Marisa Paloma Williams

Blue Group
10/9/16
Simel
Cinematic Analysis Quarter 1: My Darling Clementine
My Darling Clementine is a classical western film, directed by John Ford, released in
1946. The recurring theme throughout the film is revenge and American heroism. The movie
begins with four brothers, Wyatt, James, Morgan, and Virgil Earp, herding cattle in the
nineteenth century American west. Wyatt, Morgan, and Virgil go into a frontier town called
Tombstone for a shave. A drunken Indian man is shooting up the town, and Wyatt Earp stops
him. For this, Wyatt is offered the job of town marshall which he declines until he finds that his
youngest brother James has died and their cattle has been stolen. Throughout his stay in the
town, Wyatt Earp encounters Chihuahua and Doc Holiday, her lover. Doc Holidays previous
lover from the East, Clementine, finds Doc and begs him to return to her and their life in the
East, in response, Doc turns her down and tells her to leave town. Chihuahua has a small
argument with Clementine - fueled by Chihuahuas envy of Clementine being Docs ex lover.
Doc Holiday decides to leave town and begins to drive away. Wyatt Earp sees Chihuahua and
notices that her necklace was clearly stolen from his dead brother. Upon being asked who gave
her the necklace, Chihuahua insists that Doc Holiday gave it to her. Wyatt Earp comes to the
conclusion that Doc must be tied to his brothers murder, and successfully stops Doc from
leaving town. Wyatt interrogates Chihuahua and Doc about the necklace, and Chihuahua reveals
that one of the Clanton brothers gave it to her. The Clanton brothers and their father, Old Man
Clanton, are notorious gamblers and own the biggest ranch in town. Wyatt and his remaining
brother Morgan (Virgil dies in pursuit of Billy Clanton), upon realizing that it was the Clantons
who stole their cattle and killed their brother, decide to avenge their brother. Doc Holiday, being

Marisa Paloma Williams

Blue Group
10/9/16
Simel
a relatively good friend of Wyatt, comes along to help. The Clantons, the Earps and Doc Holiday
engage in a shootout. The Earps manage to fatally wound all of the Clantons except for Old Man
Clanton, but Doc Holiday is fatally wounded as well. Morgan and Wyatt give Old Man Clanton
the opportunity to leave town, however, he chooses to try to avenge his sons and tries to shoot
Wyatt. Morgan then kills Old Man Clanton. The film ends with Wyatt and Morgan leaving town,
having been established as American Western heroes.
The film, being a classic western, served to echo many American values and aspects of
society such as expansion and new beginnings, civility regarding wants/needs, and heroism. The
setting of western settlement serves to glorify expansion and new beginnings. My Darling
Clementine insisted that the story of western settlement is a story of the conquest of nature and
the taming of human nature in the name of the family and of the community that families
together form (Conzen, 315). This film shows many concepts regarding American society
through expansion; a strong sense of community, neighborhood, religion, and hospitality.
American concepts of civility are strongly implicated throughout the film as well. The Clantons,
who are depicted as the antagonists, are shown to be untrustworthy because of their lack of
civility; they use violence to accumulate and maintain their power (Bennett). The savagery of
violence is also very common narrative in American culture. However, the Earps use of violence
is glorified and serves to depict American heroism due to the fact that the Earps use violence to
carry out their justice (Bennett). The glamorization of the Earps - Wyatt in particular - caters to
many American ideals regarding heroism. Wyatt defeats the quote-unquote bad guys and fulfills
the role of the American hero.

Marisa Paloma Williams

Blue Group
10/9/16
Simel
The film was one of the first classical Westerns, and its impact culturally was mainly
affiliated with the issues going on in the country at the time. At the time of release, World War II
had just ended and citizens were uncertain of where the country was headed (Bennett). The film
contributed to the general effort to uplift the spirit of America (Bennett). This film undertook
to work out some of the most abstract and fundamental issues of American political beliefs and
principles (Hutson, 210). John Ford also wanted to convey underlying themes of opportunity to
the American people. Ford wanted America to realize that it was on the verge of
greatness (Bennett), which he conveyed through subtle imagery and symbolism representing
new beginnings and new opportunities.
Because of the time period, there was certainly historical bias. The main incident of this
was in the very beginning of the film when Wyatt Earp saves the town from a drunken Indian
shooting up some stores. He then shames the people of the town for giving an Indian alcohol,
and he then kicks the Indian, who flys out of the scene. Although this was the sole encounter of
Indians (or any other race besides whites) in the entire film, it definitely speaks to a strong
historical bias. This scene firstly demonizes the Indian, and portrays the sole character of color in
the entire film as an uncivilized savage. Furthermore, the lack of Indians in the film also
insinuates that the land in which the town resided in was entirely and rightfully owned by the
whites, which is extremely unlikely.
A lot of the underlying themes throughout the film are conveyed through a strong use of
symbolism and metaphor. The open setting of the frontier serves to give the viewer a sense of a
wild expanse (Bennett). The violent nature of the Clantons was exhibited through the murder of

Marisa Paloma Williams

Blue Group
10/9/16
Simel
James Earp for his cattle, and Billy Clanton shooting Chihuahua for revealing that it was not Doc
Holiday who gave her the necklace. This violent and primitive nature symbolizes primal
authoritative power (Bennett), whereas the heroic and revengeful violence of the Earps
symbolizes a more democratic power (Bennett). Therefore, due to Americas natural inclination
towards democracy, the Earps are the heroes of the story. Clementine and Chihuahua both
symbolize the stereotypes of American western women. Chihuahua, being a prostitute and an
mistress to Doc Holiday represents the archetype of the wild, dark prostitute (Dirks,
filmsite.org). Whereas Clementine, and educated and modest women from the east, represents
the archetype of the Eastern, fair and respectable (Dirks, filmsite.org) woman. The creation of
the church is a metaphor for the perpetuation and expansion of American tradition on the
Western frontier. My Darling Clementine with its recurring themes of heroism and revenge,
depicted a very glorified story of Westward Expansion in the late 40s.

Marisa Paloma Williams

Blue Group
10/9/16
Simel
Works Cited
Bennett, Marvin. " The Nature of Violence in the American Western." Digication E-Portfolio.
N.p., 2016. Web. 09 Oct. 2016.
Conzen, Kathleen N., Milner, Clyde A., Carol A. O'Connor, and Martha A. Sandweiss. "A Saga
of Families." The Oxford History of the American West. New York: Oxford UP, 1994. N.
pag. Print.
Dirks, Tim. "My Darling Clementine (1946)." My Darling Clementine (1946). N.p., 2016. Web.
09 Oct. 2016.
Hutson, Richard. "John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946)." Representations 84.1 (2003):
200-12. Web.