3 Bad Men (1926)
BDRip 720p | MKV | 1280 x 720 | x264 @ 2560 Kbps | 1h 32mn | 1,94 Gb
Score AC3 2.0 @ 448 Kbps with English intertitles + Commentary track
Genre: Romance, Western | Director: John Ford
BDRip 720p | MKV | 1280 x 720 | x264 @ 2560 Kbps | 1h 32mn | 1,94 Gb
Score AC3 2.0 @ 448 Kbps with English intertitles + Commentary track
Genre: Romance, Western | Director: John Ford
In 1876, an old man finds gold in the Sioux lands, provoking a gold and land rush from immigrants to Dakota. On the way to Custer, the lonely cowboy Dan O'Malley helps to fix the wheel of Mr. Carlton's wagon and flirts with his daughter Lee Carlton. Later, Lee and her father are attacked by horse thieves and Mr. Carlton is murdered; however, the outlaws "Bull" Stanley, Mike Costigan and "Spade" Allen save her from the criminals and head with her to the camp where the pioneers are waiting for President Grant proclamation to explore the lands. In the site, the corrupt Sheriff Layne Hunter rules with his henchmen with horror and injustice. The trio of outlaws decides that Lee needs to get married and select Dan to be her husband. When Bull's sister Millie Stanley is murdered by Hunter's right arm Nat Lucas, "Bull" organizes the men to chase Hunter. But it is 1877 and the gold and land race of wagons is ready to start.
I like George O'Brien and when I saw the opportunity to own an early silent he made I took it and it was worth it, although, while he is the named star, he has a relatively small role in it and the movie really belongs to Tom Santschi who plays Bull, he is exceptional in his role. I'm not a huge fan of westerns, but, I enjoy all of John Ford's as he approaches his movies with a love of the West as it was being settled rather than the "Cowboys 'n' Injuns" take on things. This is the story of a girl who loses her father and is taken under the wing of the three bad men in the title, not that they are really all bad, just a bit naughty really. The real bad guy is the Sheriff who is really creepy. I don't like to give long detailed synopsises of movies, if I think a movie is good I just like to let people know that it is worth seeing and this one is. The Land rush sequence is particularly impressive and there is some very good humour, the inter titling is very well thought out. The acting is very good by all. The only downer is the quality of the available print, mine was a video from the Killiam collection and could do with a little TLC to restore it to it's former glory. This movie has absolutely everything and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's about time more money was put into the restoration and cleaning up of the silents that were not lost or destroyed, it's a crying shame when you see movies like this and many others that end up forgotten and unloved through neglect.
(Enlargeable)
Audio Commentary by Film Historian Joseph McBride