3 Godfathers

3 Godfathers is a 1948 American Western film directed by John Ford and filmed (although not set) primarily in Death Valley, California. The screenplay, written by Frank S. Nugent and Laurence Stallings, is based on the novelette of the same name written by Peter B. Kyne. Ford had already adapted the film once before in 1919 as Marked Men. The original silent adaptation by Ford is thought to be lost today. The story is something of a retelling of the story of The Three Wise Men in an American western context. Ford decided to remake the story in Technicolor and dedicate the film to the memory of long-time friend Harry Carey who starred in the 1919 film Marked Men. Carey's son, Harry Carey Jr., plays one of the title roles in this 1948 film.

Plot

Cattle rustlers Robert Hightower (John Wayne), Pedro "Pete" Rocafuerte (Pedro Armendáriz), and William Kearney (Harry Carey, Jr.) rob a bank in the town of Welcome, Arizona, but Kearney suffers a bullet wound and they have to flee into the desert, pursued by the posse of Sheriff Buck Sweet (Ward Bond), who puts a bullet in their water bag. They eventually lose their horses in a desert storm and end up walking. In their search for water, they come across a water hole, which has, however, been destroyed by the misguided efforts of a bumbling tenderfoot. In his covered wagon left nearby lies his wife (actually Sheriff Sweet's niece), who is pregnant and about to give birth. With the help of the trio, she has a boy, whom she names Robert William Pedro after her benefactors. Before dying, she extracts a promise from his three godfathers that they will take care of him. Moved by her plight, the three desperados uphold their promise despite the acute lack of water.