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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:
- it told the tale of the four Earp brothers - in
the early 1880s, during a cattle drive through Arizona enroute
to California; and the first of their 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
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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- three of the four Earp brothers visited
the uncivilized, wild town of Tombstone that evening - a lawless
town (without a marshal) - evidenced in an early scene when Wyatt
Earp was getting a haircut with a barber (Ben Hall) and 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") - Wyatt
was forced to subdue the man
- young James' body was startlingly
discovered 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 developed a friendship with hot-tempered, well-educated
gambler and saloon chief Dr. John Henry "Doc" Holliday
(Victor Mature), originally a cultured Bostonian, who was suffering
from TB (or "consumption"); his 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
- half-drunk Shakespearean actor Granville
Thorndyke (Alan Mowbray) was tormented by the Clantons and forced
to deliver the famous Hamlet soliloquy atop a saloon table, until
he was defended by Earp
- one of the film's most memorable images was 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)
Iconic View of Earp on Porch
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Arrival of Clementine Carter (Cathy Downs)
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Clementine Spurned by Ex-Fiancee "Doc"
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- during a 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; it was a
reminder of what he used to be
- Wyatt Earp majestically escorted 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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- a tell-tale solid silver-cross
necklace/medal (bought by the murdered James Earp to give to his
blonde sweetheart Cory Sue) was worn by Chihuahua - she at first
claimed it was a gift from "Doc" (to cover up for her
indiscretions) - but then admitted it had been given to her by
the man who killed Wyatt's brother James - Billy Clanton (John
Ireland)
- Billy Clanton shot and mortally-wounded
Chihuahua (after 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
- after killing Billy, Wyatt's brother Virgil Earp (Tim
Holt) was cold-bloodedly shot in the back by Old Man Clanton at
his homestead, leading to the historic OK
Corral shootout climax of the Earps against the Clantons
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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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 the 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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Ending: Wyatt's Goodbye to Clementine
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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
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