Three Godfathers

SET YOUR DVRs: for Thursday, 12/24 at 8:15 am (EST) on Turner Classic Movies channel to see the classic Christmas western 3 Godfathers.

Ever see John Wayne in a Christmas movie? Here's your chance. The 1948 film directed by John Ford sees three bank robbers crossing the desert to escape the posse chasing them only to realize they are without enough water supplies to reach the next town. They come across a pioneer family that have died of thirst, except for one survivor: a baby. The three men and the baby begin their arduous journey back to civilization in search of water, knowing that they will be punished for their crimes, if they are lucky enough to survive.

This film's story has been told many times. It was first made as Hell's Heroes in 1930, directed by William Wyler and it is also a 1936 movie, Three Godfathers, directed by Richard Boleslawski. I recommend checking out the 2003 adaptation, Tokyo Godfathers, made by Satoshi Kon. This spectacular anime movie re-invents the Western into the story of an abandoned baby found by three homeless people in Tokyo: Hana, the former drag queen that longs to be a mother; Miyuki, the teenage runaway; and Gin, the middle-aged drunk. Satoshi Kon also made the very popular, feature length animated film, Paprika.