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ACF#37 My Darling Clementine
Ready for another Western? Here’s Hank Fonda as Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine, John Ford’s most elegant Western. It combines a simplicity of storytelling with a remarkably clear structure about the emergence of civilization, announced in four skeptical exclamations: Marshaling in Tombstone? Shakespeare in Tombstone? Church bells in Tombstone? Schooling in Tombstone? It’s also the Ford Western that explores friendship and its potentially tragic consequences with the greatest feeling, and the most erudite Western, where characterization and themes are established by quoting Hamlet and Addison’s poem on the Duke of Marlborough. It’s a beautiful movie, free of the sordid, and its dignity is a show of Ford’s understanding of the American past.
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Not dying to watch any movie with any Fonda connected to it. BTW I did watch it when it was first released.
& you don’t have fond memories?
I’m not positive, but he may be upset with Jane – as am I. I’m not sure we should take it out on her father, however.
I think it’s Peter who’s in the news just now, but I see your point.
Anyway, Hank Fonda did enough for America to forgive him the sins of his offspring…
See, Peter Fonda is just an idiot, where Jane is a traitor.
Anyway, I am enjoying these discussions, Titus. Haven’t seen My Darling Clementine in a very long time. But I sent for it again, from Netflix.
Thanks for having these informative talks, Titus.
Nobody builds a church by finishing the floor first then framing the steeple.
Do the main frame and put a roof on it. Then when you do the floor, you are working in the shade. This is Tombstone, for pete’s sake!
We did, actually, build a house by finishing the floor, then framing the walls and the roof/steeple.
But, we’re weird. I revel in that.
Thanks for the minority opinion support!
Percy, this is Ford, he’s trying to teach you how to think about America, not architecture. There’s a dancefloor; but there’s also aspiration. Like church bells in advance of the church itself being there… Don’t grumble so much.
Glad you like’em! Help me out–in case you’re on iTunes or such, please give us ratings/reviews. We’re hoping to persuade lots of people to become part of our curate-the-culture efforts. It’s perfect for summertime…
I like the way your mind works. Titus – and Ford’s. Sometimes we can’t be so literal. We have to – as they say – think outside the box. Think in metaphorical terms. I love metaphors.
By the way, I will try to work with I-tunes. Everytime I go there, they seem to want me to pay them. I’ll keep trying.
Thanks for the kind words & for the help!
Other than clips, I’ve never seen it.
My on demand service sucks. Most of the things I search for (today, this and Vertigo), I have to subscribe a la carte to a new channel for $10/month. And it’s always a different channel.
That sucks. It’s a fine movie. Henry Fonda is at his best.
It does seem like a wildly different storyline for Wyatt Earp. Cattle drive?
Yup. They’re really cowboys.