Western Wednesdays: 3 Godfathers (1948)

I saw this movie when I was a kid and remembered it being pretty solid. As it has a Christmas theme I thought it would be a good western to watch over the holidays which, I realize, are now over for most people.

     Three Godfathers is directed by John Ford and stars John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz and Harry Carey, Jr. In it, cattle rustlers Robert Hightower (Wayne), Pedro "Pete" Rocafuerte (Armendáriz), and William Kearney (Carey) rob a bank in the town of Welcome, Arizona, and flee into the desert, pursued by a posse led by Sheriff Buck Sweet (Ward Bond). Searching for water they come to a water hole, only to find that it was inadvertently destroyed by a tenderfoot, who then left his pregnant wife to chase after his livestock. They assist the wife (Mildred Natwick) in the birth of her son. When she dies and names the men the baby's godfathers they must now keep the baby alive while avoiding the sheriff's pursuit and reach a town where they can get water.

     One of the first things I noticed re-watching this movie was the beautiful cinematography courtesy of Winton Hoch who also worked with Ford on She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Quiet Man, and The Searchers among others. Like those films (and most John Ford movies really) 3 Godfather is incredibly picturesque. You could pause the film at almost any point and get a beautiful still photograph. Similarly, Ford made this film during the peak of his career and his command of visual storytelling was rarely better then it was here.

     Unfortunately, the story that Ford and Hoch are telling is a rather inconsistent one. For the first two thirds of the film everything, for the most part, is pretty solid. After the robbery in Welcome the film turns into a fairly tense chase movie, with bits of humor dispersed throughout. Its after the three men run into the mother and her baby the film takes a strange turn. Finding a bible in the wagon after the mother dies, William becomes convinced that their finding the baby was the will of God and that they should head for the town of New Jerusalem, like the three magi in the Gospel story. The problem I have is that this religious element comes, seemingly, out of nowhere and the rest of the film is bogged down with heavy handed talk of faith and destiny. What makes it worse is that the film becomes tonally inconsistent at this point. On the one hand there is the sense that God is indeed guiding these men to save the baby, but then one of them dies a terrible death of dehydration and heat exhaustion and another one commits suicide after falling and breaking his leg. Surely it would have been wiser simply to surrender to Sheriff Sweet at this point. Finally, the film's resolution feels overly drawn out, as Hightower seeks to retain custody of his godson after he serves his year in prison. After all the violence and hardship these scenes simply lack dramatic weight.

     Despite all this I still feel compelled to recommend 3 Godfathers. It's still one of John Ford's most visually arresting films and the story works well enough until the last act.

Score: 7/10