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.

Time for the 2021 edition of "Oscar Takes A Holiday!"

Hello again holiday film fans!  As you may know, the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony will be held in Hollywood on Sunday, April 25.   

Regular readers will recall that over the last few years, we have celebrated the Oscars by reviewing holiday programming that features contributions from Academy Award winners.  

We will do the same over the next two weeks.  

We're off to a bit of a late start this year, but we follow the schedule of Turner Classic Movies' "31 Days Of Oscar."  So we'll present Oscar-themed reviews for the rest of April. 

Please check back tomorrow for our first "Oscar Takes A Holiday" review of 2021, see you then!

"Oscar Takes A Holiday" 2020 is here!

Regular readers of this blog will recall that during February of last year, we presented reviews of holiday programming that included contributions by Academy Award winners.  Since our blog stats show us it was well-received, we thought we'd do the same thing in 2020.

This year, the Oscars are being handed out on February 9, which is fifteen days earlier than last year.  We're taking our cue from Turner Classic Movies (one of our favorite networks!).  TCM's "31 Days Of Oscars" runs from February 1 through March 1.  During that stretch, we'll be posting Oscar-themed reviews of holiday movies, TV specials and episodes.

So please stop by tomorrow, February 1 for our first review of this year's edition of "Oscar Takes A Holiday!"

The Year Without A Santa Claus

Premiered December 10, 1974.

Today, “Oscar Takes A Holiday” pays tribute to Shirley Booth, who voices Mrs. Claus, narrates this special and sing its theme song.  While her name may not be familiar to younger audiences, Booth was a highly-acclaimed performer during her lifetime.  She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1952 for her role in Come Back, Little Sheba, which was also her film debut.  Booth previously won a Tony award for playing the same role on Broadway.

In addition to Sheba, was best known for playing the title role in the TV series Hazel, which earned booth two Emmy awards.  The Year Without A Santa Claus was Booth’s final performance.  She retired from acting afterwards and lived until 1992.  Let's get to our review:

Santa Claus (Mickey Rooney) is feeling sick, tired, and sore all over.  His doctor tells him he shouldn’t bother delivering toys this Christmas because no one believes in him and Christmas spirit is dying.  Santa takes this to heart, says Christmas is cancelled and decides to stay home to take a holiday.  Mrs. Claus  (Shirley Booth) thinks this is terrible idea, but she can’t change his mind.

However, Mrs. Claus isn’t ready to give up hope.  She sends two elves named Jingle (Bob McFadden) and Jangle (Bradley Bolke) on a mission to search for Christmas spirit and believers in Santa Claus, hoping evidence of it will convince Santa to deliver toys on Christmas Eve.

Mrs. Claus and her husband worry that the elves will run into trouble with Heat Miser (George S. Irving), who controls the weather in the southern portion of the world...

 ...and Snow Miser (Dick Shawn) who controls the weather in the north.  They're known collectively as the Miser Brothers.

While riding their reindeer Vixen, the elves are zapped by Heat Miser’s sun ray and they land in South Town, USA.

Their problems get worse when Vixen is mistaken for a dog and taken to the pound.  Jingle and Jangle go to mayor (Ron Marshall) and ask him to release Vixen.  The mayor will do this if the elves use their elf magic to make it snow in South Town, where it never snows.

In order to make it snow, they'll have to get permission from Heat Miser to let his brother make it snow in the south.  This won't be easy, since the brothers don't get along.

Compounding matters, Vixen is sick because she's not used to the warmer climate of South Town.  Santa learns of this and decides to rescue Vixen himself.

In South Town, Santa, using the name Klaus (rhymes with "mouse") meets a boy named Ignatius “Iggy” Thistlewhite (Colin Duffy) and his parents.  Iggy initially expresses skepticism about Santa’s existence.

Iggy's father (Ron Marshall) and Santa tell the boy that they still believe in Santa, just like they believe in love.  Iggy figures if adults aren’t too old to still believe in Santa Claus, then he also believes Santa exists.

Will Santa really skip Christmas?  Can Mrs. Claus and the elves convince the Miser Brothers to set aside their differences and help them?

J.A. Morris says:
When I was a kid, A Year Without A Santa Claus was my favorite Rankin-Bass special.  I still love it, but I no longer consider it to be R-B's best offering.  Mainly because there’s A LOT going on in this special.  There’s Santa’s desire for time off, the elves trip to South Town, the Miser Brothers, the Mayor’s song about getting snow in South Town, a sick reindeer, Mother Nature…, etc.  There’s a bit too much going on.

However, it’s very enjoyable in spite of being a bit overstuffed.  One reason I loved the special as a kid was because the Miser Brothers are so much fun.  Their songs are very catchy and memorable, and the brothers are likable and interesting characters.  I find myself humming the Misers' songs year-round.

Speaking of songs, “I Believe In Santa Claus Is” is very touching and it’s one of the best songs written for Rankin-Bass specials.  It gets to the heart of what Santa and Christmas mean to us as we grow up and grow older.  Jules Bass and Maury Laws really hit home runs on all the songs they wrote for this special.

Booth is great as Mrs. Claus.  Building a special around Mrs. Claus was a great idea.  She's a character that has lots of potential that is rarely utilized.  While Santa’s name is in the title, Mrs. Claus is definitely the hero and protagonist of this special.

Mickey Rooney previously played a younger Santa in Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.  He makes a great Santa and would go on to voice the character in three animated specials and also played him in a live action short.

Some background on the Miser Brothers' voice actors:
Snow Miser is voiced by character actor Dick Shawn.  He’s best remembered today for playing Lorenzo St. Dubois (“Hitler” in “Springtime For Hitler”) in The Producers.  Shawn appeared on dozens of TV shows and also worked as a stand-up comic and toured in a one-man show until his death in 1987.

George S. Irving plays Heat Miser.  Irving was primarily a stage actor, he won a Tony award in 1973 for his role in a revival of Irene.  His career began in 1945 and Irving continued to act until 2008.  He passed away in 2016 at age 94.

A Year Without A Santa Claus is very entertaining and features great songs and interesting characters.  This special was also a nice bookend to Shirley Booth's distinguished career.

J.A. Morris’ rating:

.5


3 and a half candy canes.