Saturday, August 26, 2006
EARP REDUX
Today's NYTimes Best Film was John Ford's
It is the gunfight at the OK Coral all over again.
Many consider it Ford's best western (not the motel of the same name).
It is enjoyable; there is no doubt.
It has all the Ford players including Walter Brennan and Ward Bond. Henry Fonda is Wyatt Earp and Victor Mature is Doc Holliday.
It is almost all played at night or dawn or twilight. I think think this is a unique approach. There are lots of shadows and 'fun with light'.
The milieu is also more (although not truly) realistic. There are beards and dirt and you can smell reek of unwashed bodies.
There is loud, raucous, drunken laughter in the background all the time except at day and when there is some serious tension.
Ford was a ground breaker in this regard.
And it is all filmed in Monument Valley; Ford's trademark location. They camped out on location and lived rough like the people that they played.
The title is a bit of a puzzle. Earp's new girlfriend and Holliday's old girlfriend (the same woman) is Clementine but she is pretty insipid and certainly not in the center of things.
In any case, the romantic angle doesn't get in the way too much and it is an enjoyable visit to Tombstone.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Actually, no. I didn't really enjoy it that much. It will be a 3.
