My Darling Clementine (1946)

Seeking to avenge his youngest brother's death, Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) takes on the job of Marshal in Tombstone, Arizona. Based on the book WYATT EARP, FRONTIER MARSHAL by Stuart Lake and directed by John Ford (THE SEARCHERS). Regarded as one of the great westerns, I must confess I've never understood its appeal. I suspect if any other director's name had been attached (say Lloyd Bacon who directed some reshoots after Ford left the movie), its reputation wouldn't be so highly regarded. I watched the preview version which is about 7 minutes longer before Daryl F. Zanuck edited it and had some reshoots done. The film is notoriously historically inaccurate but that doesn't seem to bother the film's advocates. Examples: the movie begins after the actual gunfight at the O.K. Corral had occurred the year before but ends the film with the gunfight. The movie portrays Doc Holliday (Victor Mature) as a surgeon rather than the dentist he actually was and has him die at the O.K. Corral gunfight (he survived and died 5 years later). As Earp, Henry Fonda is his usual lethargic self which allows Victor Mature to give the movie's best performance (and a career best for him). With Linda Darnell, Walter Brennan (very good as the patriarch of the Clanton gang), Ward Bond, Jane Darwell, John Ireland, Tim Holt and in the title role, Cathy Downs.