It's the Earps vs. the Clantons While Doc Holliday Hangs in the Balance in the film, My Darling Clementine

A detailed Summary of It's the Earps vs. the Clantons While Doc Holliday Hangs in the Balance in the film, My Darling Clementine

In the 1940's, protagonists and antagonists were easily distinguished in America's Western-style films. However in John Ford's film, "My Darling Clementine", which depicts the famous story of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday's character is portrayed as an elusive, somewhat ineffective man. Not until one of the final scenes does the viewer have confirmed that Holliday is actually a fair and just man. He then becomes a member of the protagonists with the Earp brothers, although remaining a failure. Along with that, suspicions about the Clanton family aren't absolutely confirmed until this same point in the film. While the Clanton's role seems to be that of easily-blamable scoff-laws from the very beginning, Holliday displays character traits that show that he could be or might have once been a cleaner, straighter, and more-distinguished man. Through an exploration of the Earps (mostly Wyatt), the Clanton family (mostly Old Man), and eventually Doc Holliday we will be able to better understand the building tension that occurs in Ford's "My Darling Clementine".

From the very beginning, it is easy to see that the Earp brothers, especially Wyatt, are pure, brave, and good-natured boys that fit the law-abiding ideal. This is imp

So after the Earps and Holliday seem to have had a good time, they head over to the theater to find that the actor is missing and the show can't go on. When they find the Shakespeare actor at the mercy of the Clantons, they listen to him recite the Hamlet speech. Strangely, when the actor seems too tired to continue, Holliday takes over until his cough takes hold of him. He appears to be a cultured man, however he seems to be in a strange place for such worldly tastes. Here we learn for the first time that there indeed must be something more to Doc Holliday.

So Doc Holliday does clear his name and is removed from suspicion to join the protagonists in this film. However, he is not made of the same stuff as the Earp brothers are. Doc did not succeed as either scoff-law or surgeon in the film. It really makes Wyatt's statement, "What kind of a town is this anyway?..." make a lot of sense. What kind of man is Doc anyway? It really seems clear that he was running away from himself, and his ineffective surgery could be attributed to lack of practice since he left the East. The alternative does not seem likely; Doc Holliday was not a successful scoff-law in any way (at least for the duration of "My Darling Clementine"). It seems that he hurt Clementine because he was afraid of success. Maybe he didn't like the fast-paced lifestyle of a doctor, however being a thug can't be much of a relaxing occupation. Doc Holliday, if he had the chance to live, might have been able to muster up some semblance of his productive life. However, in this film he did nothing but follow a somewhat downward spiral.

This theme is continued when Clementine, a very pure-seeming woman from out-of-town, arrives and makes Wyatt realize that there is more to know about Doc than he had previously suspected. He takes a liking to Clementine, showing just how honest and true she must be. To the viewer this must seem strange since she appears to be very proud of Doc Holliday. Why is Doc acting like a scoff-law if he's really a brilliant, educated surgeon?

ortant, because the West was (or, at least, represented) an unregulated area where the law could be bent at virtually any time. For people to be as pure as the Earps seemed very unique, and their name was well respected from Wyatt's earlier work as Sheriff in another town. Apparently he could clean up a fair-sized city, and the people in Tombstone were certainly excited when they found out he would help out their small, remote oasis with virtually no law enforcement.

Truly taking honor in his new position, Wyatt does many things to maintain order in Tombstone. Some of these things include going out to seek Mr. Shakespeare in order to keep the people from trashing the theater, saving Mr. Shakespeare from Ike and the other Clanton brothers, putting drunken Doc Holliday to bed when he could have been potentially very rowdy, and standing up for Clementine when Doc tells her to get out of town in front of the church crowd.

Well, not clearing anything up, Doc explains to Clementine, "...I'll give you the truth. The man you once knew is no more. There's not a vestige of him left - nothing..." He never bothers to say why, when, or how this transformation oc

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Approximate Word count = 2173
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English