3 Bad Men (John Ford, 1926)
3 Bad Men shows Ford blending the pleasant charms he displayed in
Just Pals with the epic reach of
The Iron Horse, resulting in a thoroughly entertaining motion picture. The credits suggest that the film is "suggested by" the novel
Over the Border by Herman Whitaker, but it perhaps owes just as much to Peter B. Kyne's novelette
3 Godfathers (which Ford had already adapted in 1919, as
Marked Men), except with the infant of that story replaced by the beautifully grown-up Olive Borden. Her character, Lee Carlton, is heading to the South Dakota land rush with her pops, but he's killed by horse thieves en route. Lee is saved from the same fate by a second band of horse thieves, the film's title characters, whose intentions are no more honorable — until they see that not only is Lee a woman but a very pretty one at that.
In probably every other movie ever made with a similar setup, the rest of the story would involve the three bad men competing lustily for Lee's affections, only to have some other stud swoop in and try to steal her away. That's not this movie at all, to its great benefit. Instead, our titular anti-heroes are overcome with paternal affection for the girl, wanting only to keep her safe and happy — so much so that they themselves seek out a suitable male companion for her, eventually landing on George O'Brien.
There's more to the story than that — that's really just a small aspect — but it provides a sense of how
3 Bad Men explores familiar territory in an interesting way. The first half of the film is almost more concerned with atmosphere than with story — the town setting on the outskirts of the imminent land rush and its colorful inhabitants — and it's surprisingly funny. The second half consists largely of two highly impressive and exciting action sequences: a terroristic house fire and the land rush sequence itself.
Ford films both halves well, though he continues to more adept with long shots and thus a bit more comfortable in the grand action sequences. He's got a talent for landscapes and portraiture — those shots that can stand on their own, like paintings. But he's less cinematic than many of his contemporaries when it comes to filming in space, where multiple shots are needed to make up the complete image. In most simple dialogue scenes, for example, he often resorts to filming the characters in a medium two-shot, always always always perpendicular to them, and then editing in a few closeups, with the same framing repeated time and again. The result is very pedestrian, especially in the context of the other more painterly moments.
The finale of
3 Bad Men showcases these visual strengths and weaknesses of Ford in perfect counterpoint. The start of the land rush, with the mass of people and horses streaming across the field, is Ford at his silent-era best. But when the finale turns into a series of shootouts, with the drama scaled back from the mob to individuals, the staging and filming of the action suddenly turns a bit rote and stagy, in B-western fashion. I'll be curious to see if his next western improves on this element, but that's another thirteen years away in his filmography (
Stagecoach).
George O'Brien gets top billing here, followed by Olive Borden, but they're really secondary characters. This is Tom Santschi's movie, and, as the leader of the three bad men, he's something of a revelation. The whole ensemble gives really strong performances, with surprising nuance for a 1926 film (except in the death scenes), and it starts with Santschi. It helps that he so looks the part of an 1876 horse thief with a tender side, but he's really, really good in the role, carrying the film. I wish more of his movies were readily available, including his directorial efforts from the early 1910s.
O'Brien has maybe a fifth of the screen time, but he makes a good impression as well, with his on-screen charisma seeming to have tripled in the two years since
The Iron Horse. J. Farrell MacDonald, another
Iron Horse veteran, is also a more welcome presence in
3 Bad Men. Looking at his filmography, he's poised to become my favorite 'that guy' in movie history. I had no idea the ''My great-grandfather planted this tree!"-guy from
It's a Wonderful Life had such a long and varied career in the movies dating back in 1911.
I watched the DVD with the score that Dana Kaproff recorded for it in 2007, and I have conflicted feelings about that. It's a decent score, occasionally doing a lot to enhance the movie, but it's definitely modern in its sensibilities, making little effort to feel like a film score from the period. I'm again wary of having my experience of a 1926 film influenced by a 21st century score, but my experience was a good one, so I guess I shouldn't complain.
Grade: B+
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