Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I'm Your Huckleberry

Film: My Darling Clementine
Format: VHS from Northern Illinois University Founders Memorial Library on big ol’ television.

Some time ago I watched Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which I remember most from its awful, awful theme song. John Ford’s My Darling Clementine is the same basic myth—Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday team up to shoot it out with the Clanton family near Tombstone. This is one of those cultural myths that always changes a little with the retelling. Most of the versions are essentially tall tales. This event is a piece of American folklore, and so an accurate retelling is not going to happen, especially coming from Hollywood in the mid-1940s.

Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his brothers are leading a herd of cattle across the desert on their way to California when they are accosted by an old man (Walter Brennan) and his boys not too far from Tombstone. The old man proves to be the patriarch of the Clantons and he offers to buy up the cattle, but is politely refused. Hearing that Tombstone is near, three of the Earps head off to town for a shave and a drink, leaving the fourth, James (Don Garner) to tend to the herd.

In town, getting a shave proves to be a problem as a drunk starts shooting up the town. Wyatt Earp stops him and is immediately offered the job of marshal, which he refuses. Eventually, the Earp family returns to their camp and finds their cattle gone and James dead. No longer having a reason to head off to California, they decide to stay and Wyatt accepts the lawman job. It’s no secret that their cattle are now in the possession of the Clantons and that the Clantons are the ones who killed young James, and from this point forward, we’re going to experience a slowburn on this feud until it erupts at the end.

Eventually, our other main player, Doc Holliday (Victor Mature) returns to town and meets up with Wyatt. The two form an uneasy friendship and an equally uneasy rivalry that seems to be focused on the two women in the picture. The first is Chihuahua (Linda Darnell), a saloon singer who proudly proclaims herself “Doc’s girl.” The second is Clementine Carter (Cathy Downs), the source of our film’s title and Doc’s former flame from Boston. It’s evident throughout that Doc in particular is torn between these two women, and that there’s some attraction between them and Earp as well.

Of course there’s more shootin’ and killin’ and eventually we get to the big shootout at the O.K. Corral, which is what we all paid our money for in the first place.

My Darling Clementine is legend building and myth making, and as such, there’s not really any thought toward historical accuracy. That would be okay if there was any other reason to recommend the film, but there really isn’t. It’s a pretty standard Western from the golden age of the genre. We see small hints of anti-heroes to come in Doc Holliday, but even that is explained away by his involvement with the two women.

I’m fine with the lack of historical accuracy. For my money, the best film about this legendary battle is the completely inaccurate Tombstone. What it lacks in facts it makes up for with great one-liners and Kurt Russell’s epic mustache. Tombstone didn’t really try to be anything but a new retelling of the same story, but it had something that My Darling Clementine lacks completely—a sense of fun and adventure. There’s nothing close to the moment in Tombstone when Kurt Russell threatens to turn a man’s head into a canoe nor any line as memorable as Val Kilmer drawling, “Ahm yaw huckleberry.” This film, sadly, is tepid myth making because the characters aren’t big enough or broad enough to feel worth of being legends. It all feels so bland.

My Darling Clementine isn’t a bad movie; it’s just not a very exciting movie and a film about a giant gun battle should be exciting. It’s got a great cast, too, but they aren’t given that much to do or that much to work with. I know there are a number of chess moves as the Earps look for ways to stop the Clantons and the Clantons look for ways to kill off the lawmen, but I simply couldn’t muster up the will to care that much.

Even Walter Brennan playing a bad guy instead of his typical wisecracking sidekick falls flat because Brennan isn’t in the film enough to really milk the role. At the end, nothing here was worthy of applause or a fist pump. Instead, it got a shrug and I pressed rewind. It’s not bad. It’s just not that good.

Why to watch My Darling Clementine: Walter Brennan plays a bad guy.
Why not to watch: If you want historical inaccuracy and fun, watch Tombstone.

9 comments:

  1. The best part of this film was Victor Mature's interactions with Linda Darnell. Still, I do like MacDonald's cinematography. There are some iconic shots in here, but overall I don't think this is a great film, either.

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  2. Another film I intend to see,but if it's less impressive than Tombstone(which left me underwhelmed),then I should think twice now.

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  3. The cinematography is lovely--I just wish there were more worth seeing in it sometimes.

    David--it's not a terrible film. It's just not that great, and you may end up liking it more than you did Tombstone. It is, after all, John Ford, and he made some great films.

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  4. I really like this film, and I like it because it's NOT really about the big gun fight at the end. It's NOT the focal point of this film, which is precisely what sets it apart. It's much more a slice of life, with great moments of comedy and warmth throughout. I went in knowing very little about it, and I do think this is one of my favorite westerns. Maybe that's because Western are not my genre to begin with, and this film doesn't wholly fit the typical Western mold. I like the little comedic moments, I love Fonda's portrayal of Earp, I love the hesitant romance, Chihuahua's a bit much, but still pretty fun, Victor Mature is shockingly decent, and the church dance scene makes me smile.

    I really love that this ISN'T about the gunfight. Even the title tells you that, at the very least, the gunfight won't be the focus. It's like this movie is exploring the tangents of the myth rather than the myth itself.

    But again, I'm not really a fan of Westerns, so what do I know.

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    1. About as much as I do, probably. I'm not a big Western fan, either.

      I just wish there were more here. I don't mind the gunfight being the build up or it being less of a battle than we might think. I just wish there were more in the first 90 minutes that interested me at all.

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  5. Well, I agree with you as far as the story. It is quite predictable and done so many times since. In that sense this is not a big film. But as a poem of the taming of the West I think it is quite nice. There is an understated current here as well that may be ahead of its time. I may not be as sold as Siobhan, but I quite liked this one.

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    1. Something about it just doesn't do it for me. I'm not sure what it is.

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  6. I saw My Darling Clementine a long time ago. A loooong time ago. About 1990. And I didn't like it that much.

    But so much time has passed. I've seen a lot more John Ford. I've learned to appreciate Victor Mature's talents as a performer (if not so much as an actor). I've seen so much more Linda Darnell, like the Mark of Zorro, Letter to Three Wives and especially Fallen Angel. I've learned a lot more about Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral mythmaking.

    So I've been meaning to see it again since I noticed it on the List a few years ago. I DVRed it off the MOVIES! channel and watched it today.

    I still don't like it that much.

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    1. Sounds about right. I stand by the idea that if you want this basic story and just want to have fun, Tombstone is the way to go.

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