May my beard grow clear
till it gets down to my foots…
may it get a nest of prison rats…
before I break my promise
to a dying woman!
Pedro Encarnación Escalante y Rocafuerte (Pedro Gregorio Armendáriz Hastings) The Three Godfathers, screenplay (1948)
An interesting film for Advent or Chistmas is a John Wayne flick. John Wayne in a Christmas movie? Yep, The Three Godfathers in 1948! Another fruitful John Ford and John Wayne collaboration, the film was released in December 1948. Three bank robbers, portrayed by John Wayne, Pedro Armedariz and Harry Carey, Jr., stumble across a dying woman and her newborn son in a desert in the American Southwest. The three outlaws, although they are attempting to elude a posse, promise the dying woman to look after her son.
Told with the usual Ford mix of spectacle, humor, action scenes and quiet, skillfully crafted scenes, the three Godfathers keep their promise although it costs two of them their lives. All three achieve redemption by their selfless efforts to save their newborn Godson. The film is suffused with religious themes revolving around the birth of Christ. Wayne also shows a deft hand for comedy when the three clueless bachelors attempt to care for their Godson. The usual slate of Ford regulars are present in the film: including Ward Bond, Ben Johnson and Hank Worden, and they do their usual professional job. A fine western film for Christmas!
I wish Wayne could slap this bum down a peg or three; http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/14/obama-bars-states-from-pulling-planned-parenthood-/
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An evil man. Doing the work of his evil benefactors and as an added insult doing it in the season of the infant Jesus’ birth. He is a modern day Herod enabling the slaughter of innocents.
Thanks for the post. I will check the DEC Now Playing for (hopefully) an airing of The Three Godfathers.
[…] The Cthlc Thing Depressed and Single at Christmas – Michael Lichens, The Catholic Gentleman The Three Godfathers – Donald R. McClarey J.D., The American Catholic The O! Antiphons and the O! in Our […]
[…] The Cthlc Thing Depressed and Single at Christmas – Michael Lichens, The Catholic Gentleman The Three Godfathers – Donald R. McClarey J.D., The American Catholic The O! Antiphons and the O! in Our […]
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The bounty of $100.00 dead or alive..I’ll add $50.00 to that, and I’d like him dead.
[ For blowing up a water hole in the high desert. ]
If convicted in election fraud I would be willing to give $150.00 to the sources who turn in the scum that rob Americans out of their vote.
I’m certain we could add $2 or $3 million dollars to that un very short order f we organized such a campaign. One thing about rotten Democrats…they will turn on each other if the the price is right.
I’m not sure why it’s been so long since I’ve seen this movie — so long that I had actually forgotten it. For several years leading up to his death a few months ago, it was impossible to visit my dad without sitting through many, many videos of growing puppies, football games that the Florida Gators won (going back to the 1996 national championship over FSU), movies involving John Wayne or Audie Murphy, or TV shows like Cheyenne or Gunsmoke (I prefer the radio version, but the TV version is good, too). OK, I had to draw the line with some of the overt anti-Catholicism in Captain Blood, and some of his choices were baffling; I could not get into the movie version of Flipper, and I have no idea why he EVER watched Kindergarten Cop or the Princess Diaries — those also went too far, not so much being offensive as just, well, more targeted for pre-teen girls.
At any rate, now I’ll have to watch this movie again and think about my dad. For that, I thank you.
For some reason it is a good deal more obscure than many lesser Wayne vehicles.
Sounds like *Three Men and a Baby* recycled a plot line concept…this looks interesting to watch if only to see John Wayne cradling a baby.
One of the finest films ever. The integrity of the three Godfathers is exemplary.