NFR Project: 'My Darling Clementine' (1946)

 

NFR Project: “My Darling Clementine”

Dir: John Ford

Scr: Samuel G. Engel, Winston Miller, Sam Hellman

Pho: Joseph MacDonald

Ed: Dorothy Spencer

Premiere: Dec. 3, 1946

97 min.

This ranks as one of director John Ford’s greatest Westerns, right up there with Stagecoach (1939) and The Searchers (1956).

It’s also his most beautiful movie, shot with loving tenderness by Joseph MacDonald. His cinematography conveys the immensity of the frontier sky, the beauty of Monument Valley, and travels into the smoky, dense atmosphere of barrooms and theaters. For a primer on how to turn simple “black and white” into a shimmering expanse of subtle silvers and grays, look no further.

Now, this is the story of the legendary 1881 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, but it does not reflect the facts of the incident. Instead, it weaves a mythical tale based on the highly edited and sanitized 1931 book by Stuart N. Lake, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal, which formed the basis for two previous film adaptations in 1934 and 1939. Though this iconic gunfight has been filmed many times, no one would get it down accurately until Tombstone (1993).

Here the action is set in 1882, a year after the actual event took place. Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his brothers Morgan (Ward Bond), Virgil (Tim Holt), and James (Don Garner) are driving cattle to California across the desert of Arizona. Wyatt meets with the suspicious cattle rancher, Old Man Clanton (Walter Brennan at his most intimidating) and one of his many sons. The Clantons offer to buy the cattle; Wyatt turns them down.

Three of the brothers go into Tombstone, leaving the youngest behind to watch the cattle. The three find out that the town is pretty much lawless. People are intimidated when they find out who Earp is; he carries a fearsome reputation as a lawman. However, Wyatt is not interested in staying and becoming marshal.

They return from their visit in a driving rainstorm to find their brother dead and the cattle gone. Wyatt takes the marshal job.

It is pretty obvious that the Clantons were responsible for James’ death, but nothing can be proved. Taciturn Wyatt soon brings law and order to the town. He meets Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), a former physician who runs the gambling in Tombstone. They settle into a tense truce. Doc is dying of tuberculosis; his drinking and angry rants are punctuated with bouts of coughing.

Then Clementine Carter (Cathy Downs), Doc’s former love from Boston, comes to town. She had been searching for Doc and wants him to come home with her. He refuses, feeling he is doomed. She refuses to leave town, so he does. Meanwhile, Wyatt finds that Doc’s mistress Chihuahua (Linda Darnell) has a silver cross belonging to James. Wyatt blames Doc for James’ murder, but finds out that he is wrong. Chihuahua confesses that Billy Clanton gave the cross to her, at which Clanton shoots her and escapes. Virgil trails him to the Clantons’ ranch, where he finds Billy dead. Old Man Clanton kills Virgil with a shotgun blast to the back. They dump his body in front of the marshal’s office and let the Earps know they are ready for a showdown.

Wyatt, Morgan, and Doc head to the O.K. Corral at sunrise. They meet the Clantons and destroy them, but not before Doc is killed, his position betrayed by a coughing fit. The surviving Earps move on; Clementine decides to stay and become the town’s schoolmarm.

Throughout, the Earps represent the forces of law and order. Tombstone is a “wide-open” town when they arrive; gambling and prostitution thrive there (Jane Darwell plays a pleasant madam). Every man wears a gun, save for Wyatt. As his influence on the town grows, we see the God-fearing members of the place founding a church. In an iconic scene, Wyatt and Clementine attend the dedication of the house of worship and dance in its uncompleted structure, a potent metaphor for the sense of community taking root in this lawless location.

Doc is a figure torn between his respectable past and his criminal present. This is Victor Mature’s greatest role, one he plays with a melancholy haughtiness. He knows his way of doing things can’t last with Earp around, but he persists – just as he persists in drinking heavily though it makes his illness worse. He is tragic.

The Clantons represent everything Wyatt stands against, contempt for the law and murderous competitiveness. They are monsters that must be destroyed for the sake of the community.

Every scene is lovingly crafted. Whether or not the script is based on fact, it feels real, so detailing and convincing is its production design. Little touches deepen the film. A wandering actor, played to perfection by Alan Mowbray, becomes the focus of another Earp-Clanton confrontation. At one point, Wyatt asks the dependable bartender Mac, “Were you ever in love?” “No,” Mac replies, “I’ve been a bartender all me life.”

The final showdown is filmed almost silently, with no music track, making the scene all the more fraught with tension. Only killing will resolve the conflict. Law and order sweeps away the bad guys, but it sweeps away romantic figures such as Doc as well. The wild West is fated to pass into history . . . and into legendary imaginings such as My Darling Clementine.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Notorious.