MY DARLING CLEMENTINE

John Ford is reputed as having once introduced himself with "My name is John Ford; I make westerns". He won a record four Best Director Oscars yet none of them for a western. You might say that testifies to his versatility; I think rather it says more about the Academy's disdain for the western, as if horse-operas were nothing more than fodder for the masses yet several of John Ford's westerns are among the finest films ever made anywhere by anyone. A few years back his movie "The Searchers", largely dismissed by critics at the time of its release, was named in Sight and Sound's ten best films ever made.

In 1946 he made "My Darling Clementine", yet another take on the saga of Wyatt Earp, the Clantons and that gunfight that took place at the OK Corral and it's a masterpiece, a luminous, poetic and deeply moving account of life on the frontier. Ford shot the film in his beloved Monument Valley and while he claims the actual gunfight was historically accurate, little else belonged to historical fact. It's a 'print the legend' kind of movie and the legend here lies in Henry Fonda's magnificent performance as Earp as well as a number of set-pieces as good as anything in American movies; Earp's first meeting with Doc Holliday, Earp stepping out with Clementine at the church meeting, Alan Mowbray as a ham actor reciting Shakespeare in the bar-room. It also boasts probably the only really good performance ever given by Victor Mature as Doc Holliday. I have seen this film many times over the years and like all great movies it only improves with age.