TOP 21 FAVORITE WESTERNS -- THE SEARCHERS

# 1

THE SEARCHERS (WB/C.V. Whitney, 1956)

DIRECTOR: John Ford;  EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Merian C. Cooper; ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Patrick Ford; WRITER: Frank S. Nugent from story by Alan Le May; CINEMATOGRAPHER: Winton Hoch;  STUNTS: Chuck Hayward, Chuck Roberson, Slim Hightower, Fred Kennedy, Cliff Lyons, Frank McGrath, Dale van Sickel, Henry Wills, Terry Wilson, John Hudkins

CAST:  John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, John Qualen, Olive Carey, Henry Brandon, Ken Curtis, Harry Carey, Jr., Antonio Moreno, Hank Worden, Beulah Archuletta, Walter Coy, William Steele, Dorothy Jordan, Pippa Scott, Patrick Wayne, Lana Wood, Danny Borzage, Ruth Clifford, Chuck Hayward, Cliff Lyons, Mae Marsh, Frank McGrath, Jack Pennick, Chuck Roberson, Terry Wilson


What a surprise!  THE SEARCHERS is number one!  Well, not really a surprise, of course.  Entertainment Weekly has not only named it the greatest Western of all time but also the thirteenth greatest movie ever made.  In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked it as the twelfth greatest film ever produced and a year later bestowed the honor of naming it the greatest Western film.  Film critic Roger Greenspan of the New York Times even went so far as to name it the greatest American film.  So, who am I to argue?

However, it hasn't always been held in such high esteem.  Despite some commercial success and some good reviews, it did not win a single Academy Award.  It did not even receive one nomination.  

It was John Wayne's greatest performance (also his personal favorite), but he wasn't nominated.  Neither was John Ford, who in his career won four Oscars for Best Director, but wasn't even nominated for this one.  One would have thought that at the very least Winton Hoch would have been nominated for his stunning shots of the majestic Monument Valley vistas.  However, he struck out as well.


REVEREND SAMUEL CLAYTON (Ward Bond):  "Well, the prodigal brother.  When did you get back?  Ain't seen you since the surrender.  Come to think of it, I didn't see you at the surrender."

ETHAN EDWARDS (John Wayne):  "I don't believe in surrendering.  Nope, I've still got my saber, Reverend.  Didn't beat it into no plowshare, neither." 

Martha (Dorothy Jordan) watches as her brother-in-law Ethan (John Wayne) appears after a long absence

THE PLOT.
Ethan Edwards (Wayne) is a nomad who has not been seen nor heard from since the American Civil War ended three years earlier.  Apparently, he had spent those years as a combatant in Mexico's civil war.  

Soon after he rather mysteriously appears at his brother's Texas home (which looks a lot more like Monument Valley than western Texas), the Comanches attack and kill most of his family and kidnap his two nieces, Lucy (Scott) and Debbie (Wood).  Lucy's body is soon discovered, but it is assumed that Debbie has become a captive.

Ethan is an avowed Indian-hater and though it is not readily apparent he does have his reasons.  In the scene in which young Debbie is hiding in the cemetery there is a momentary glimpse of a tombstone that easily escapes the attention of all but the most attentive viewers.  It is inscribed: "Here lies Mary Jane Edwards killed by Comanches May 12, 1852.  A good wife and mother in her 41st year."  Mary Jane Edwards was Ethan's mother.

By the same token, Ethan's main adversary, the Comanche chief Scar (Brandon), has his reasons for hating whites.  They were responsible for the deaths of his two sons.  Therefore, these are two embittered, troubled, and unforgiving men whose hatred and bitterness are not entirely unreasonable or irrational, but in fact have some basis in reality.'

 

The Reverend Samuel Clayton (Ward Bond) clearly suspects that more than a platonic affection exists between Ethan and Martha.  In fact, I think that he has more than a suspicion.

There is also the implication that Ethan was in love with his sister-in-law, Martha, and that she probably felt the same about him.  Wayne in an interview indicated that Ford viewed that as being the case and that Lucy and Debbie may have been Ethan's daughters.  In Alan Le May's novel, however, there is no doubt that Ethan (Amos in the novel) loved Martha, but neither she nor her husband was ever aware of that love  and Lucy and Debbie were definitely not his daughters.


REVEREND SAMUEL CLAYTON (Ward Bond):  "You wanna quit, Ethan?"

ETHAN EDWARDS (John Wayne):  "That'll be the day."


Ethan sets off with his adopted nephew Martin Pawley (Hunter) on a five-year odyssey to find Debbie.  Ethan wishes to kill her because she has been defiled by the Indians, while Martin, who is himself part Indian, wishes to prevent him from doing so.

Hunter and Wayne as uneasy allies

MARTIN PAWLEY (Jeffrey Hunter):  "I hope you die!"

ETHAN EDWARDS (John Wayne):  "That'll be the day."

THE ACTORS.

If there is still anyone who thinks that John Wayne could not act or if they are only familiar with his performances in some of the routine, mediocre Westerns at the end of his career, they owe it to themselves (and Wayne) to watch THE SEARCHERS.  He submerges himself into the role to such a degree that he becomes Ethan Edwards, the most complex character he was ever asked to portray.  In fact, so good is he that it is easy to forget that he is acting.  And after all, isn't that a hallmark of great acting?

According to Fess Parker, he was Ford's first choice to play Martin.  However, the actor was at the crest of the Davy Crockett wave and Disney refused to give him permission to appear in the film.  However, after viewing Jeffrey Hunter in the role, I have a hard time seeing Parker as Martin.  Hunter was very good and, unfortunately, Parker had become typecast. It is also true that he was not as talented an actor as Hunter.

Hunter appeared in two other Ford films.  In 1958, he supported Spencer Tracy in THE LAST HURRAH (Columbia) and two years later starred in SERGEANT RUTLEDGE (WB/Ford).  He was only 42 when he died in 1969.


REVEREND SAMUEL CLAYTON (Ward Bond): "I say we do it my way.  That's an order!"

ETHAN EDWARDS (John Wayne):  "Yessir.  But if you're wrong don't ever give me another!"

Ward Bond is the Reverend Samuel Johnson Clayton, Texas Rangers captain

  

The role of the Reverend Samuel Johnson Clayton, a captain in the Texas Rangers, is one of Ward Bond's finest performances.  The only two that I can think of that came close were his Sergeant Major O'Rourke in FORT APACHE  (RKO/Argosy, 1948) and Elder Wiggs in WAGON MASTER (RKO/Argosy, 1950).  It is no coincidence that John Ford directed all three films.

As usual in a Ford Western, the Indians, Apache or Comanche, are portrayed by Navajos.  The one exception is Chief Scar, who is portrayed by Henry Brandon, a native of Germany.

THE WRITERS.

William T. Pilkington writes in Twentieth-Century Western Writers: "Alan Le May was a writer of formula Westerns who created one excellent book -- The Searchers [Le May's twelfth novel, published in 1954] -- that artistically and literarily soars far beyond anything else he ever published....

"Following The Searchers, Le May brought out The Unforgiven [published in 1957] which was also made into a well-known motion picture [directed by John Huston and starring Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, and Audie Murphy].  Again set in the Texas Panhandle during the Indian wars of the 19th century, The Unforgiven explores essentially the same ideas as those developed in The Searchers.  Unfortunately, the later novel is much less impressive than its predecessor.  Le May appears to be an example of a not-unusual kind of writer who toils unobtrusively at his craft for years, and is finally rewarded at the close of a long career with one superb book.  That is enough; we, as readers, should be grateful."

Le May's story was inspired by the real-life capture of nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker in 1836.  She lived for twenty-four years with the Comanche and gave birth to three children.

Unlike Debbie Edwards in Le May's novel and Ford's film, Cynthia Parker was rescued against her will by Texas Rangers and longed to rejoin "her people" and her son Quanah, who grew up to become the last Comanche war chief.  Amos (Ethan) Edwards was loosely based on Cynthia's uncle, James W. Parker, a Texas Ranger who engaged in a forty-year blood feud with the Comanches and spent eight years obsessively searching for his niece.


MOSE HARPER (Hank Worden) [just before an Indian attack]: "That which we are about to receive, we thank thee, O Lord."


Some reviewers were critical of what they perceived as Hank Worden's unrealistic portrayal of Mose Harper, a half-mad

Ol' Mose

Indian-fighting Texan who longed for "a roof over my head and a rocking chair by the fire."    However, he was also based on a historical figure known as "Mad Mose," a Texas Indian fighter who was said to have had affection for rocking chairs.

Frank Nugent was a former film critic who wrote hundreds of film reviews for the New York Times.  He could be harshly critical in his assessments but he was an ardent admirer of John Ford's work and was especially effusive in his praise for STAGECOACH (UA, 1939) and THE GRAPES OF WRATH (Fox, 1940).

After moving to Hollywood, he began a new career as a screenwriter.  Of the twenty-one scripts that he wrote, eleven were for Ford, including THE QUIET MAN (Republic/Argosy, 1952), for which he received his only Academy Award nomination.       


A FAMILY AFFAIR.
Even to a greater extent than on other Ford films, THE SEARCHERS is a web of family connections.  

Wingate Smith, Ford's long-time assistant director, was also his brother-in-law.  Ford's son, Patrick, was the film's associate producer.  Ken Curtis, who played Texas Ranger Charlie McCorry, Martin's rival for the hand of Laurie Jorgenson (Vera Miles), was Ford's son-in-law.  John Wayne's son, Patrick, has a small part as a greenhorn cavalry lieutenant.  Harry Carey, Jr. and his mother, Olive, have suppporting roles while sisters Lana and Natalie Wood play Debbie Edwards at different ages.  Finally, Dorothy Jordan, who portrays Martha Edwards, was the wife of producer Merian Cooper.


******

REVIEWS:

"THE SEARCHERS is undeniably, and wonderfully, a masterpiece....It unquestionably is one of the few Westerns that deserve to be regarded as important works of art.  In many ways it is the quintessential John Ford movie....The best of John Ford and the best of John Wayne." -- Brian Garfield in Western Films: A Complete Guide

"John Ford's THE SEARCHERS contains scenes of magnificence, and one of John Wayne's best performances. Ethan Edwards is one of the most compelling characters Ford and Wayne ever created....we can see Ford, Wayne, and the Western itself, awkwardly learning that a man who hates Indians can no longer be an uncorrupted hero." -- Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times

 "John Wayne is uncommonly commanding as the Texan whose passion for revenge is magnificently uncontaminated by caution or sentiment.  Jeffrey Hunter is wonderfully callow and courageous as the lad who goes with him, and Ward Bond makes a dandy fighting parson in an old plug hat and a long linen coat." -- Bosley Crowther in the New York Times

"Color, scenery, photography all splendid, with moving, insightful Frank Nugent script to match.  And who could ever forget that final shot?  Remade [unofficially] and imitated many other times since...." -- Leonard Maltin

"....is as far from an ordinary mid-century Western as King Lear is from a soap opera....with Wayne at the center in arguably the most profound portrait of macho monstrosity ever delivered by an American movie star." -- Michael Atkinson in The Village Voice

"Ford's masterpiece." -- Phil Hardy in The Western

"Masterpiece isn't a word to be used lightly but few would quarrel about applying it here. -- Walter C. Clapham in Western Movies

"No director made better Westerns than John Ford, and many would argue that THE SEARCHERS is the best he ever made....Wayne never topped his work as Edwards, a subtle and skilled portrayal that reveals both the dark and heroic sides of the archetypal Western loner." -- Steven H. Scheuer

"THE SEARCHERS...is a melancholic yet enthralling film that is stupefyingly in its beauty....John Wayne...has given what surely must be one of his best screen characterizations, if not the greatest.  The moment that he resists shooting his niece because of her wishing to live with an Indian warrior is one of the greatest moments in Western cinema." -- Les Adams and Buck Rainey in Shoot-Em-Ups


Now for a little fly in the ointment provided by Stephen Metcalf in his July 2006 review in Slate in which he at one point refers to THE SEARCHERS as "this silly film": 

"[It] is a geek's paradise: It is preposterous in its plotting, spasmodic in its pacing, unfunny in its hijinks, bipolar in its politics, alternately sodden and convulsive in its acting, not to mention boring."

Debbie and Ethan

However, he does make one small concession regarding the film, writing that the climatic scenes featuring John Wayne and Natalie Wood are "among the most thrilling moments" to ever be filmed.

Well, at least there's that. 

The famous final scene in which Wayne pays homage to the late Harry Carey, Sr. by grasping his right elbow with his left hand, a gesture closely associated with Carey.  Carey's widow and son had prominent roles in the film. 

TOP 21 FAVORITE WESTERNS -- STAGECOACH

#4

STAGECOACH (UA, 1939)

“There are some things a man just can’t walk away from.” – Ringo (John Wayne)

DIRECTOR: John Ford;  PRODUCERS (uncredited): John Ford and Walter Wanger; WRITERS: Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht (uncredited) from story by Ernest Haycox; CAMERA: Bert Glennon

CAST: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell, Louise Platt, George Bancroft, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, Tim Holt, Tom Tyler, Chief Big Tree, Yakima Canutt, Bill Cody, Jr., Franklyn Farnum, Francis Ford, Si Jenks, Duke Lee, Chris Pin-Martin, J.P. McGowan, Vesper Pegg, Jack Pennick, Joe Rickson

Two icons: John Wayne and Monument Valley

STAGECOACH is an important film for several reasons:

·       It was John Ford’s first Western since 1926 and thus his first sound Western.

·       It is his most famous Western and arguably, the most famous Western ever filmed.

·       It was the first Ford film shot in Monument Valley.  There would be six more. 

·       Its critical and financial success helped rekindle an interest in big-budget Westerns.

·       It freed John Wayne from B-Westerns and made him a “leading man” in A-features.

“If there’s anything I don’t like it’s driving a stagecoach through Apache country.” – Buck (Andy Devine)

In its attacks on the twin evils of hypocrisy and intolerance, the film is characterized by a mature viewpoint quite different from the typical pre-1939 Western.  Not since the silent days of William S. Hart could a cowboy expect to take the law into his own hands and emerge as sympathetic as does the Ringo Kid (Wayne) in this film.

“Well, I guess you can’t break out of prison and into society in the same week.” – Ringo (John Wayne)

Contemporary critics sometimes dismiss the film as being full of clichés and stereotypical characterizations.  However, it may only seem that is the case because it has been endlessly imitated by other Westerns and non-Westerns (journeys on ships, planes, trains, etc.), and in fact it broke new ground by dashing all the existing clichés, for nobody on the stage from Tonto to Lordsburg is what they appear to be.

The nine stagecoach passengers (L-R): Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Louise Platt, Thomas Mitchell, Berton Churchill, Donald Meek, George Bancroft

One of the highlights of the film is the skillful stunt work by legendary stunt man and stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt, as demonstrated during the scenes involving a prolonged chase of the stage by the Apaches (portrayed by Navajos).



Yakima Canutt doubling John Wayne as he had so many times in their B-Western films



The peerless and fearless Yakima Canutt performing his most famous stunt in which a galloping team and the stagecoach pass over him.



John Wayne held at bay by two bad men: George (later 'Gabby') Hayes and Yakima Canutt.  The scene is from one of the many Lone Star/Monogram B-Westerns that the three appeared in together.

William S. Hart (the former silent Western star) pointed out that the chase was unrealistic, that the Indians would have shot one of the horses and ended the chase before it began!  “Yes,” replied Ford, “but then the movie would have had a sad ending and we still had several pages of script to film.”

STAGECOACH was John Wayne’s 80^th film.  As noted earlier, the role made him a leading man in A-features, but he had to wait almost another decade until RED RIVER (UA, 1948) to become a star in big-budget productions.  By that time, he was in his early forties.  His story is hardly the description of an overnight success.

However, it almost didn’t happen.  Producer Wanger, wanting a big name to head the starless cast, wanted Gary Cooper in the Ringo role, but Ford held out for B-Western cowboy Wayne, who had been a personal acquaintance for over a decade.

Along those same lines, Tim Holt, who portrays a young cavalry lieutenant, would soon be a B-Western star at RKO.  Tom Tyler, though often taking character roles in major Westerns and non-Westerns, was a current B-Western star.  He was quite good as villainous Luke Plummer.

Tom Tyler as a worried Luke Plummer

Claire Trevor, as the prostitute Dallas, received top billing in the cast and was paid far more than Wayne.  

In fact, Wayne received less compensation than any of his co-stars.  Trevor and Wayne were subsequently teamed in two lesser productions:  ALLEGHENY UPRISING (RKO, 1939) and DARK COMMAND (Republic, 1940).



Dallas and Ringo

Louise Platt, as the more refined Lucy Mallory, the pregnant wife of a cavalry officer, returned to the stage where she had done most of her acting, and later became an active performer on television in the 50’s.  This was by far her most prominent movie role.

Although the film is noted for its Monument Valley locations, much of it was shot at various locations in California, including the Lucerne Dry Lake area where most of the stagecoach chase was filmed.  One reason for this was the remoteness of Monument Valley.  The fact that there were no paved roads accessing the Valley explains why the area had not been used much as a movie location.


Lucerne Dry Lake, California

The competition for Oscars for the year 1939 has to be the most competitive in film history since the year produced more classic films than any other year.  

The folks who do the nominating and voting rarely take westerns seriously, but STAGECOACH was nevertheless nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. 

Thomas Mitchell was named Best Supporting Actor for his role as an alcoholic and alienated, but ultimately heroic, Doc Boone.  The film also won for Best Musical Score. 

Bert Glennon was nominated, but did not win for Best Black-and-White Photography, losing to Gregg Toland for WURTHERING HEIGHTS (AIP).  Nevertheless, Glennon’s work on the film has garnered much praise – and justifiably so.

John Ford did not win the Best Director Oscar; it went instead to Victor Fleming for GONE WITH THE WIND (MGM), which was also named Best Picture.  However, Ford did win the New York Critic’s Best Director Award.

The stagecoach trailed by a cavalry detachment.  In the background are two of Mounument Valley's most famous landmarks: the "Mittens."

The stagecoach passes through Beale's Cut near Newhall, California.  This location was also used by Ford in two of his most famous silent Westerns: STRAIGHT SHOOTING (Universal,1917, starring Harry Carey), which is thought to be the director's first feature film, and THE IRON HORSE (Fox,1924, starring George O'Brien).

*****

REVIEWS

::

“His players have taken easily to their chores….They’ve all done nobly by a noble horse opera, but none so nobly as the director.  This stagecoach is powered by a Ford.” – Frank S. Nugent in The New York Times

“One of the great American films, and a landmark in the maturing of the Western….” – Leonard Maltin

“All of the performances are impeccable….An assured, mature masterpiece from one of America’s most rugged, indigenous filmmakers….A fine, exciting, dramatic film, one of the best.” – Steven H. Scheuer

“Obviously it was not the screen’s first adult Western, its first poetic Western, or its first literary Western, but it was the first one in a long while to combine those elements so effectively.” – William K. Everson in A Pictorial History of the Western Film

“In many ways STAGECOACH is the most significant sound Western ever….the film that rescued Wayne from the doldrums of the B-Western and so began what surely must rank as the most creative relationship between an actor and director in the history of the cinema, and it was the film that gave such an impetus to the genre that it must be called the first modern Western….A magnificent film.” – Phil Hardy in The Western

There are black-and-white and colorized versions on YouTube.  I prefer it in black-and-white, the way it was originally filmed.

TOP 21 FAVORITE WESTERNS -- MY DARLING CLEMENTINE

#7

MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (Fox, 1946)

DIRECTOR: John Ford;  PRODUCER: Samuel G. Engel;  WRITERS: Samuel G. Engel and Winston Miller (screenplay), Sam Hellman (story), Stuart N. Lake (book);  Cinematography: Joseph MacDonald


CAST:  Henry Fonda, Jane Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Roy Roberts, Jane Darwell, Grant Withers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Russell Simpson, Francis Ford, Fred Libby, Mickey Simpson, Charles Stevens, Harry Woods


Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda): "Mac, you ever been in love?"

Mac (J. Farrell MacDonald): "No, I've been a bartender all my life."

Henry Fonda is Wyatt Earp

When Legend Becomes Fact.

If one is looking for an historical retelling of the Tombstone war, one must look elsewhere.  A good place to begin would be with two biographies: Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend by Casey Tefertiller and Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends by Allen Barra.

Notice that legend appears in both titles.  Both writers do their best to identify what is fact and what is legend, while Hollywood has done very little of that down through the years, though the last two Earp films, TOMBSTONE (Cinergi, 1993) and WYATT EARP (WB, 1994) came much closer than any of its predecessors. (Disclosure: I have never been able to sit through an entire viewing of WYATT EARP which lasts over three hours, but seems longer.  But its pretty accurate.)

And television?  Well, there was an extremely popular series starring Hugh O'Brian that ran from 1955 to 1962, and its title was The Life and Legend (of course) of Wyatt Earp.  Its source material is the same as that for MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, that being Stuart N. Lake's book, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal.

Lake's book, supposedly a biography, is loosely (very loosely) based on fact and John Ford's movie is loosely (very loosely) based on Lake's book.  See the problem?  The names have not been changed, but the facts have been (to protect the guilty?).

There is an easier way to fact check CLEMENTINE If you're not ready to read the two biographies, though I certainly do recommend them. You can go here to the IMDb site for a list of the film's factual errors and you will not have to read the books and I will not have to detail the historical inaccuracies.

Director John Ford is clearly on record as being much more interested in a good story than in historical truth.  As he was once quoted: "You build a legend and it becomes fact."  That is what Lake did with his biography and what Ford did with the film.  On another occasion Ford said: "A legend is more interesting than actual facts.  When given the choice of filming the legend or the facts, I will always film the legend."

And of course there is the famous line from the newspaperman in Ford's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (Ford/Paramount, 1962): "This is the West, sir.  When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

One last thing about the truth-stretching in the film and then we will move on. 

Ford claimed that as a young man he had become acquainted with Earp who explained the famous shootout at the OK Corral to him and that he had filmed it that way with a few minor changes.  

If that is true, somebody fibbed.  Either Earp fibbed about what happened or Ford fibbed about filming it the way Earp described it, for what we see on the screen, though extremely well-staged, is nothing like the actual event, but much more exciting.

With all the historical inaccuracies it is still possible to sit back and enjoy this film.  Despite what Ford said the film was never intended to be a history lesson.

Fonda is perfectly cast and gives a superb performance, with strong support from the rest of the cast.

It is also one of John Ford's best films, and that is saying a lot.  Joseph McDonald's superb black-and-white camerawork adds an air of authenticity to both the interior and exterior filming.  

Wyatt meets Clementine



The Cast. 

At this point in their respective careers, Henry Fonda had become John Ford's favorite actor, and with good reason. It was the first film for both Ford and Fonda (and Victor Mature) after military service during World War II.  

Prior to the war they had teamed to film some enduring classics: YOUNG MR. LINCOLN (Fox, 1939); DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (Fox, 1939); and THE GRAPES OF WRATH (Fox, 1940).  

Still to come soon after CLEMENTINE were THE FUGITIVE (Argosy/RKO, 1947) and FORT APACHE (Argosy/RKO, 1948).  Fonda was magnificent in all these films, but especially so in THE GRAPES OF WRATH and CLEMENTINE.

Marshal Earp and Doc Holliday



Victor Mature, as Doc Holliday, gives what many believe is his finest performance.  My only reservation is that he looked far too healthy to portray the consumptive gambler-gunfighter.  

I've always wondered if the role should have gone to another actor in the film, the underrated and always interesting John Ireland, who portrays Billy Clanton.  He possessed the gaunt features, angular physique, and talent to have done justice to the role.



John Henry (Doc) Holliday

Old Man Clanton

Walter Brennan is Old Man Clanton, the patriarch of his ranching-rustling family and the main villain in the story.  Here he is not only an irascible old-timer, he is a mean, irascible old-timer, and he gives one of his best performances.  Soon thereafter he would revert to his usual role as irascible, but harmless, old-timer sidekick type in films such as RED RIVER (UA, 1948), THE FAR COUNTRY (Universal, 1955) and RIO BRAVO (WB, 1959). He would also parody his Old Man Clanton role to marvelous effect as Pa Danby in SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF (UA, 1969).

"Wide-awake, wide-open town, Tombstone.  You can get anything you want there." -- Old Man Clanton

 

Ford objected to the casting of Linda Darnell in the role of Chihuhua, Holliday's Latin girlfriend, but the studio was attempting to develop her into a major star and insisted that she be given the role.  It is an important character, though entirely fictitious, and Ford was correct in his assessment.  She would go on to do some good work in a few films, but she was miscast in this one.



the beautiful Chihuahua



CLEMENTINE (Cathy Downs): "I love your town in the morning, Marshal.  The air is so clean and clear -- the scent of desert flower."

WYATT (Henry Fonda): "That's me -- barber." 

 

Wyatt and Clementine

(Notice the tombstone.  

Wyatt had a brother named James and one named Warren, but none named James Warren. In the movie the Earp brothers are peaceful cowboys driving a cattle herd.  One night near Tombstone their herd is stampeded and James is killed.  The Earps discover that it is the Clantons who were responsible.  This leads to the blood feud between the two families.

None of this actually happened.  There was a blood feud, but it was not caused by the above, which was a product  of the screenwriters' imagination.)

Cathy Downs, a contract player at Fox, was given the role of the title character.  It was only the second credited role in her career and, as it turned out, the high-point. She would go on to star in B-movies, including sci-fi films in the 50's, and then concentrate on television for the remainder of her career.

Wyatt's brothers, Morgan and Virgil, are portrayed by Ward Bond and Tim Holt.  Beginning with this film Bond would become an important member of the Ford stock company.
 

Holt, also returning from the war, was a popular B-cowboy at RKO for many years.  He sometimes took supporting roles in major productions, but would always return to the saddle and during the postwar years would star in some of the best B-Westerns ever made.  He was an excellent horseman and from an early age a champion polo player.

Chihuahua and a playful Wyatt

You can watch MY DARLING CLEMENTINE on YouTube.

     

******

REVIEWS

"Full of wonderful details and vignettes; exquisitely photographed by Joseph P. MacDonald.  One of director Ford's finest films." -- Leonard Maltin

"One of the greatest movie Westerns...hardly the most accurate film version of the Wyatt Earp legend, but it still is one of the most entertaining." -- Bosley Crowther in The New York Times

"[It] was easily one of Ford's best Westerns, its simplicity and beauty weakened only by an untypical and excessive number of closeups of Linda Darnell.  MY DARLING CLEMENTINE is quite certainly the best of all the Wyatt Earp films." -- William K. Everson in A Pictorial History of the Western Film 

    

"It is perhaps the best use of Henry Fonda's special persona ever realized....what makes the film so powerful -- it works well both at the personal-story level and the level of mythology." -- J.A. Place in The Western Films of John Ford

"The character of Wyatt Earp...was Fonda's best performance and creation." -- Andrew Sinclair in John Ford

"It's a great legendary myth.  Fonda quietly imbues the Earp character with stunning power.  And Ford's visual images...while not spectactularly scenic...could be hung as fine paintings....Lyrical, introspective, dreamlike; one of the most beautiful films directed by John Ford, with Henry Fonda fixing foursquarely the mythic image of Wyatt Earp." -- Brian Garfield in Western Films: A Complete Guide

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp in the movies:

George O'Brien (1934)

Randolph Scott (l939)

Richard Dix (l942)

Henry Fonda (1946)

Will Geer (1950)

Joel McCrea (1955)

Hugh O'Brian (1955-1962)

Burt Lancaster (1957)



James Stewart (1964)

James Garner (1967)

Harris Yulin (1971)

James Garner (1988)

Kurt Russell (1993)

Kevin Costner (1994)