Review of My Darling Clementine (1946) by Kevin N — 01 Jul 2010

Ford helms a community western in this entertaining and well-acted portrayal of Wyatt Earp as he slides into civilization in the legendary town of Tombstone, Arizona. The director usually shoots his westerns from an outsider's perspective, but here his camera glides in and out of the town and its people and creates an involving study on what it means to be a piece of a whole.

Henry Fonda gives one of his best Ford film performances and gets tremendous support by Cathy Downs, Victor Mature and Linda Darnell. Though it has some canonical western elements (tough guys squaring up in a saloon, prostitute vs.

good girl, shootout at the O.K. Coral), the movie finds ways to present them from a different angle, challenging convention and ultimately commenting on the way the class western hero fits into the community he protects.