3 Godfathers

Three men rob a town in Arizona and flee into the desert. At a water hole they find a dying woman and her newborn. She entrusts the child to them. Behind them is the sheriff, ahead of them waterless desert, and in their arms a baby. John Ford directed. The cast includes John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz and Harry Carey Jr. The film is dedicated to Harry Carey, Ford's long collaborator who died in 1947; a title says so at the start and his son appears in it. The story openly rests on the biblical three kings and does not hide it; the star, the names and the destination follow the same arrangement. The desert sections were shot in Death Valley and the colour is among Ford's most vivid work of the period. The tone is unusually sentimental; the western template is turned into a story of redemption. Who it is for: viewers who like classic westerns and the Ford and Wayne pairing. Who it is not for: anyone put off by emotional underlining; the film plays openly for tears at the end.