3 Godfathers (1948)

Our 2021 edition of "Oscar Takes A Holiday" concludes with a review of 3 Godfathers.

This film features several Academy Award winners.

John Wayne won the Best Actor Oscar in 1969 for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.

This film features Jane Darwell in a small role as Miss Florie.  

Darwell was a great character actress and she won an Oscar for playing Ma Joad in The Grapes Of Wrath.

Jane Darwell receives her Oscar.  At the time Supporting Actresses and Actor only got small plaques (seen in Darwell's left hand), not full Oscar statuettes.

John Ford directed 3 Godfathers and he won a record four Best Director Oscars, for The Informer, The Grapes Of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley and The Quiet Man.  Additionally, Ford won two Academy Awards for the WWII documentaries December 7 and The Battle Of Midway.  While Ford was famous for directing Western cowboy films, none of his Oscars were for Westerns.  

John Ford, with one of his Oscars.

Ben Johnson has a small (unnamed) role as a member of the posse that pursues the "3 godfathers." 

Johnson won the Academy Award for Best Supporting actor in 1972 for playing Sam the Lion in The Last Picture Show.

Now for our review:

A trio of small-time criminals named Bob Hightower (John Wayne), Pedro Encarnación Escalante (Pedro Armendariz), who answers to "Pete," and William Kearney (Harry Carey Jr.), AKA "The Abilene Kid," visit the town of Welcome, Arizona, planning to rob the local bank.  

The pass by the home of Buck Sweet (Ward Bond) and his wife (Mae Marsh).  Mrs. Sweet mentions that they are preparing for a Christmas visit from her niece and her husband.  

The Sweets have a pleasant exchange with the trio, until Buck puts on his vest, which displays his U.S. Marshal badge.  This leads to a slight bit of tension, which leads Sweet to believe he may be seeing them soon in a more official capacity.  

After hitting the bank, the take off, but the Kid is shot and loses his horse and the loot.  Bob and Pete rescue him and take off into the desert, with Marshal Sweet in hot pursuit. Water is scarce in the desert, so Sweet shoots their water pouch, knowing it will limit their escape options.

Later, when Bob, Pete and the Kid visit a depot to get water, Sweet's posse gets there first and guards the water tank, making it inaccessible to the fugitives. 

The trio's search for water and safety leads them to a woman (Mildred Natwick) who is about to give birth.  Unbeknownst to Bob and friends, the woman is Buck Sweet's niece, who was on the way to visit the Sweets for Christmas. 

There is no water in sight because her husband (who has disappeared) dynamited the well, hoping it would get more water into it.  (The dynamite has the opposite effect, rendering the well useless.) Pete helps her give birth, while Pete and Kid  get her water from cacti.  She lives long enough to thank them and name her baby "Robert William Pedro Hightower" to honor all of them.  The new mother asks all three men to serve as godfathers to her son

The Kid picks up the woman's Bible and finds it opened to a page that talks about bringing newborn children to Jerusalem in order to present them to God.  They decide it's a sign from above and take the baby to New Jerusalem.  Kid says they're the modern equivalent of the three wise men from the Nativity story and they follow the star that will lead them to New Jerusalem.  

Meanwhile, Sweet and his posse continue to chase the three godfathers.  When they find the abandoned site where the baby was born, they presume the mother and her baby were killed by Bob and his gang.  Sweet also discovers that the water well has been blown up, which will result in future deaths and presumes that the fugitives are responsible for this as well.  Buck now wants Bob, Pedro and Kid killed for their (presumed) crimes!

Can Bob, Pedro and Kid survive long enough to get the baby to New Jerusalem?  

J.A. Morris says:

After hundreds of reviews, this is our first review of a Western movie or TV show.  

3 Godfathers is a good Western, with larger-than-life characters featured on both sides of the law.  John Wayne was already established as a major star and he plays a character similar to lots of his other characters.  That's okay, because Wayne was so good playing cowboys.  

Pedro Armendariz is equally good.  Pedro is a somewhat stereotypical "pistolero," but Armendariz delivers performance that imbues his character with humanity and kindness.  

Harry Carey, Jr. is believable as the in-over-his head Abilene Kid.

Ward Bond provides a good opponent to the godfathers as Buck Sweet.  There are some nice scenes where Buck and Bob play a game of chess trying guess where the other will go next.  

There's a little bit of back story about Harry Carey, Jr. and his father.  During the opening credits, we see this dedication:

The senior Carey worked with director John Ford on multiple films.  One of their collaborations was Marked Men, a 1919 silent adaptation of 3 Godfathers and Carey Sr. also appeared in a 1916 version of the same story.  So Jr.'s presence in the film adds a nice connection to the earlier versions.  

It's also worth noting that prominent character actor Guy Kibbee has a cameo as a judge near the end of the movie.

In addition to the actors, the other "star" of 3 Godfathers is its filming locations.  It was shot on location in California's Death Valley, which means we're treated to lots of breathtaking shots of mountains and deserts.  The dried-up salt lake scene is particularly memorable.  

If there's anything in 3 Godfathers that doesn't quite work, it's the ending.  It feels a bit too pat and tacked on.  However, it's not enough to ruin the rest of the film.  I'm hesitant to say more about the ending because I don't want to spoil it (even if the film was released more than 70 years ago!).  

3 Godfathers is an entertaining Christmas cowboy movie full of action, drama and holiday sentiment, but the ending prevents me from giving it a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 candy canes.

RigbyMel says: 

Despite my dad being a big John Wayne fan, I had never seen this Western set at Christmastime.  3 Godfathers uses its Christmas setting to tell a tale of sacrifice and (possible) redemption for three not-quite as-wise-as-they-think men as they attempt to rescue a baby from certain death.  

I found myself being drawn in to the story because of appealing performances by all the actors involved (especially the three godfathers themselves) and quite enjoyed the chess-like back and forth between Hightower and Marshal Sweet as they try to outwit each other.  

There's also something kind of sweet about how the three hardened criminals become so attached to and protective of their infant charge.  Their early grappling with the unaccustomed tasks associated with infant care are endearing.  This is a trope in a lot of movies (think Three Men and a Baby for a more recent example), but it works well and the man vs. nature intensity of the Western setting adds dramatic tension.   

Baby "Robert William Pedro Hightower" was played (uncredited - in close-up shots) by baby Amelia Yelda

It's also worth noting the many parallels between this western and the original Nativity story, for example, the desert setting parallels the hot, dry climate the original New Testament tale. There are also elements of Mary and Joseph's flight into Egypt to save the infant Jesus that are reflected in the godfathers' flight towards New Jerusalem.   And although the poor woman who leaves the baby in our unlikely trio's care is never named in the film, I really, really want her to be called Mary.  

3 Godfathers was based on novel by Peter B. Kyne that has been adapted and filmed multiple times and I highly recommend checking out blog posts about the adaptations over on the fabulous blog Christmas TV History! 

A miracle in the desert? 

Mexican actor Pedro Armendariz (who plays Pedro aka Pete in this movie) was one of the best-known Latin American movie stars of the 1940s and 50s.  He won 2 Ariel Awards (the equivalent to the Oscars for Mexican cinema) for Best Actor in 1948 for La Perla and in 1953 for El Rebozo de Soledad and certainly gives a moving performance in 3 Godfathers. 

As J.A. Morris mentions above, the ending does come off as just a bit too pat and tonally off compared with the rest of the film (there's a "funny drunk" bit that is especially off-putting to my mind), but 3 Godfathers is a generally gripping and well-made classic Western film and is well worth a look should you have the time and inclination. 

RigbyMel's rating: 

.5

3 and a half candy canes.

Larceny, Inc.

Premiered April 24, 1942.

Today we review the Christmas crime comedy Larceny, Inc., which includes contributions from multiple Academy Award winners.

Broderick Crawford won Best Actor for his portrayal of Willie Stark in All The King's

Men (1949).  

The Academy honored Jane Wyman with the Best Actress Oscar in 1948 for Johnny Belinda.  

Anthony Quinn won two Best Supporting Actor Academy Awards for his roles in Viva Zapata! (1952) and Lust For Life (1956).  

Larceny, Inc. is based on a play called The Night Before Christmas, which was written by the husband and wife writing team of Laura and S.J. Perelman.  In 1956, S.J. Perelman won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Around The World In 80 Days.  

1942 lobby card for Larceny, Inc.

J. Chalmers "Pressure" Maxwell (Edward G. Robinson) has just gotten out of prison and has decided to pursue legitimate ways of making money.  His former henchman Jug Martin (Broderick Crawford) has also just been released.  Another prisoner named Leo Dexter (Anthony Quinn) asks them to help him rob a bank when he gets out, but Maxwell turns him down.

Pressure plans to move to Florida and open a dog track with help from his adopted daughter Denny (Jane Wyman), but they're short on funding.  When a bank rejects Pressure's request for a loan, he decides to rob the bank...but not in the traditional way.

The bank is next door to a luggage store.  Pressure buys the shop from the owner and plans to break into the bank's vault through the basement wall.  Their robbery will take place on Christmas Eve.  He and Jug enlist their old friend Weepy Davis (Edward Brophy) and the three would-be thieves begin the process of breaking through the bank's walls. 

Their plans are complicated when smooth-talking luggage salesman Jeff Randolph (Jack Carson) gets Pressure to buy more luggage.  Pressure encourages Denny to go out with Jeff to keep her from finding out about their bank heist.

A funny thing happens while the crooks are planning their crime: the luggage shop turns into a VERY profitable venture.  The owners of neighboring shops come to respect Pressure and they see him as a leader of their community. This gives Pressure second thoughts about going through with the Christmas Eve heist.  When Denny learns of the planned robbery, she encourages Pressure to keep buying new luggage from Jeff, so she can discourage Pressure from pursuing a criminal lifestyle. 

Things get even more complicated when Leo Baxter shows up and learns about Pressure's plans for Christmas Eve.  Leo is determined to enlist Pressure's gang in robbing the bank and will force them to do so at gunpoint if necessary.  

Will Pressure, Jug and Weepy go through with their plans to rob the bank?  Will Leo Dexter ruin Christmas for everyone?

J.A. Morris says:

I've always been a big fan of gangster films and in the 1930s and 40s, Edward G. Robinson was the king of Hollywood's gangsters.  Larceny, Inc. gives Robinson the chance to poke fun at this tough guy image and he's great in this movie.  

Broderick Crawford and Edward Brophy are equally good as Pressure's hapless henchmen.  There's a funny running gag where Jug gets hit by a car so he can threaten to sue drivers and get funds for Pressure's schemes.  

Plus, the movie ends with both Robinson and Crawford wearing a Santa suit, and a Salvation Army band playing "Silent Night" in the luggage shop, which adds lots of Yuletide atmosphere. 

If there's anything that didn't work, I felt like we got a bit too much of Denny and Jeff's budding romance.  However, the characters (and the actors who play them) are likeable, so it doesn't really detract from the film.  

A few notes about the cast:

Jack Carson plays Jeff Randolph.  He also appears in Arsenic And Old Lace, another holiday (Halloween) film we've reviewed here.  

Grant Mitchell has small role as Mr. Aspinwall.  Mitchell also appeared in Arsenic And Old Lace and
in two other classic Christmas films, The Man Who Came To Dinner and It Happened On 5th Avenue.  

Jackie Gleason, years before he became one of the biggest stars of television, has a small role as a soda jerk.  

Last, but not least, near the end of the film, Jug has an altercation with a passerby portrayed by Arthur Q. Bryan. 

Arthur Q. Bryan makes a brief cameo.

That name may be unfamiliar, but Bryan was the voice of Elmer Fudd from 1939 to 1959.

Larceny, Inc. features an amazing cast and is fun to watch from beginning to end, filled with lots of laughs, but also tension.  This is the first gangster comedy Christmas movie we've reviewed and it gets my highest rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 candy canes!

RigbyMel says:

Larceny, Inc. is a lighthearted spoof of gangster movies.   It's also an early(ish) entry in what I'd call the "Christmas caper" subgenre of holiday film.   

As J.A. Morris notes, the cast of this film is absolutely top-notch and the comedy is pulled off with great aplomb and timing by folks like Edward G. Robinson that we don't tend to automatically associate with comedic roles.  Seeing Robinson's fast talking con artist character literally scam the suit off a prison warden's back in addition to the crazy schemes he talks his associates into makes me smile every time I watch this movie, I've seen it quite a few times in recent years.  So I can attest that it holds up to repeated viewing.  

Santa Pressure with the original luggage store owner (played by character actor Harry Davenport, who is probably best known for playing Dr. Meade in Gone With The Wind)

And Edward Brophy's character Weepy is a humorous wise guy type who discovers that he has an unexpected talent as a luggage salesman, while also engaging in silliness like trying to hide a drill in a Christmas tree.  

No stolen drills here!  Nope!!  

Speaking of Edward Brophy,  I had a "hey it's that guy" moment with him when we watched Larceny, Inc. for the first time a couple of years ago.  I couldn't quite place where I knew Brophy's voice from, but was convinced that he sounded very familiar.  Upon further research, I learned that Brophy appeared in a number of gangster and detective movies, but I realized that I knew him best as the (uncredited) voice of Timothy Mouse in Disney's 1941 animated classic Dumbo. 

Timothy Q. Mouse from Dumbo

The fact that the luggage shop scam starts to prove legitimately profitable in spite of our loveably incorrigible gang of misfit's best efforts (as well as Denny's efforts to help keep them on the straight and narrow), adds to the fun and feeds into the idea of the holidays transforming people for the better in an unusual way.     

We also get a "good criminal" / "bad criminal" contrast with Robinson & friends' juxtaposition with the more ruthless character played - to perfection - by Anthony Quinn which heightens the drama of the attempted bank caper. 

Larceny, Inc. is a fun and somewhat unconventional holiday caper comedy and it's definitely worth your time if you're looking for something a bit different for your holiday viewing!   

RigbyMel's rating: 

4 candy canes!