"MY DARLING CLEMENTINE"

NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN---MY FIRST DRIVE-IN MOVIE!
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It came to that drive-in movie theater there, just south of
Clovis, late '46 or '47---John Ford's "MY DARLING
CLEMENTINE."

I have never forgotten that movie! It was a gripping western.
The "dark, rustic" treatment of the filming set it apart,
giving it character, mood, and an "old timey" feeling, like
aged wine or something. Patina...maybe...

Just looking at it, you felt it had been filmed in 1875...or
you were being carried back in time...

One admirer and receiver says: "Ford foregoes the chatty
dialogue."

He further says: "Every scene is caught in midstream, in
the act and in motion! Damn, it seems so fresh!"

It was said to be "the western all others imitate."

Who can ever forget the outdoor dance scene where
Henry Fonda and Linda Darnell very properly and
gracefully square off in what I thought was a schottische
but may have been a square dance. One reviewer
called it "an 'aw shucks' square dance beneath Old
Glorys."

The movie is actually the story of the famous fight
at the O.K. Corral. Henry Fonda, Tim Holt and others
are the Earps and Walter Brennan, Grant Withers,
and gang play the Clantons. Victor Mature plays
Doc Holliday.

We who love the old westerns owe much to John Ford,
a director who had a sentimental streak and old
American music and ballads in his soul. Just check
his westerns...and the music:

"Young Mr. Lincoln"
"Grapes of Wrath"
"Stagecoach"
"The Searchers"
"She Wore A Yellow Ribbon"
"Rio Grande"
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"

In college, I procured a ukulele, and being somewhat
talented vocally,  proceeded to serenade my dates.
At least some of them. "Oh My Darling, Clementine"
was one of my songs. It had only two chord
changes, which allowed me to give attention to my date.

Intending to quote the words to my reader, alas I found
that there are eighteen stanzas! Well, here are two
that I liked:

"Light she was and like a fairy
And her shoes were number nine,
Herring boxes without topses
Sandals were for Clementine.

How I missed her, how I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine!
Till I kissed her little sister
And forgot my Clementine.

Chorus:
Oh my darling, oh my darling.
Oh my darling Clementine;
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry, Clementine.

I never knew a girl in my life with the name Clementine.
Winston Churchill's famous wife had that name.

I miss the old drive-in movies and the simpler times
when they existed. I wrote a post on the subject a year
or two ago.There are still several hundred extant in the
U.S. With the number of kooks we have running around,
I would go armed. Too easy to hi-jack a car out there.

It's time---we're going to order Henry Fonda's movie
"MY DARLING CLEMENTINE" from Netflix. I must see it...
one more time.

Don't miss this 9 minute clip from the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WXwO7Hqluo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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BY MIL
10/20/13



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