I must have watched this movie about a hundred times when I studied it at University but it’s a testament to one of John Ford’s greatest Westerns that I can return to it once every year and really take a lot from it.

My Darling Clementine starring the great Henry Fonda is the best film about the legend of Wyatt Earp but it’s not so much interested in the events of what went down at the O.K. Coral (which is almost treated as a last minute after thought) it’s much more interested in the relationships of it’s four central characters, specifically I think Doc. Holliday played superbly by the often criticised Victor Mature.

In this magnificent scene a hammy Shakespeare actor attempts to bring some art and respectability to the town but it’s not going down well with the locals.

Where the scene truly has it’s power is Doc. Holliday knows he is rapidly dying from TB and the actor’s rendition of Hamlet mirrors Holliday’s cowardice in his inability to deal with his own fate and that of becoming a drunken, bitter fool. When he finishes off the actor’s lines, he coughs at the last moment - a moment of supreme power.

“Shakespeare was not meant for taverns nor for tavern louts.” - He was so right but oddly it works so well here.

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