Synopsis
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.
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Cast
- John WayneRobert Marmaduke Sangster Hightower
- Pedro ArmendárizPedro 'Pete' Roca Fuerte
- Harry Carey, Jr.William Kearney ('The Abilene Kid')
- Ward BondPerley 'Buck' Sweet
- Mae MarshMrs. Perley Sweet
- Mildred NatwickThe Mother
- Jane DarwellMiss Florie
- Guy KibbeeJudge
- Dorothy FordRuby Latham
- Ben JohnsonPosse man #1
Recommendations
- 100
TV Guide Magazine
A wonderful, sentimental western about a bad man who redeems himself. - 88
Chicago Tribune
The great Christmas western with Duke Wayne, Pedro Armendariz and Harry Carey Jr. as three fugitive outlaws, who, by caring for an abandoned baby, unwittingly become sagebrush equivalents for the Three Wise Men. [04 May 2001, p.C1] - 83
The A.V. Club
The fairy-tale-like 3 Godfathers casts Wayne as one of a trio of outlaws charged with caring for a baby, and discovering responsibility and perhaps his soul (the two go hand-in-hand for Ford) in the process. - 80
The New York Times
It is Mr. Ford's wonderful style in picturing a frontier fable that has the classic mould. His unsurpassed talent for bringing upon the motion-picture screen the nature and the drama of the great West is in itself an art. - 80
The Observer (UK)
This underrated picture opens with a superbly staged bank robbery, is strikingly shot in Death Valley, and is dedicated to the great Harry Carey, who starred in Ford's 1919 version of this story and died in 1947 after appearing in Red River. [22 Aug 2004, p.63] - 70
The Guardian
It's a comical sentimental reworking of the journey of the Magi, with John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz and Harry Carey Jr as the soft-hearted outlaws. [01 Mar 2008, p.53] - 60
Time Out
The distressing Ford penchant for symbols of religiosity which had marred The Fugitive does the same disservice here.
