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Three Men and a Baby Go West: John Ford's 3 Godfathers

© David Macdonald

3 Godfathers is one of John Ford's films from the 1940's, and is also one of his more simpler and sappier films. Nevertheless, I thought that there were a number qualities that will endear it to fans of Ford and of old Westerns.

The movie is about three bandits (John Wayne, Harry Carey, Jr., and Pedro Armendariz), who decide to rob a bank in the small town of Welcome, Arizona. They ride into town, and meet up with a man (Ward Bond) with the unlikely name of "Pearly" Sweet. The bandits and the man and his wife have a pleasant, down-home type of conversation -- then it turns out that the man with the sweet name is, in fact, the sheriff, who finishes the previously pleasant conversation with a rather ominous "I'll be seeing you boys around." Nevertheless, the three bandits do rob the bank, and leave town. But not before a brief gunfight which wounds Carey's character. The sheriff vows to get these men, and, as the film progresses, everything seems to go his way..... for one thing, the sheriff and his men have one of the nearby wells surrounded, so the bandits can't get water. And another well turns out to have been destroyed by a fool who tried to get more water by blowing the well up with dynamite. And the young bandit is still injured, after all, as well, which only makes the traveling even worse. And everything in between these wells, and these small towns, is brutal, uncaring desert.

Then a totally unexpected event comes up. The three men come across an abandoned wagon... with a pregnant woman inside. (The wagon is by the well that was blown up by the woman's husband, who then ran off, supposedly to get help) The men help out with the childbirth, but the woman dies soon after, but not before getting the three men to promise to care for the baby. They accept the promise, and are made the three godfathers to the child.

For the rest of the picture, the three men have to deal with many threats. The sheriff. The harshness of the desert. Hunger, thirst, and injury. And the fact that these three tough guys need to understand how to feed the baby and change his diapers every once in a while. Not the usual cowboy quest, I would say!

This film is from the mid 1940's, and is fairly innocent. Other than the gunfight following the robbery, there really isn't any other moments of real violence. There is some tragedy, but it's not of the bloodletting, gun-fighting variety. In fact, for the first little while, I was thinking that this was going to be the cutest Western ever made (not having seen thousands of Westerns, mind you). The three bandits are far from being vicious and nasty men. In fact, if they weren't robbing a bank, they'd be a fine bunch of guys -- as the film begins, they chat and banter, not like vicious robbers, but like ordinary folk. And when they meet up with "Pearly" Sweet, it's even more amusing in a wholesome, innocent way, as Wayne laughs affectionately at his name, and compliments him on his lovely wife, who gives the three men some coffee.