"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." - from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).
That line could sum up the 1946 John Ford movie, My Darling Clementine. It is a fictional version of the events leading up to and including the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona between the Earp brothers and the Clantons.
Since I have a trip coming up to Tombstone, I decided to watch My Darling Clementine last evening. It is the Criterion Collection version that I bought a few years ago starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp, Victor Mature as Doc Holliday, Ward Bond as Morgan Earp and Linda Darnell as Chihuahua.
Not much, if anything, is historically accurate, but it is a beautifully shot movie and well acted. It was filmed in Monument Valley, which I find humorous as the real Tombstone doesn't look anything like Monument Valley. It has to rank as the darkest movie by John Ford.
The extras do provide the real facts about Tombstone. The one I especially liked was a NBC News report from 1963 with David Brinkley.
The movie scored a 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer.
I visited Tombstone back around 1988 and enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the upcoming trip.
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