Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301798754
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6301798759
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 1999-05-04
Running Time: 97
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 1946-12-03

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

Customer Rating:
Summary: Finest Version of Wyatt
Comment: I've seen 'em all, but far and away this one is Number One. Perhaps it is Fonda's acting as Wyatt, or Victor Mature's excellent roll as Doc. Better yet -- howzabout Walter Brennan's rendition as Old Man Clanton. What takes this movie to even greater heights is the outstanding photography that portrays the elements, dirt and dust, and the use of lighting. John Ford is the maestro conducting this excellent...oh so EXCELLENT...movie.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: My Darling Clementine
Comment: This is a great western full of detail and old west charisma. A bit hoaky but lots of old fashion values. Is that what helped make our country strong? For example, Fonda does not even kiss the girl he falls in love with but its evident how they feel about each other. A true classic.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Classic
Comment: This is one of the greatest westerns ever made. I've seen all the Earp movies and this is by far the best.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: ...and her shoes were number nine...
Comment: 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. ***

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: NOT AS GOOD AS THOUGHT IT WOULD
Comment: 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.

---