My Darling Clementine

Dir: John Ford (The Grapes of Wrath, Fort Apache, The Searchers)
Cast: Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Linda Darnell
USA, 1946

Seen: October 28, 2007 thanks to Toronto Public Library

Reason to see: In preparation for Westerns month, it is listed in top westerns - The Best DVD's you’ve never seen, just missed or almost forgotten

It’s a little strange to see My Darling Clementine after seeing a film like Tombstone, it certainly seems a backwards way to view them but it was how I saw them. They both feature the characters Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday and are set in the town of Tombstone. One thing I found interesting about it was that it’s clearly the story of Wyatt Earp (played by Henry Fonda) as a man looking for the simple life, however Doc Holliday (Victor Mature) who is the most powerful man in town is in my opinion, a much more interesting character. Speaking of characters, the title character Clementine was barely even in it which was quite the surprize. All in all there was an interesting story there, just not what I expected. A lot of the standard western elements were there but it fell a bit to the slow and dramatic style, and sometimes my interest wavered. I did think that Victor Mature’s performance was stellar, he really did steal the show anytime he was on screen.

Great quote “There is probably a lot of nice people around here, we just haven’t met them yet.”

Shannon's Overall View:
I thought it was a pretty good movie but didn’t like it as much as some of the other westerns I’ve seen
I would watch it again
Would I recommend it as a classic western

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© Shannon Ridler, 2007