My Darling Clementine (1946)

The Earps battle the Clantons at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Samuel G. Engel (screen play), Winston Miller (screen play)

Stars:

Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature

3 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Henry Fonda	...	Wyatt Earp
Linda Darnell	...	Chihuahua
Victor Mature	...	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

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

gunfight at the o.k. corral | arizona territory | arizona | reference to tombstone arizona | billy clanton | 

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Taglines:

She was everything the West was - young, fiery, exciting!

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Western

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

November 1946 (UK)

Also Known As:

John Ford's My Darling Clementine

Filming Locations:

Shiprock, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$15,293

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min 103 min (pre-release)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Walter Brennan later lampooned his own Old Man Clanton portrayal in Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969).

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Goofs

Before Doc begins to operate on Chihuahua, without anesthesia, a cloth is placed in her mouth and she's told to "bite real hard." A moment later, when the scene has cut to a longer shot, and Doc has started, we hear Chihuahua cry out "Oh ma!" She couldn't have spoken with the cloth in her mouth.

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Quotes

[after the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt refuses to shoot Old Man Clanton]
Old Man Clanton: My boys... Ike! Sam! Phin! Billy!
Wyatt Earp: They're dead. I ain't gonna kill you. I hope you live a hundred years... so you'll feel just a little what my pa's gonna feel. Now get out of town - start wandering!

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Alternate Versions

In 1994, an alternate "preview" version of the film was found that runs 103 or 104 minutes, according to different sources. In June 1946, director John Ford showed producer Darryl F. Zanuck his cut of the film. Zanuck's opinion was that the film had some problems, so Zanuck reshot certain scenes with Director Lloyd Bacon. Zanuck also recut other scenes, changed the music at certain points, and slightly altered the finale. In all, 35 minutes of footage was shot or recut, and the film was released at 97 minutes. Both the 103-104 min. archival preview print and the 97 min. release print are on the Fox DVD released January 6, 2004.

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Connections

Featured in Fonda on Fonda (1992)

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Soundtracks

Oh! Susanna
(1848) (uncredited)
Music by Stephen Foster
In the score when Wyatt is at the barber shop

User Reviews

Henry Fonda and the usually underrated Victor Mature give memorable portrayals as Wyatt Earp and Doc

Exciting classy Western with plenty of tension , thrills , shoot'em up , high body-count and it has now become accepted as a classic of the genre .This is a vigorous recounting of a familiar tale , dealing with the legendary lawman from Dodge City who moves to Tombstone , Arizona , aiming to begin a new life along with his brothers , Virgil (Tim Holt) and Morgan (Ward Bond) . This trigger-taut Western drama deals with a lawman Wyatt Earp , at the begining Wyatt is a cowboy , a nomadic savage transporting his cattle and he subsequently befriends a badman gunslinger and philosopher Southern gent who usually coughs , called Doc Holliday , (Victor Mature who excels , giving comsumptive conviction to character) , the strangest friendship this side of heaven and hell . They fought shoulder to shoulder in the wildest stand-up gunfight in the history of the West . As the fabled showdown is seen at the final way through this film . They are the strangest alliance between the West's most famous sheriff Wyatt Earp , trying to overcome outlaws and his deadliest gambling killer , Doc Holliday. It's incomparably performed by the greatest team who ever went into action , Henry Fonda portrays the large-than-life lawman , living by the old rules , driven by revenge , dueling to the death and Mature is most impressive as a gunslinger , the hellfire gambler , his only friends were his guns and his only refuge was a woman's heart , Chihuahua (Linda Darnell) . Two towering Box office actors in a huge exciting production . The film correctly builds up its suspense until a tense battle in streets of Tombstone , it is the highlight to the story .The Roaring West At Its Reckless Best! . Reckless, Riotous Frontier Adventure! . She was everything the West was - young, fiery, exciting.

This is an overwhelming Western , though too self-conscious , as the death of an intimate brother results to be the start of a small war between the revenger Earp and the baddies . As when a beloved sibling is murdered it marks the turning point of Wyatt's transition from a wandering cowboy , to bent on vendetta , settled , civilised , and the Marshall who administers the law . Based on a story by Sam Hellman from a book by Stuart N. Lake . In fact , it was the third adaptation , 1ª was : Frontier Marshal 1934 and second : 1939 Frontier Marshal by Allan Dwan . It was partially panned and by no means acclaimed in its day , but nowadays , being well considered , may be seen by some as unoriginal and cliched but is really a very fashionable outing in Earp saga and a throughly agreeable Western . The movie's enjoyability , authenticity , and greatness rests not only in the accuracy of the ending gun-play , but in the well orchestred series of incidents , such as : Earp's visit to barber shop , the dance in the unfinished church , Fonda 's poker game , the romantic scenes between Fonda and Cathy Dows , all of them give a deep meaning to this spledid picture . Decorated by import themes of camaraderie , brothership , fidelity , family and action that were to dominate Ford films for the first post-II world war decade as never before . Victor Mature coming up trumps as Holliday , he delivers a surprisingly awesome acting , stealing clearly the show , a character designed for scenary chewing , giving an attractive portrayal of the doomed dentist . Although overlong , but blessed with a high-energy level , thanks to noisy action , spectacular horse riding and rousing shooting . As the picture benefits itself from despictable villians as Walter Brennan as epitome of evil as Old Man Clanton , he is accompanied by his sons , Grant Whiters and John Ireland is again on the side of Clanton's family just like he was 10 years later in ¨Gunfight at OK Corral¨. The film focuses Tombstone , 1881 , with stimulating scenes about OK Corral gunfight between Morgan , Virgil , Wyatt Earp , Doc against the nefarious old Clanton , Ike , Billy Clanton ,and other brothers . It is good enough to form the main axis of several other sturdy western films. This main character is a historical figure , in this case the sheriff Wyatt Earp who participated the most famous duel occurred in the western town of Tombstone in 1881 that has been brought to the big screen many times as in this classic "My Darling Clementine" in 1946 directed by John Ford , in "Gunfight at O.K. Corral" (1957) with Burt Lancaster , Kirk Douglas directed by specialist John Sturges who would resume the same story in "The Hour of the Gun" (1967) ; the demystifying "Doc" (Frank Perry, 1971) with Harris Yulin and Stacy Keach or the more modern ¨Wyatt Earp¨ (Lawrence Kasdan, 1994) with Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid and Tombstone: Wyatt Earp 's legend (1993) by George P. Cosmatos, 1993) with Kurt Russell , Bill Paxton , Thomas Haden Church , Stephen Lang , Dana Denaley , Robert Burke and Val Kilmer

This is a story enormous in scope ,unusual in concept with a mile-a-minute action on a climatic and thrill-a-minute gunfight. Packs a magnificent and marvelous cinematography in Black and White with a nice sense of period , and in overblown and amazing deep by Joe MacDonald . As well as adequate costuming and lavish production design . This thrilling film contains a spectacular and lyric musical score by Cyril Mockridge who composes a rousing soundtrack . The motion picture was compellingly directed by John Ford . This Ford's film , studded with stunning individual scenes turns out to be the definitive rendition of this great story . As Ford said: ¨I knew Earp and he told me about the fight at the OK Corral , so we did it exactly the way it had been¨.