Another night of dodging crap TV with Emmerdale followed by Enders but the wife threw a flanker into the works by allowing the second born to watch the football. Still I had no interest in watching so I took myself to find a film – yes another film. Sticking to the Christmas theme, I came across Three Godfathers, 1948, and not on YouTube but Dailymotion which is just as good as my regular hangout.
Three Godfathers is a Western and a good one at that based around Christmas.
The film opens with three outlaws (John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, and Harry Carey Jr.) riding into the town of Welcome Arizona to rob the bank. On the way into town, they run into Sheriff Sweet (Ward Bond) as he is tending his garden. The sheriff goes to the jail and looks through some wanted posters and gunfire breaks out – the bank is being robbed. The outlaws are chased into the desert by the sheriff who manages to shoot there water bag which Wayne believes was deliberate.
For the rest of the film, we periodically switch back and forth between the three outlaws and Sweet with his posse, who initially wait at the several known water sources, then actively hunt them when they are not found. The outlaws have outwitted the sheriff by heading to Terrapin Tanks where they would be sure to find water. When they arrive, they discover that the spring has been destroyed by dynamiting.
To make things worst they find a heavily pregnant woman in the back of a wagon. She had been alone for 4 days after her husband when chasing their livestock and is presumed to be dead. After helping her to give birth and before she dies she makes them promise to look after her boy, which the outlaws agree. With very limited water that they managed to gather from
some cactus and with some baby formula milk they head off into the desert on foot. With the help of passages from the bible, they set of in the direction of the bright star pointing them towards the town of New Jerusalem.
When the sheriff reaches Terrapin Tanks we find out the woman was his niece and it was her and her husband’s wagon. Believing the outlaws are responsible for these additional crimes, the sheriff adds $50 to the reward money and wants them dead. The outlaws are walking through the desert heading for the town of Jerusalem with an enraged Sheriff in pursuit. A long the way two of the outlaws die with one killing himself when he breaks his leg. With Wayne now alone with the baby and becoming delirious, the sheriff is getting closer.
Thus, when Sweet finally catches up with Wayne, on Christmas Day, in the New Jerusalem saloon, he immediately demands that he engage Sweet in a gun duel. Fortunately, Wayne is too weak to respond, and Sweet is shown the infant that Wayne has 'nursed' through his trials in the desert. Sweet, presumably after hearing Wayne's full story, takes an entirely different attitude toward him, beginning to treat him like a prodigal son.
It is what you expect from a John Ford film quality and eye catching scenery.
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