Very disappointing...

Just perfect...

Fantastic!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

As Most Film Critics Agree, So Do I "My Darling Clementine" Is The Best Western Ever Made ... The Director John Ford As A Kid Worked At 20th Century And Wyatt Earp Would Stop By The Studio To Visit Friends ... Wyatt Would Tell John All About The Circumstances Around The Shoot Out At The OK Corral ... Making The Story Historically Accurate ... Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Walter Brennen, Linda Darnell Make Their Performances A Stella Gathering ... It Won National Board of Review, USA 1946 (And Is Still In That Top 10) ... National Film Preservation Board, USA 1991 ... And Won Best Foreign Film By The Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists 1948 ... Well Scripted With Excellent Direction John Ford Became A House Hold Name With This Film ... Truly A Western Classic Often Imitated But Will Never Be Duplicated

What kind of town is Tombstone? In quintessential western fashion it is the type of town where a stranger can walk in and find himself in trouble almost immediately. Those who live there tell each and every hotshot to get out of town before it is too late. It is framed by those endless plains and iconic mountains - so easy to forget it was Ford himself that made Monument Valley the first image to come to mind when you think western. Although Wyatt Earp might be forgiven for not thinking of the town's name and how it claims to have the largest cemetery around, it quickly becomes a personal affair. Fonda is riveting as the wiry cowboy who is thrust into the role of sheriff; there's a kind of reversal that is the opposite of what is expected with his characterisation. Entering the film he is full of silent anger and authority that he seizes to right the wrongs of Tombstone. The ex-marshal's every word is only slightly guarded and we sense that the death of his brothers may have unhinged him. When we try to find a moral centre within, Ford casts a dark, pitiless shadow on his face at the turning point of the narrative, as though he is uncertain whether his personal and romantic feelings will become unnecessarily involved and lead to further jeopardy. It isn't until he has spared Clanton that he is renewed - not with love, as Ford so wisely signals with the final handshake, but with a inner peace and closure only gained once the church has begun to be raised and Tombstone is no longer the hellish breeding ground for the scum he has dispatched. Oh, but how great is Fonda at the church dance, where he tells a whole story with just his body language; the way he fidgets and glances nervously again and again at Clementine's hands. Opposite him is Doc Holliday, whom is spoken of much earlier than he first appears, so we are apprehensive of the man who runs the town but whom is not the mayor. And in that tense confrontation in the bar, we feel that he is primed to oppose Fonda as the main villain, if not in his murmured threats then in the dark colour of his attire, but no such thing occurs. He is a man who has become accustomed to the west, even rules a little part of it - but not comfortably, and certainly not aligned with his nature. Medical certificates and honours line his walls as the last remnants of that former life, something he is increasingly running away from. Have we ever seen a love triangle (or even quadrangle) so buffeted by the wildness and lawlessness of the west? Clementine puts aside her grievances to assist in the surgery, Holliday is thrust back into the world he fled, a shadowy Wyatt lurks and looks on, and Ford doesn't need to show the procedure or the outcome; just the frozen, nervous portraits of the town inhabitants silhouetted in the bar, and shrieks echoing from beyond. Joseph MacDonald's day for night photography has a sinister mood about it that just could not be captured in technicolour. The early action has the rogue gunslinger drunken and shooting up the place, and the light leaks out of the salon just as he poses in the doorway; it's a stunning, otherworldly silhouette. See how wisps of smoke will drift across the interiors of the saloon, obscuring the truer and less than noble intentions of some of its regulars. And those evocative extreme wide shots that make the town buildings and the mountains jutting up from the ground in the distance seem tiny in comparison - and how it makes the thin framework of the church bell tower seem tall and magnificent in return. It marks a new age. There is something for everyone in My Darling Clementine. The action is quick and ruthless, without a hint of any intention of drawing it out beyond what it is worth. There's humour in the way Wyatt gets no real answers everywhere he turns, so that the change must come from himself, and how the thespian signs away a hotel bill with a flourish, and how the barber's new 'modern' chair is like lowering yourself into a death-trap. And there is simple, sweet romance, that evolves and devolves naturally according to the circumstances, instead of the other way around. Wyatt betrays his heart as he leaves a renewed Tombstone - he glances once up at the hotel window where darling Clementine resides, and then again.

***User reviewer Lechuguilla ("Shakespeare In Tombstone", Lechuguilla from Dallas, Texas, 25 April 2006) provides nice description of the imagery. Righty-Sock ("An archetypal Western mood piece!", Righty-Sock from Mexico, 10 August 2001) has a nice summary and offers insight on the casting. Meanwhile, Whythorne ("Extremely overrated, silly and historically bogus melodrama", Whythorne from United States, 26 March 2010); gkbazalo ("Good Henry Fonda Western but misses the facts by a mile", gkbazalo from Scottsdale, AZ, 3 June 2004); Romanus Nies ("Ignorant or artistic?", Romanus Nies from Germany, 20 April 2008); bkoganbing ("When You Pull A Gun, Kill A Man", bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York, 3 October 2006) and tieman64 ("Scented Desert Flowers", tieman64 from United Kingdom, 23 September 2013) all take issue with the historical deviations from fact, making many interesting points along the way.***"My Darling Clementine" (1946) is widely regarded as John Ford's best film and should be regarded as one of the greatest Westerns ever. Although John Ford personally knew Wyatt Earp (when Ford was a prop boy and the elderly Earp would visit Hollywood sets), this film is not a history lesson. There are probably an uncountable number of liberties taken from the famous 1881 gunfight (which lasted about 30 seconds). Instead, it is a romanticized and stylized tale with many points of interest.The central conflict between the Earps and the Clantons (note: there are no McLaurys here) is very clearly a good family unit removing a bad family unit. (Or as we say now, "taking out the trash.") However, the greatness in "Clementine" stems from character additions to the historical event. One is the mixed-race (i.e., at least half Native American), singing saloon girl Chihuahua (Linda Darnell) who is Doc Holliday's most recent love interest. In addition, a drunken, swindling, English thespian and fop (Alan Mowbray) arrives to Tombstone to entertain the rowdy cowboys by reciting Shakespeare. The thespian is very unique in the John Ford catalogue, as Ford usually completes his cast with very rugged men and very family-oriented women. The thespian's appearance leads to an important early scene between the vile Clantons and the film's obvious hero Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda). Perhaps the only historical detail that this film faithfully renders is the depiction of a Wyatt Earp who fears no other man. (All historical accounts say this about Wyatt.) Henry Fonda is a convincing badass and western lawman.The most fascinating addition to the history is the perpetually inconsistent Doc Holliday. The tubucular, misanthropic physician is quite ornery when he is guzzling whiskey, which is always. (Holliday also finds each whiskey glass he employs so disappointing that he usually throws it. One wonders how much he costs the drinking establishment to resupply all of the glasses he destroys.) The washed-up former gunslinger has a chip on his shoulder and continues to threaten Wyatt until their eventual duel. As such, Holliday alternates between being a substitute antagonist to being a friend of Wyatt. With such a complicated role, Victor Mature's performance is bound to be polarizing. I love Mature's work here; he speaks almost all his lines as if he's suffered unendurable pain during his life. It surprises me that so many people prefer more recent depictions of Doc Holliday. By the way, Holliday's back-and-forth character might explain the opening credits, as the camera very mechanically repeats a move down, to the left and to the right revealing title cards. Holliday is loved by two beautiful women (Chihuahua and Cathy Downs as Clementine Carter) but rejects them both. In contrast, man-of-action Wyatt is painfully shy with Clementine. Ford has an interesting visual pattern with the scenes between Clementine and Wyatt. Wyatt is often framed by whatever verticals are handy (e.g., doorways and building pillars) when Clementine is also on the screen. The last shot reverses this trend. Ford appears to be emphasizing separation within the Wyatt-Clementine relationship as part of his storytelling repertoire.The production qualities are excellent. Ford serves up many gorgeous Black and White images; sometimes it seems as if the clouds are knowingly participating. Ford pushes the edge by having several night scenes with more darkness than we normally see in a western. The voices are always interesting to listen to, particularly when the inimitable Walter Brennan's Old Man Clanton is speaking. (Surprising fact: this is the only film where Brennan and Ford worked together. The Golden Era King of Westerns and one of the greatest Western character actors didn't get along.)Every Ford Western introduces two qualities which I don't admire: Racism and animal cruelty. "Clementine" is no exception. When civilian Wyatt emerges from a paralyzed crowd to disarm a drunken Indian (a story based on the real Wyatt's life), the Indian is dragged to the street, kicked and humiliated. When Wyatt intones that it is wrong to offer liquor to Indians it is a very hateful moment. Also, horses are violently forced to the ground several times.Despite the negatives, "My Darling Clementine" is a very satisfying Western which looks great and where all of the characters are interesting. Cinephiles need to saddle up and (gently) ride their best mare over to the revival theater that is showing it.

John Ford's version of the Wyatt Earp/O.K. Corral story may be more fiction than fact, but it's also a classic piece of filmmaking. An evocative western with beautiful cinematography and terrific acting. Henry Fonda is excellent, as you might expect. Great performance by Victor Mature as Doc Holliday. Perhaps his best. Also some wonderful work by Walter Brennan and Linda Darnell. The only reason I don't give it a perfect score is that I felt the plot wandered some instead of having a clear focus on building up to the climactic shootout. Not that I was ever bored or uninterested in what was on screen because that couldn't be further from the truth. Ford was a master of his craft and every scene is enjoyable. Definitely a must-see for everybody, not just western fans.