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My Darling
Clementine (1946)
In John Ford's western classic - with title credits
underscored by the singing of the folk song "(Oh My Darling)
Clementine"
by a cowboy chorus - about the legendary Wyatt Earp and his participation
in the OK Corral Gunfight in Tombstone, Arizona Territory in 1881:
- the tale of the four Earp brothers - in the early
1880s, during a cattle drive through Arizona enroute to California;
and the first of many encounters with Old Man Clanton (Walter Brennan)
and his Clanton gang of scurrilous gunfighters - who met with Wyatt
Earp (Henry Fonda) on the trail and told him of the nearby town
of Tombstone
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Old Man Clanton
(Walter Brennan)
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Young James Earp
(Don Garner)
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(l to r): Morgan, Wyatt, Virgil Earp
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- the visit of three of the four Earp brothers to
the uncivilized, wild town of Tombstone that evening - a lawless
town (without a marshal) - evidenced in the early scene when Wyatt
Earp's haircut with a barber (Ben Hall) was interrupted by a shooting
outdoors by drunken Indian Charlie (Charles Stevens) (Wyatt: "What
kind of a town is this anyway? Excuse me ma'am. A man can't get
a shave without gettin' his head blowed off") - and Wyatt
was forced to subdue the man
- the startling discovery of James' body after a return
to the Earp campsite - Wyatt suspected that the Clantons had rustled
the Earp cattle and murdered him, and warily spoke to them in town;
shortly later, Wyatt was at his younger brother's gravesite (with
a Monument Valley backdrop) (BORN 1864 DIED 1882) - and decided to
seek revenge, by becoming the town's marshal (and making his surviving
brothers his deputies)
- Wyatt's friendship with hot-tempered, well-educated
gambler and saloon chief Dr. John Henry "Doc" Holliday
(Victor Mature), suffering from TB (or "consumption"),
whose mistress was hot-blooded Mexican saloon dancer-singer Chihuahua
(Linda Darnell); Wyatt first encountered Chihuahua when she was helping
signal other poker players about his cards, and he angrily dunked
her in a horse's trough
- the scene of a half-drunk Shakespearean actor Granville
Thorndyke (Alan Mowbray) tormented by the Clantons and forced to
deliver the famous Hamlet soliloquy atop a saloon table
- the image of Wyatt balancing himself on the two hind
legs of his chair on the porch in Tombstone, as the stagecoach from
Tucson pulled into town; the stage was carrying schoolteacher Clementine
Carter (Cathy Downs) (Note: she was "Doc's" former ex-lover/fiancee
from Boston, who had arrived in town to locate him, but he spurned
her)
Earp on Porch
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Arrival of Clementine Carter
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Spurned by Ex-Fiancee "Doc"
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- the powerful sequence: in his rented room, "Doc"
gazed at his medical doctor's diploma - he took a drink of whiskey
(his face reflected in the glass), then sarcastically spit out
the words: "Dr. John Holliday," and smashed his whiskey
shot glass into the frame, shattering the glass and the reminder
of what he used to be
- the scene of Wyatt Earp majestically escorting Clementine
to a church service (dedicating the laying of the foundation of a
new church to be built), and the church's open-air social dance -
a fundraiser ("Sashay back and make room for our new Marshal
and his lady-fair")
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Wyatt and Clementine at the Church Dance
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- the telltale solid silver-cross necklace/medal (bought
by the murdered James Earp to give to his blonde sweetheart Cory
Sue) that was worn by Chihuahua - she at first claimed it was a
gift from "Doc" (to cover up her indiscretions) - but
then admitted it had been given to her by the man who killed Wyatt's
brother James - Billy Clanton (John Ireland)
- the scene of Billy Clanton shooting and mortally-wounding
Chihuahua (as he overheard her implicating him in the murder of James,
as she spoke the words: "It was Billy Clanton"), and despite
efforts of "Doc" to save her with surgery, she soon died
The O.K. Corral Shootout
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The Standoff
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Wyatt's March Down Main Street
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"Doc's" Death
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- the sequence of the historic OK Corral shootout
climax against the Clantons led by Old Man Clanton, following the
cold-blooded killing of Wyatt's brother Virgil Earp (Tim Holt);
after the shootout that decimated the Clantons, Doc Holliday's
affliction weakened him and made him vulnerable, and he died during
the shoot-out
- and at film's end -- Earp bid goodbye to Clementine
before riding off away from the camera toward the rock monuments
in the distance in the last image: ("Ma'am, I sure like that
name - Clementine") - he was leaving town and joining up with
his brother Morgan Earp (Ward Bond)
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Disruption in Tombstone During Wyatt's Haircut
Wyatt Confronting the Clantons
Wyatt's Visit to James' Grave
Chihuahua
(Linda Darnell)
"Doc" Holliday
(Victor Mature)
Actor Thorndyke Reciting Shakespeare in Saloon For Clantons
"Doc's" Destroyed Past as Medical Doctor
Chihuahua's Anger at Earp and Jealousy Toward Clementine
Wyatt Noticing The Telltale Medal Around Chihuahua's Neck
Chihuahua Shot and Mortally Wounded by Billy Clanton
Ending: Wyatt's Goodbye to Clementine
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