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Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Jane Darwell, Walter Brennan ... see more see more... , Cathy Downs , Ward Bond , Francis Ford , Ben Hall , Don Garner , Tim Holt , John Ireland , Fred Libby , John Farrell MacDonald , Louis Mercier , Alan Mowbray , Roy Roberts , Mickey Simpson , Russell Simpson , Arthur J. Walsh , Grant Withers , Robert Adler , Don Barclay , Danny Borzage , Frank Conlan , William B. Davidson , Earl Foxe , Aleth "Speed" Hansen , Duke R. Lee , Mae Marsh , Charles Stevens , Jack Pennick , Harry Woods , Charles Anderson , Margaret Martin , Frances Rey

One of the greatest movie Westerns, John Ford's My Darling Clementine is hardly the most accurate film version of the Wyatt Earp legend, but it is still one of the most entertaining. Henry Fonda stars... read more read more... as former lawman Wyatt Earp, who, after cleaning up Dodge City, arrives in the outskirts of Tombstone with his brothers Morgan (Ward Bond), Virgil (Tim Holt), and James (Don Garner), planning to sell their cattle and settle down as gentlemen farmers. Yet Wyatt, disgusted by crime and cattle rustling, eventually agrees to take the marshalling job until he can gather enough evidence to bring to justice the scurrilous Clanton clan, headed by smooth-talking but shifty-eyed Old Man Clanton (Walter Brennan). Almost immediately, Wyatt runs afoul of consumptive, self-hating gambling boss Doc Holliday (Victor Mature, in perhaps his best performance). When Doc's erstwhile sweetheart, Clementine (Cathy Downs) comes to town, Earp is immediately smitten. However, Doc himself is now involved with saloon gal Chihauhua (Linda Darnell). The tensions among Wyatt, Doc, Clementine, and Chihauhua wax and wane throughout most of the film, leading to the legendary gunfight at the OK Corral, with Wyatt and Doc fighting side-by-side against the despicable Clantons. Its powerful storyline and full-blooded characterizations aside, My Darling Clementine is most entertaining during those little "humanizing" moments common to Ford's films, notably Wyatt's impromptu "balancing act" while seated on the porch of the Tombstone hotel, and Wyatt's and Clementine's dance on the occasion of the town's church-raising. Based on Stuart N. Lake's novel Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshall (previously filmed twice by Fox), the screenplay is full of wonderful dialogue, the best of which is the brief, philosophical exchange about women between Earp and Mac the bartender (J. Farrell MacDonald). The movie also features crisp, evocative black-and-white photography by Joseph MacDonald. Producer (Daryl F. Zanuck) was displeased with Ford's original cut and the film went through several re-shoots and re-edits before its general release in November of 1946. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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22 critics

G, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: John Ford

Release Date: December 3, 1946

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DVD Release Date: January 6, 2004

Stats: 367 reviews

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Victor Mature and Ward Bond Wyatt Earp Poster Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell and Victor Mature Fonda as Wyatt Earp
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Flixster Reviews (367)

  • fb1664868775
    October 27, 2011
    fb1664868775
    Fonda is fantastic as Wyatt Earp and featuring Walter Brennan's most sinister performance.
  • kiriyamakazou
    July 3, 2010
    kiriyamakazou
    A fantastic telling of the gunfight at the OK Coral. It's brought down ever so slightly by Ford's romanticism of the genre. Too much focus on the ladies distances the characters from, what should be, their heartache. Tombstone will always be my favorite version of this story, and... read more this hits many of the same notes. It's wonderfully shot, and unlike some early westerns, you get a real sense of heat, space, and isolation. Fonda is his typical brilliant self, carrying the film, and capturing Earp's rugged edges. It has a very clean pace, even though, what should be the main focus, is simply the interludes for the bromance/romance.
  • mjgildea
    June 2, 2010
    mjgildea
    My Darling Clementine is yet another testament to the greatness of not only Henry Fonda in an earnest portrayal of Wyatt Earp, but John Ford's legendary directorial ability. The photography in Ford's familiar Monument Valley setting was as always superb but for me, that's kind of... read more where my raving about My Darling Clementine ends. Well, maybe except for the OK Corral sequence at the end and the Hamlet scene. Those were incredible. But Victor Mature was an astoundingly dull Doc Holliday (maybe if I hadn't seen Val Kilmer's turn in Tombstone previously...) and I found it incredibly hard to give a shit about Linda Darnell. Really, how can you get excited and/or aroused by a woman playing a character named Chihuahua? Otherwise, with its great supporting cast I'd definitely agree with anyone putting My Darling Clementine on an essential westerns list.
  • bottcorecords1
    April 16, 2010
    bottcorecords1
    John Ford's first movie after WWII, My Darling Clementine lacks the grandeur that makes up his later work. In fact, at times I had to re-check the date on the film, as sets and film quality made it look a decade older than what it was. The film tells the story of the gunfight a... read moret the OK corral, with Wyatt Earp (Fonda) and Doc Holiday (Victor Mature). Victor Mature seems miscast as Doc Holiday (I thought Kirk Douglas did a much better job as Holiday, and somehow he fits my stereotypical image of the man) Henry Fonda is a fine Wyatt Earp, but he plays the same character in every film, so it's hard to judge his performance. The script is fine as well, that is, until the title character makes her appearance onscreen and brings the film to a screeching halt. By the time Earp takes Clementine to the church square dance, I was dozing off. There's a B western quality to this film that, while overcome in the long run, does sour the experience a little for me. John Ford and Henry Fonda should be a slam dunk, and while the first half of the film is imminently watchable, the overall feeling is a letdown. Maybe it's like the lighting on Doc Holiday's girlfriend "Chihuahua" (Linda Darnell) as she's being operated on, it just feels like it's out of place.
  • smith44
    March 2, 2010
    smith44
    "Mac, you ever been in love?"
    "No, I've been a bartender all my life."
  • matertenebraum
    January 10, 2009
    matertenebraum
    Wyatt Earp and his brothers are driving cattle to California. They stop off at Tombstone and go into town, leaving the youngest brother behind to mind the cattle. On their return they find their brother murdered and their cattle stolen. Wyatt decides to stay in town with his brot... read moreher as the town's marshal to bring law and order and catch the murderer. In the town he not only comes up against the hard-drinking Doc Holliday but also the Clanton's.

    Easily the best film that tells the story of Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the OK Coral. There have been more action packed versions or more ponderous versions but this is still the best. The shootout itself is supposedly the most accurate, as director Ford said `I talked to Wyatt Earp, he told me how it was and that's how we did it' (I'm paraphrasing cause I can't remember the direct quote). However the shootout is not as dramatic as a result ? in fact it is very short and straightforward. The strength in the film is the wider story. The story is well told with attention to character and has a good comic feel running right through it.

    The script allows for good dialogue and the actors bring it to life well. Fonda was always at his strongest in these type of roles and is morally strong. His easy screen toughness really holds the attention. Mature has a good role in Doc, but is not the best doc ever I think. The Clantons are all underused and don't really make a big impact until the final section. Darnell makes a big impact and Downs is good despite being more subtle.

    The film is as much Ford's as Fonda's. His black and white film is as lush as many colour films you see. His use of shadow is powerful ? witness his death shroud on Holliday's face as he talks to Chihuahua who is literally and metaphorically entering into the light. The old west looks as sparse as I imagine it was. Ford's only weakness is that he doesn't bring much tension to the actual gunfight, but his warming, comic telling at other points means that his strengths vastly outweigh the odd weakness.

    Overall this film is rightly a classic that appears in many critics top 100 lists. I was surprised to see it not in the top 250 of imdb (at time of writing). I guess that when modern films are `good' hundreds of thousands of people see it and it moves quickly up the internet polls, however older classics like this can tend to be forgotten as those same users slowly discover it. However, regardless of on line polls this is a very good film that is easily the best telling of the Wyatt Earp story.
  • garyX
    September 11, 2008
    garyX
    John Ford's My Darling Clementine is one of the earlier treatments of the Wyatt Earp story and it's still one of the best. Henry Fonda is as rock solid as always as the reluctant law man but it is the supporting cast that adds the necessary spice to the story, particularly Walter... read more Brennan who shows there was far more to him than the grizzled old caricature that became his trademark as the callous and black hearted patriarch of the Clanton clan. Victor Mature's limited thespian talents actually work here as his Doc Holliday is as stone-faced as he is self destructive and Linda Darnell is sex on a stick as the extremely noirish and fiery tart with a heart. There is also some great night time photography adding to its noirish feel and the final showdown is realistically atmospheric. It may lack the grit and spectacle of post-Leone westerns but for those who enjoy a traditional tale of the old west, this is an enduring classic.
  • kenstachnik
    January 15, 2008
    kenstachnik
    Classic "Guy comes into town and decides to clean up the rotten element" Western by the master John Ford. The economy of storytelling is really impressive in this kind sublime re-telling of the Gun Fight at the OK Corral
  • FilmFanatik
    September 22, 2007
    FilmFanatik
    A bonafied classic. John Ford's wonderful look at Wyatt Earp and the shootout at the O.K. Corral is as gorgeously filmed as it is entertaining.
  • toejambaseball24
    August 29, 2011
    toejambaseball24
    Although I personally prefer the awesomeness that is "Tombstone" when it comes to movies about the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, and the O.K. Corral, this one is still really great. Henry Fonda and Victor Mature as Doc Holliday strike all the right notes. This is making me excited... read more about this Western class that I'm taking.

View All My Darling Clementine Reviews

Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

My Darling Clementine must be one of the sweetest and most good-hearted of all Westerns. Full Review

Tim Brayton
October 27, 2008
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

Launched the series of masterpieces in the late '40s and 1950s that forever after defined [Ford] as the greatest director of Westerns in history, Full Review

Cole Smithey
November 30, 2007
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

John Ford's last film as a contract director for Fox is a perfect western.

Dennis Schwartz
September 13, 2007
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The quintessential Wyatt Earp movie and one of the greatest westerns ever filmed. Full Review

Douglas Pratt
June 14, 2007
Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser

The first couple of times we saw My Darling Clementine on the late show we watched the beginning, fell asleep in the middle, woke up at the end, and thought we had sat through one of the best films we...

Dan Lybarger
October 16, 2005
Dan Lybarger, Nitrate Online

Vintage John Ford.

Steven D. Greydanus
April 4, 2005
Steven D. Greydanus, Decent Films Guide

That the title mentions neither Earp nor the O.K. Corral is an indication of the lightness with which Clementine carries the legendary baggage of its subject matter. Full Review

Steve Crum
October 19, 2004
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan

Wonderful, moving John Ford true classic western

Rich Cline
June 12, 2004
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

Gorgeous!

Bill Chambers
May 2, 2004
Bill Chambers, Film Freak Central

I haven't seen a better docudrama about Wyatt Earp, but on the other hand, the venerated lawman has yet to be the subject of a masterpiece Full Review

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    • Wyatt Earp: Mac, you ever been in love?
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