My Darling Clementine

My Darling Clementine, motion-picture dramatization of the true story of the gunfight at O.K. Corral, the novel Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshall by Stuart N. Lake. Released in 1946, this film was directed by John Ford and stars Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp. The Earp brothers stop in Tombstone, Arizona, to sell their cattle. While they are in town making the deal, the youngest brother is left to watch the herd and is killed by Old Man Clanton and his brutish sons. Wyatt Earp takes on the previously unwanted role of town marshall, deputizes his remaining brothers, and proceeds to bring a little law and order to the wild town. He meets Doc Holliday, a drunken but quick and cunning gunslinger, and Holliday’s current and former girlfriends, Chihuahua and Clementine. Earp falls in love with Clementine and later enlists Holliday to accompany him and his deputies to bring the renegade Clanton family to justice. This film is known for its sparse, realistic scenery and eclectic, Western folk music score.

Director

• John Ford

Cast

• Henry Fonda (Wyatt Earp)
• Linda Darnell (Chihuahua)
• Victor Mature (Doc Holliday)
• Walter Brennan (Old Man Clanton)
• Tim Holt (Virgil Earp)
• Cathy Downs (Clementine)
• Ward Bond (Morgan Earp)
• Alan Mowbray (Granville Thorndyke)
• John Ireland (Billy Clanton)
• Roy Roberts (Mayor)
• Jane Darwell (Kate)
• Grant Withers (Ike Clanton)
• J. Farrell MacDonald (Mac the bartender)
• Russell Simpson (John Simpson)
• Don Garner (James Earp)
• Francis Ford (Town drunk)
• Ben Hall (Barber)
• Arthur Walsh (Hotel clerk)
• Louis Mercier (François)
• Mickey Simpson (Sam Clanton)
• Fred Libby (Phin Clanton)
• William B. Davidson (Owner of Oriental Saloon)
• Earle Foxe (Gambler)
• Aleth 'Speed' Hansen (Guitar player, townsman)
• Dan Borzage (Accordian player, townsman)
• Charles Anderson (Townsman)
• Duke Lee (Townsman)
• Don Barclay (Opera house owner)
• Margaret Martin (Woman)
• Mae Marsh (Woman)
• Frances Rey (Woman)
• Robert Adler (Stagecoach driver)
• Jack Pennick (Stagecoach driver)
• Frank Conlan (Piano player)
• Charles Stevens (Indian Charlie)
• Harry Woods (Marshal)

Awards

• Selected for Registry by the National Film Preservation Board (1991)

Quotes

• Clanton (to his sons): “When you pull a gun, kill a man.”