the night. Earp is forced to take a job as Marshall in the same town where the country rustlers live. I was interested in this movie when I saw it playing during an episode of Mash. I didn't care for this movie because there wasn't any drama to it. Sure, it was your typical Western with guns, horses, cattle and guns. However you new how it was going to end just 20 minutes into it. Therefore I give this movie just 1 weasel star and that's being nice in my book.
Appalling I am appalled at some of the reviews of this film. While it is a good, even very good western, it is a horrible re-enactment of what actually happened. There is absolutely no historical relevance to My Darling Clementine. While that may not be important to some, it is very important to me. I don't understand the necessity in making a western about an actual event and then go on to totally bastardize the topic of the film. Why on earth would I want to sit down with a good bowl of popcorn and be lied to? The story of Wyatt Earp is so interesting, so documented, so full of Americana, that there is no point in creating a story "around" the facts and calling it good.
This film is a travesty and stupid. While it is a good western, it is nothing else. If I were John Ford, I'd be ashamed. He has made so many "good" westerns, that it shouldn't be too much to ask to at least make one that is historically relevant and somewhat close to the truth. The only reason I chose to give this film three stars instead of one is that it is good story when one can remove it from fact. It offers nothing except entertainment, which isn't a bad thing.
"When ya pull a gun, kill a man." At the risk of getting ripped to shreds with the negative votes, I'll go ahead and state my personal opinion:
MY DARLING CLEMINTINE is a very good film, but it's not that great, I could easily name a dozen westerns that are better (THE SEARCHERS, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE and STAGECOACH by Ford alone). My main problem, outside of the many historical inaccuracies and Ward Bond's role being too small, is Henry Fonda played the role too innocently. His performance here reminds me of the shy "Aw shucks." performance he turned in for THE LADY EVE which was great in that film, but here he's suppose to be a tough, experienced law man and instead of kicking [...] he spends most of his time walking around in slow motion, too nervous to even get it on with the tasty Cathy Downs. Who knows maybe Ford meant to make a tame, good-hearted western, but I would have preferred it a little grittier. Complaints aside this film is still worth owning, just look at this amazing cast: Henry Fonda, Walter Brennan, Linda Darnell, Ward Bond, Victor Mature and Alan Mowbray.
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