Product Description

Fugitive bank robbers Robert (John Wayne), William (Harry Carey Jr.) and Pedro (Pedro Armendariz) stand at a desert grave. Caring for the newborn infant of the woman they just buried will ruin any chance of escape. But they won't go back on their promise to her. They won't abandon little Robert William Pedro. Director John Ford's Western retelling of the Biblical Three Wise Men tale remains a scenic and thematic masterpiece. Ford adds color to his feature-film palette, capturing stunning vistas via cinematographer Winton Hoch, who would win two of his three Academy Awards * for Ford films. Again, populist-minded Ford asserts that even men of dissolute character can follow that inner star of Bethlehem to their own redemption.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18538 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2007-05-22
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 106 minutes

Features

• Fugitive bank robbers Robert (John Wayne), William (Harry Carey Jr.) and Pedro (Pedro Armendariz) stand at a desert grave. Caring for the newborn infant of the woman they just buried will ruin any chance of escape. But they won't go back on their promise to her. They won't abandon little Robert William Pedro.Director John Ford's Western retelling of the Biblical Three Wise Men tale remains a sceni

Amazon.com
It's hardly shameful that The Three Godfathers ranks as the slightest John Ford Western in a five-year arc that includes My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Wagon Master, and Rio Grande. The source, a Peter B. Kyne story both hard-bitten and sentimental, had already been filmed at least five times--once by Ford himself as Marked Men (1919). The star of that silent version, Harry Carey, had recently died. This remake is dedicated to him ("Bright Star of the early western sky") and proudly introduces his son, Harry Carey Jr. (who had already appeared in Howard Hawks's Red River--as did his father--but we won't quibble).

Just before Christmas, three workaday outlaws (John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, Harry Carey Jr.) rob a bank in Welcome, Arizona, and flee into the desert. The canny town marshal (Ward Bond) moves swiftly to cut them off from the wells along their escape route, so they make for another, deep in the wasteland. There's no water waiting for them, but there is a woman (Mildred Natwick) on the verge of death--and also of giving birth. The three badmen accept her dying commission as godfathers to the newborn. Motley variants of the Three Wise Men, they strike out for the town of New Jerusalem with her Bible as roadmap. It becomes increasingly apparent that saving the child's life will cost them their own.

Ford's is the softest retelling of the tale; in place of Kyne's bitter/triumphant final twist, he adds a very broad comic postlude. Elsewhere, the nearly sacramental treatment of the mother's death is followed by an extended gosh-almighty sequence of the banditos reading up on childcare. But it's all played with great gusto and tenderness--especially by Wayne, who's rarely been more appealing. Visually the film is one knockout shot after another. This was Ford's first Western in Technicolor, as well as his first collaboration with cinematographer Winton Hoch. What they do with sand ripples and shadows and long plumes of train smoke is rapturously beautiful. It's also often too arty by half, but who can blame them? --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Another Wayne/Ford Compilation
Many people know about John Wayne and John Ford's cavalry trilogy, three of the greatest westerns ever made, but another pairing between the two is not as well known. The Three Godfathers is a lesser-known John Wayne classic when he was at the top of his game. Starring Harry Carey Jr. and Pedro Armendariz as the other two godfathers this classic should not be missed. These three outlaws ride into the desert after a bungled robbery only to find a dying woman with a newborn infant. The Duke promises to care for the baby which she names Robert William Pedro Hightower after the three outlaws. They must then make the trek across the desert with very little supplies to get the baby to the next town. Excellent supporting cast with many recognizable faces from other Duke movies, with Ward Bond playing the sheriff who attempts to track down the outlaws. Truly funny scenes as Wayne, Armendariz, and Carey attempt to care for the baby. As usual awesome scenery as is expected in John Ford westerns. This is one classic that has to be put on DVD. A must have for John Wayne fans!

Heartwarming John Wayne / John Ford Classic! Now on DVD!
All the positive comments you read here about this film are true.

This classic western stars John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz and Harry Carey Jr, along with a great supporting cast lead by Ward Bond -- the usual John Ford suspects. Ford strikes a balance between action and sentimentality, directing this simple story in a straightforward fashion with a great sense of style. This is Ford's first color film and cinematography by Winton C. Hoch looks really, really rich and with enough sand to make you wish you had some lemonade.

Duke really shines in this film -- just watch those expressions.

Restored to its original pristine 1948 35mm real Technicolor glory, "3 Godfathers" is a natural for the Christmas season. This heartwarming drama is a gritty, tender, timeless classic. A film the whole family can watch.

This sleeper film in the WB/MGM catalog was way, W A Y overdue on DVD in the US. But here it is, most welcomed and highly recommended!

(I've revised my original 2003 review to reflect this title's availability on DVD. Released with zero fanfare, I was first aware of its release when I saw a newspaper ad for it one week before Christmas 2005.)

When westerns were westerns
Here's a movie that shows John Wayne in a slightly different light. We are used to the grizzled veteran, usually 100% in charge, making sure all around him follow his code, whether politically correct or not. In this movie he's a bad guy, who's far from in charge. He not only has the authorities after him, but even John Wayne, as strapping as he is in this movie, has his hands full as he takes on nature itself.

The story has Wayne leading (OK, he gets to lead two other bad guys) a group of bank robbers plying their trade in a small town. They are so inept they practically announce their intentions to the local sheriff. While barely escaping this endeavor (this is not revealing anything, only setting up the main plot), they find their escape routes are either right into the hands of the law, or a murderous desert.

Seems they could have planned this a bit better, but this sets up their vulnerability early. It is on this trek through the desert they run across a dying mother who has just given birth. If one takes the movie too literally, one can wonder where this mother's brains were, but we try to look further and find that we're right around Christmas, we have a baby born in a desert, and we have three definitely Un-Wise Men on a mission. OK, it doesn't exactly fit like you might want, but their trying to make more than a shoot-'em-up, and it does work.

So we see two stories unfolding at this point. One deals with whether the boys are going to survive the elements, much less the pursuing lawmen. Ward Bond is excellent here as the sheriff who does an increasingly slow burn about having to pursue them. And we need to see what's going to happen to the baby.

All of this happens in a beautifully photographed movie. After living in the Midwest all my life, my new home lets me see that there is a harsh beauty to the desert. This is well captured here. Plus, we forget that John Wayne had quite a buff body in his earlier years, but even this is tested to the limits by the end of the film. This is a classic, and a keeper.