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Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9786301798754 Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC ISBN: 6301798759 Label: 20th Century Fox Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: 20th Century Fox Release Date: May 04, 1999 Running Time: 97 minutes Sales Rank: 12105 Studio: 20th Century Fox Theatrical Release Date: December 03, 1946
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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Classic
This is one of the greatest westerns ever made. I've seen all the Earp movies and this is by far the best.
Rating: - ...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 ... Read More
Rating: - 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. ... Read More
Rating: - 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 ... Read More
Rating: - "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 ... Read More
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