My Darling Clementine



In his early silent film days, John Ford met Wyatt Earp on a film set, and the eager young prop assistant soaked in the marshal's version of the showdown at the O.K. Corral. Twenty-some years later, Ford recalled Earp's tall tale in the landmark Western My Darling Clementine. Throughout his career, Ford was known to bend history, and this film is no exception. While lacking in historical accuracy, the film features traditional Western action, but is more memorable for the way in which Ford develops the characters of Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), Holliday's mistress, Chihuahua (Linda Darnell), and Clementine (Cathy Downs) who represents the new civilized Tombstone.

My Darling Clementine was added to the National Film Registry in 1991.


 * Historical Domain Characters: Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, as mentioned above.
 * Shout-Out: A showing of My Darling Clementine was the subject of a memorable episode of M*A*S*H; in addition to everything else in the episode, we even got to see some of the movie.  (And everyone in the mess tent participating in the final shoot-out.)