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.

     

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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)

TOP 21 FAVORITE WESTERNS -- BLOOD ON THE MOON

# 18

BLOOD ON THE MOON (RKO, 1948)

DIRECTOR: Robert Wise; PRODUCER: Sid Rogell; WRITERS: Lillie Hayward, Harold Shumate and Luke Short from novel by Short; CINEMATOGRAPHER: Nicholas Masuraca

CAST: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan, Phyllis Thaxter, Tom Tully, Frank Faylen, Clifton Young, Tom Tyler, Harry Carey, Jr., Richard Powers (Tom Keene), Bud Osborne, Robert Bray, Ben Corbett, Chris Pin-Martin, Hal Taliaferro, Iron Eyes Cody

 
JIM GARRY (Robert Mitchum):  "Shotten, Reardon, and me.  Hired gunmen."

TATE RILING (Robert Preston):  "Shotten and Reardon get paid in gold eagles.  You get paid in thousands."

JIM GARRY:  "Yeah.  Only difference between us is the price."  


The source of this film is another range war story, the specialty of the popular and prolific Western novelist, Luke Short. This time it is cattlemen vs. nesters. Mitchum is a drifter caught between opposing sides, and the bad guy is his old pal, Robert Preston.

Though the plot is pretty standard the director and cast pull it off with aplomb. 

One of the best things about the film is the atmospheric photography of Masaruca. In fact, the film could be classified as a noir Western, no surprise given the backgrounds of Wise, Mitchum, and Masaruca, since all three had made their reputations in noir dramas. 

The exteriors are filmed around Sedona, Arizona, known for its red rock topography, making it one of the most scenic areas in the world. Since the movie is filmed in black-and-white, it does not take advantage of those gorgeous colors as other Westerns do, but it does utilize the rugged nature of the landscape to great effect.

B-Western aficionados can appreciate the film for several reasons: 

Mitchum had gained his start in films portraying outlaws in the Hopalong Cassidy series, before RKO attempted to turn him into a B-Western star in his own right (the studio abandoned the plan, however, and elevated him into major productions, after his critically acclaimed supporting role in THE STORY OF G.I. JOE (UA, 1945), ironically, the only role for which he received an Academy Award nomination; second, Tom Keene, now billed as Richard Powers, had been the studio's very first B-Western star in the early 30's, but was now reduced to character roles, often as a villain, at the very same studio where he had once starred; Third, Tom Tyler, former B-Western hero, portrays a hired gunman; and fourth, it was good to see Bud Osborne, stage driver or heavy in literally hundreds of B-Westerns, receive the opportunity to portray a good guy for once and even receive the chance to deliver several lines of dialogue.

Tom Keene, RKO B-Western star in early 30's

Tom Tyler in a scene from one his silent Westerns 

Barbara Bel Geddes would later become best known as the Ewing matriarch, Miss Ellie, in the long-running prime time soap opera, DALLAS.

Barbara Bel Geddes and Robert Mitchum

Brennan, cast against type, gives a restrained performance as one of the nesters that is a dramatic departure from his usual bombastic, flamboyant and/or comedic Western roles.

BLOOD ON THE MOON was Robert Wise's first Western and first A-budget movie and despite its success he is on record as saying that he did not enjoy directing Westerns.  

In fact, he would direct only two more in his long and successful career.  He became best-known for directing two of Hollywood's most acclaimed musicals: WEST SIDE STORY (1961) and THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965).

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REVIEWS

"...a tough and complicated suspense movie with a disappointing plot but a wonderful flavor of the real West....It's superbly produced...and [is characterized] by flawless performances; Mitchum, Preston, Bel Geddes, and Tully are outstanding....the movie is exciting and excellent, widely regarded as a classic Western." -- Brian Garfield in Western Films

"One of [Wise's] best films and one of the best scripted Westerns of the forties." -- William K. Everson in A Pictorial History of the Western Film

"[It] has a sound, sensible story to tell and, besides, it is well acted. Robert Mitchum carries the burden of the film and his acting is superior all the way." -- New York Times

"BLOOD ON THE MOON is a terse, tightly-drawn Western drama. There's none of the formula approach to its story telling. Picture captures the crisp style used by Luke Short in writing his Western novels." -- Variety

  

TOP 21 FAVORITE WESTERNS -- THE FAR COUNTRY

#20

THE FAR COUNTRY (Universal, 1955)

DIRECTOR: Anthony Mann;  PRODUCER: Aaron Rosenberg; WRITER: Borden Chase; CINEMATOGRAPHER: William Daniels

CAST: James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Walter Brennan, Corinne Calvet, John McIntire, Jay C. Flippen, Harry Morgan, Steve Brodie, Connie Gilchrist, Kathleen Freeman, Eddy Waller, John Doucette, Royal Dano, Jack Elam, Robert J. Wilke, Chubby Johnson, Gregg Barton, Stuart Randall, Chuck Roberson

This is the fourth and final Western made by the Mann-Stewart team, and it is a dandy.


"I don't need other people.  I don't need help.  I can take care of me." -- Jeff Webster (James Stewart)

 
It is the story of a Wyoming cowboy (Stewart), another loner (except for his partner played by Brennan), who shepherds a herd of cattle to the gold fields of Alaska; but on the way he has to contend with a lot of adversity.  

He briefly settles down with Brennan to mine a gold claim, but the villains (led by McIntire) will not leave him alone.  Stewart goes on the revenge trail after Brennan is murdered and learns in the process that a man must sometimes get involved with the society around him and may also need the aid of others.

Walter Brennan, Corinne Calvet, and James Stewart

The plot doesn't break any new ground, but the good performances by Stewart, Brennan, and McIntire, the able direction of Mann, and the beautiful Canadian Rocky locations in Alberta shot in color by Daniels, make it worthwhile viewing.

John McIntire was a versatile actor who early in his career moved seamlessly between badman and upright citizen roles.  He was a villain in three of Mann's films:  WINCHESTER '73 (Universal, 1950), THE FAR COUNTRY, and THE TIN STAR (Paramount, 1957, starring Henry Fonda).  

In 1961, upon the sudden death of Ward Bond at age 57, McIntire became wagon master Chris Hale on the TV Western WAGON TRAIN, remaining in the series until its discontinuation in 1965.  During the Bond years the series was a 60-minute program and was filmed in black-and-white.  During two seasons in McIntire's tenure the show was expanded to ninety minutes and was filmed in color.

In 1967-1968, as a result of the unexpected death of Charles Bickford, McIntire became the owner of  the "Shiloh" ranch on THE VIRGINIAN, which had been the first 90-minute Western series.

Among the many familiar faces in THE FAR COUNTRY, a young Harry Morgan (later Col. Potter on the M*A*S*H TV series) is one of the bad guys.  He appeared in six of Mann's films.  

Back in 1943, Morgan had an important co-starring role in the classic Western, THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (Fox, 1943), portraying Henry Fonda's cowpoke buddy.

B-Western fans will recognize Eddy Waller, who just a few years earlier was seen on the big screen as Nugget Clark, sidekick to Allan "Rocky" Lane in his Western series at Republic.

Jack Elam, sightless in his left eye as a result of a childhood accident, possessed one of the most recognizable faces in film history.  He began his career as one of the baddest of the bad guys.  Which is ironic, because he entered show business working as an accountant and controller on several films.

But after moving in front of the camera he made the best of his tough guy roles.  He first gained the notice of critics for one of those roles in RAWHIDE (Fox, 1951, starring Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward)  One film critic would later write that Elam was "the roughest, meanest, dirtiest heavy ever to cast a shadow across a movie-lot cow town."

It is also ironic that "the roughest, meanest, dirtiest heavy ever" turned out to have a knack for comedy which became his forte during the latter years of his career.

James Stewart and "Pie"

Another familar presence in the film is Stewart's favorite movie horse, "Pie."  Stewart rode the horse for twenty-two years in seventeen films.  He was once quoted as saying that Pie was the best co-star he ever had.

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REVIEWS

"Solid, well-acted film....Walter Brennan...gives another good performance." -- Steven H. Scheuer  

"In Mann's hands the Western cliche of the hero as the man with a painful past is given renewed life through the intensity Stewart brings to the role and the parable-like nature of Chase's script." -- Phil Hardy in The Western

"Juvenile claptrap here and there but it's a taut yarn with lovely Rocky Mountain scenery; a fine entertaining movie." -- Brian Garfield in Western Films: A Complete Guide
 
"Credit John McIntire with the top characterization as the silk-hatted, bearded bad man, who is as cheerful about killing as he is about drinking and claim-jumping." -- New York Times