3 Godfathers (1948)

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Duke's Movies- 3 Godfathers

INFORMATION FROM IMDb

Plot Summary
Three outlaws on the run discover a dying woman and her baby.
They swear to bring the infant to safety across the desert,
even at the risk of their own lives.
Summary written by Jim Beaver

Full Cast
John Wayne .... Robert Marmaduke Hightower
Pedro Armendáriz .... Pedro "Pete' Roca Fuerte
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
Don Summers .... Posse man #3
Gertrude Astor .... Townswoman (uncredited)
Ruth Clifford .... Woman in bar (uncredited)
Jack Curtis .... Bartender (uncredited)
Francis Ford .... Drunken oldtimer at bar (uncredited)
Richard Hageman .... Saloon pianist (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons .... Guard at Mojave Tanks (uncredited)
Eva Novak .... Townswoman (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook .... Bartender #2 (uncredited)
Amelia Yelda ... Robert William Pedro Hightower (the Baby) (uncredited)

Writing Credits
Peter B. Kyne (story)
Laurence Stallings (screenplay) and
Frank S. Nugent (screenplay)

Original Music
Richard Hageman

Cinematography
Winton C. Hoch

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Edward O'Fearna .... assistant director
Wingate Smith .... assistant director

Stunts
Ben Johnson .... stunts (uncredited)
Cliff Lyons .... stunts (uncredited)
Jack Montgomery .... stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams .... stunts (uncredited)

Trivia
* For the scene where Deputy Curly (Hank Worden) has trouble pulling a mule about a train, director John Ford rigged the reins to pull backwards whenever Worden pulled forward.

* When John Wayne is "greasing" the baby boy, Robert William Pedro, it is evident that the baby boy is actually a baby girl.

* This is a remake of John Ford's silent film Marked Men (1919), which starred Ford's long-time friend Harry Carey. When Carey died in 1947, Ford decided to remake the story in Technicolor and dedicate the film to his memory. Carey's son, Harry Carey Jr., plays one of the three, "The Abilene Kid".

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

John Wayne's character, Robert Marmaduke Hightower, was named by director John Ford after his favorite stuntman, Bryan 'Slim' Hightower, who also worked on this picture.
Link this trivia
John Wayne was badly sun burnt while filming 3 Godfathers (1948) and was briefly hospitalized.

Goofs
* Continuity: The Bible used as a prop has marginal cross-references, but the Bible pages used in the close-up shot, as read by Bob, do not.

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

* Continuity: Shortly after the three riders enter the desert Hightower discovers that Pedro's water bag is empty and throws it away. As they ride away in a long shot, the water bag is still visible on Pedro's horse.

* Continuity: When the three Godfathers leave the covered wagon with little Robert William Pedro, the canvas is coming loose in the wind. Later when Purly Sweet and his posse arrive at the covered wagon, the canvas is tied down firmly.

* Continuity: After the three godfathers rob the bank, a covered wagon is seen passing by them as they board their horses but in the next scene they are riding in front of the wagon.

* Continuity: In the chase scenes after the bank robbery, the shadows change location repeatedly, indicating the scenes were shot at different times of the day.

* Continuity: When Bob Hightower is greasing the baby, Bill Kearny holds up his hat to give shade over the baby. At that point, the sun is high in the east. But in the next shot, when they are finished greasing the baby and are applying a makeshift diaper, the shadow from the covered wagon shows that the sun is to the west.

* Revealing mistakes: When Hightower is greasing the baby, who is referred to as a boy, is played by a girl.

* Continuity: When Pedro first skips the saddle the horse without the saddle is black. Later when the horses are pulled behind a dune, it is brown.

* Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): While Wayne is holding the baby at the wagon, Pete is asked if he got any information about looking after the baby from its dying mother. He is supposed to say "Do you think I was going to drive the lady crazy?" what he says is "Do you think I was going to drive the lazy crazy?"

* Revealing mistakes: When Ben Johnston is standing in the buckboard when the sheriff and 3 deputies use it to chase the 3 bank robbers out of town, he has one leg behind him bracing himself to stay standing while the horses gallop. There is a strap secured to the tray of the buckboard and he has the toe of his boot wedged in it to help keep his balance.

* Revealing mistakes: Near the end of the movie, Hightower reads a bible passage Matthew, yet the bible is open close to the beginning.

Memorable Quotes

Filming Locations
Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA
Carson & Colorado Railroad, Owens Valley, California, USA
Keeler, California, USA
Mojave Desert, California, USA
RKO Encino Ranch - Balboa Boulevard & Burbank Boulevard, Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA
Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California, USA
Death Valley National Park, California, USA

3 Godfathers

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3 Godfathers

For continuity, all discussion
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Duke's Movies- 3 Godfathers

3 Godfathers is a 1948 American Western film directed by John Ford
and filmed (although not set) primarily in Death Valley, California.
The screenplay, written by Frank S. Nugent and Laurence Stallings,
is based on the novelette of the same name written by Peter B. Kyne.
Ford had already adapted the film once before in 1919 as Marked Men.
The original silent adaptation by Ford is thought to be lost today.
The story is something of a re-telling of the story of The Three Wise Men
in an American western context.
Ford decided to remake the story in Technicolor
and dedicate the film to the memory of long-time friend Harry Carey who starred in the 1919 film Marked Men.
Carey's son, Harry Carey Jr., plays one of the three, "The Abilene Kid" in this 1948 film

This is another film I like alot, not a classic,
but a good watchable film.
John Ford, dedicated the movie, to the memory of Harry Carey,

'To the Memory of Harry Carey,
Bright Star, of the Early Western Sky'

The picture was a re-make of John Ford's silent classic Marked Men (1919).
Duke, played Harry Carey's part, in this new version,
and I thought played it well,

The New York Tribune said,

Quote

Wayne is better than ever, as the leader of the badmen.

Pedro, was his usual, over the top Mexican self, but
Harry Carey Jnr. made an awesome 'Abilene Kid'
in what most consider, to be his finest acting role.
With Ward Bond, and great support from the Ford regulars,
I consider this, a good all round film.

User Review

Quote

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York,off IMDb

Like The Maltese Falcon, 3 Godfathers had to be made three times before we got the definitive version. This one has to rank at the top of John Wayne's films.

Wayne and fellow outlaws Pedro Armendariz and Harry Carey, Jr. arrive at the town of Welcome, Arizona and after a brief chance meeting with the marshal, Ward Bond, proceed to rob the Welcome bank.

In pursuit of the robbers, Bond shoots the waterbag draped across Wayne's saddle. And then he cleverly stations men at the few sources of water. Nevertheless the three outlaws decide to chance it across the desert.

Life takes a peculiar turn for them as they come across a dying Mildred Natwick who has just delivered an infant. Before she goes she exacts a promise from them to rescue her baby.

Even though their own freedom is at stake, Wayne, Armendariz, and Carey subordinate it to the care and rescue of the infant. At this point the Christmas parable takes over. The three wise men setting out with the infant in their charge to the nearest town which happens to be New Jerusalem, Arizona.

I said on another review of a Wayne film that John Wayne had one of the greatest faces for movie closeups ever. Check some of them here, especially during the desert trek. They say more than 10 pages of dialog. Ford, Hawks, Wellman all the great directors who worked with the Duke knew that and took advantage.

Pedro Armendariz and John Ford came to blow up on the set of 3 Godfathers according to Harry Carey, Jr.'s memoirs. Armendariz almost walked off the film. He finished it though and was great as the fatalistic Mexican outlaw. But he never worked for Ford again.

Although he'd done a few films before this, John Ford had in the credits, introducing Harry Carey, Jr. Of course the film is dedicated to his father who in fact had starred in the original silent Three Godfathers. Maybe this should have really been his debut film, Dobe Carey is just fine as the callow youth, The Abilene Kid.

This also marked the last film of veteran actor Guy Kibbee. As the practical and perceptive judge who tries Wayne, Kibbee is given a fitting swan song to a great career as a player.

This is certainly a more religious work than John Wayne is used to doing. Wayne, although he was baptized Catholic at the end of his life was not a particularly religious man. I do wonder if he had lived another decade what he would have made of the religious right.

Ford of course got in his obligatory Shall We Gather At the River, but also Bringing in the Sheaves was sung. And in the scene where a dehydrated John Wayne arrives at a saloon in New Jerusalem, the piano player is first playing The Holy City and then Silent Night. All to great effect by the way.

I think people that are not necessarily fans of the Duke will be amazed at the heights he rose to as a player in 3 Godfathers.

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However, as much of the film's emphasis, was put on the trio's walking,plodding, and finally staggering, endless sand and salt flats,
critics did not treat it kindly, finding it laboured and sentimental!!
I like this film, and I think most of his fans, do too.

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