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Friday, Jul 9, 2004
7pm
My Darling Clementine
John Ford's first film after his World War II service has been rightly called “the perfect example of the classic Western.” The tale of Wyatt Earp in Tombstone was already familiar from at least five previous sound films when Ford cast a restrained Henry Fonda in the title role and a brooding Victor Mature as Doc Holliday. Darker than any previous version, Ford's Western battles film noir for the nation's soul. The O.K. Corral gunfight was paralleled by Ford's behind-the-scenes fights with producer Darryl Zanuck, whose recutting removed much of Ford's usual roughhouse comedy and left the death-haunted, visually stunning solemnity. As with The Big Trail last week, My Darling Clementine survives in two versions: the release version from November 1946 and the version that we'll see tonight-a preliminary cut screened several months earlier for a preview audience (and restored by UCLA). Although it's not a “director's cut,” it's closer to Ford's intentions, is superior in several small ways, and runs an additional six minutes.
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