John Ford won four Academy Awards over his career for his direction on such classics as "How Green Was My Valley", "The Grapes of Wrath" and "The Quiet Man", but it is for his Westerns that he is best loved. Certainly "The Searchers", "Stagecoach", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", "Fort Apache", etc. are among the best. Yet through much of Ford's work is his brand of "humor" which often is at odds with the film. I just re-watched "Cheyenne Autumn" and was appalled at the Dodge City (James Stewart as Wyatt Earp) sequence placed just prior to the intermission of the road show version. It is so out of place that one wonders what Ford could have been thinking of. I followed this up with another viewing of "3 Bad Men", which was a major William Fox release for 1926. In addition to George O'Brien in the lead this film has three wonderful character actors (Lou Tellegen, Tom Santschi and J. Farrell MacDonald), a big budget (judging by the large number of covered wagons), and an interesting story idea that is all wasted from Ford's very weak directing. Ford is so caught up in making things "humorous" or "touching" that he destroys the dramatic context of the film. For instance, as the 3 bad men each sacrifice themselves for the sake of the girl and her guy at the climax, Ford stages the stand off fights so poorly as to destroy any belivability in what we are watching. The bad men hero's stand out in the open to hold off a hoard of on comers. One has be given two rifles but instead uses his six-shooter which is empty after 3 shots! The film is directed by the numbers. Everything is telegraphed ahead before it happens. Ford would later take this similar story and make it as "3 Godfathers" (1939) and do it right! Ford's direction of the Dakota land rush scene pails when compared to the Oklahoma land rush in William S. Hart's "Tumbleweeds" (1925). One would think that Ford would have been at the top of his form after having recently directing his epic "The Iron Horse". "3 Bad Men" is a John Ford misfire!
