3 Godfathers (1948)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Laurence Stallings (screenplay) and
Frank S. Nugent (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 December 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

John Ford's Legend of the Southwest!

Plot:

Three outlaws on the run discover a dying woman and her baby. They swear to bring the infant to safety across the desert...

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Baby | Moral Transformation | Death Of Title Character | Prison

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Dec. 4

1:00 AM

TCM

Cast

John Wayne	...	Robert Marmaduke Hightower
Pedro Armendáriz	...	Pedro 'Pete' Roca Fuerte (as Pedro Armendariz)
Harry Carey Jr.	...	William Kearney ('The Abilene Kid')
Ward Bond	...	Perley 'Buck' Sweet
Mae Marsh	...	Mrs. Perley Sweet
Mildred Natwick	...	The Mother
Jane Darwell	...	Miss Florie
Guy Kibbee	...	Judge
Dorothy Ford	...	Ruby Latham
Ben Johnson	...	Posse man #1
Charles Halton	...	Oliver Latham
Hank Worden	...	Deputy Curly
Jack Pennick	...	Luke (the conductor)
Fred Libby	...	Deputy
Michael Dugan	...	Posse man #2

Also Known As:

Three Godfathers (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | West Germany:12 (f) (original rating) | West Germany:o.Al. (re-rating) | Germany:6 | USA:Approved (certificate #13312) | Canada:14A (video rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (video rating) (1995)

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Argosy Pictures

Trivia:

John Ford had a greensman water a cactus overnight to allow it to be squeezed for water.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Power lines are visible overhead behind Ruby Latham when the stagecoach is stopped in Welcome, Arizona.

Quotes:

Pedro "Pete' Roca Fuerte: [dying] Hey, Bob... I just remembered what tomorrow is. Feliz Navidad.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Soundtrack:

Streets of Laredo

Great Ford Western

I just watched this on TCM didn't even know that it was coming on and glad I did.

This is the first time I ever saw this film all the way through, before I've only caught snippets of it here and there as I flipped through the channels.

I have to honestly say run don't walk down to your nearest video retailer and get the DVD. There is really nothing not to like about this film, and its even got a tie in to Christmas! Directed by John Ford as a remake of his silent film "The Marked Men" (1919) which had already been made twice before the 1919 version, lol. It was also John Ford's first Technicolor film and its somewhat unique in that it actually doesn't use Monument Valley as its location.

It stars a lot of Ford's stable of actors, John Wayne, Harry Carry Jr., Ward Bond, Hank Worden, Ben Johnson, and actor Pedro Armendáriz who is just great in the role of one of the title's godfathers, Wayne & Carry Jr. being the others.

This film is now up there with "The Searchers" as my favorite Ford film. It doesn't have that "knock you over the head civics lesson" sermonizing that a lot of Fords films have, its got a little bit of schmaltz and melodrama in very small dollops that you can swallow & which is OK.

But don't get this expecting showdown gunfights, there aren't any, and the film still works.

Basically the story line: Three men ride into the town of New Jersusalem, Arizona to rob its bank. In the process Carry Jr. is wounded in the shoulder and looses his horse as they ride out of town into the desert, pursued by Sheriff Sweet (Bond) and posse members that include actors Worden and Johnson.

Sweet shoots the gangs water bag, that they don't discover until they are way out in the desert so they have to make for water. Sweet knows this and hops a train with the posse to the nearest water tank.

The gang foiled in their quest for water must make for another water hole to the north there they become the "three godfathers" of the title, I wont give any more away.

This film definitely had to have made an impression on Leone. Two things stood out for me, the first is the whole film is composed of some of the best scenery I've in a Western, scenery that will recall to you vividly Tuco & Blondie in the desert, this was shot in Death Valley, Lone Pine and the Mojave Desert, all fantastic locations, it will remind you also of Yellow Sky (too bad that film wasn't shot in color). The film takes place almost all in the desert. Its like GBU in that it becomes more than just a Western, you'll see what I mean.

The second thing that stood out is the great performance of Pedro Armendáriz what a great Mexican Actor who should have been a main character in a lot of Westerns, whats up with that, not only will he remind you a bit of a "nice" Tuco but it even looks like he's wearing Tuco's hat (the one he gets from the gunsmith), or vice versa lol.

The town sets are again spot on, and there is some great steam locomotive footage, all in all a beautiful and enjoyable film.