For
a scene where the Clanton gang rides into town, Ford got a wind machine to
create a dust storm, and instructed the actors to fire off their guns and
shotguns close to the horse's ears so they'd ride wild. He wouldn't allow stuntmen
to do the scene, but insisted that Walter Brennan, John Ireland, and Grant Withers
do their own riding.
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They
managed to pull the scene off, but then Ford asked for a retake. Grant Withers
was hanging behind, and Ford nudged him. "Come on, Grant, dammit, hurry
up. Which is your horse?"
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"The
one with the shit in the saddle," said Withers.
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It
was requests like that, not to mention Ford's overall demeanor, that alienated
Walter Brennan. "Can't you even mount a horse?" yelled Ford when
Brennan was having trouble. "No, but I got three Oscars for acting,"
retorted Brennan.
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Despite
their mutual dislike, Brennan was giving a memorably cold, homicidal
performance as Pa Clanton, possibly because he was transferring his loathing of
Ford into his character's loathing of Earp. Brennan went through the film in a
professional manner, and refused to ever work with Ford again. (Ford's home
movie footage of the production shows a few random but beautiful shots of the
Valley at dusk, Jack Pennick and Tim Holt relaxing, Victor Mature and Ward Bond
gagging it up, and a notably solemn Walter Brennan not gagging it up.)
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Scott Eyman "Print the
Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford" (1999)
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