3 BAD MEN is clearly based on an earlier Ford film, MARKED MEN--which had been made and remade six times over the years. The most familiar (though not best) version was THREE GODFATHERS with John Wayne. Just like this other story, 3 BAD MEN is about how three criminals forget their evil ways and sacrifice their lives to save a young lady they came upon in the wilderness. There are many differences, however, and if you've seen any of the six versions of MARKED MEN, it's still worth seeing.

The story involves three criminals who plan on stealing horses as they are being taken across the wilderness by wagon. However, just as they are about to attack, another group of crooks attack first--killing the old man leading the wagon. They then attack and drive off the first group of desperadoes and are about to kill the final person with the horses when they see it's a pretty young lady. Inexplicably, they all immediately become captivated with her (!?) and instead become her protectors.

While the story idea is silly and recycled, the film is well worth seeing because of two main reasons. First, it's very entertaining. Second, and this is the part that struck me, the cinematography was amazingly beautiful. At times, it looked like an Ansel Adams landscape come to life. Additionally, the portraits of the American Indians at the beginning of the film are wonderful historical moments, as these Indians looked real--not the Hollywood idea of these natives, but real Indians.

Despite enjoying and still recommending you see the film, I must admit that blue-7's review is essentially correct. The final showdowns where the three "bad men" all sacrifice their lives one at a time to save the young lady they love were handled very poorly--which is a surprise for a master director like Ford. Each of these men did a rotten job holding off the enemy--not even bothering to hid behind rocks or thinking through their attacks. They simply threw away their lives--and not very convincingly.

So overall, you've got a silent film with a lot of mistakes and plot problems yet it still manages to entertain and have value. Not a great film by any stretch but still one John Ford or silent film fans should see.

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 (George O'Brien) helps to fix the wheel of Mr. Carlton's wagon and flirts with his daughter Lee Carlton (Olive Borden). Later, Lee and her father are attacked by horse thieves and Mr. Carlton is murdered; however, the outlaws "Bull" Stanley (Tom Santschi),Mike Costigan (J. Farrell MacDonald) and "Spade" Allen (Frank Campeau) 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 (Lou Tellegen) 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 (Priscilla Bonner) is murdered by Hunter's right arm Nat Lucas (Jay Hunt),"Bull" organizes the men to chase Hunter. But it is 1877 and the gold and land race of wagons is ready to start.

The melodramatic "3 Bad Men" is a delightfully naive silent western of the director John Ford. The cinematography is amazing, and the big land and gold race of wagons is fantastic for a 1926 silent movie, and comparable to the 1992 Ron Howard's "Far and Away" that uses modern cameras and equipment. The acting is top-notch, and the actors and actresses are able to transmit intense feelings using body and expressions only, despite the exaggerated acting in the death of the villain Hunter. There are funny moments, and I liked when Mike and Spade evaluate a dandy to marry Lee; or when Dan plays a romantic song in his harmonica for Lee; or the dialogs of Mike and Spade. The sequence with the baby is visibly inspired in Sergei M. Eisenstein's "The Battleship Potemkin" from 1925. The conclusion is corny and moralist, but absolutely inside the context of the moral and ethical values of the society in 1926. Last but not the least; the title is not accurate since the three "bad men" are actually three golden and warm-hearted men. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "3 Homens Ruins" ("3 Bad Men")

. . . who ran across America to protest the Trumpsters' plan to pump the Final Life Force out of the Sioux's Sacred Homeland with a Rich People Party Money-Grubbing XL Pipeline-type Project, it's sobering to watch 3 BAD MEN document the 2nd Act in this 140-year on-going Tragic Marathon Passion Play. Act One, of course, was Native American Ally George Custer getting lured into a corrupt liquor profiteers Rich People Party trap set for him by the soon-to-be-convicted Warmongering Hench People of one of the worst U.S. Presidents ever, Mr. Fifty Dollar Bill, Grant (who proved that the average four-star general is just as incapable of being Commander-in-Chief as an 8-time Emmy-Loser Game Show Host). 3 BAD MEN ends exactly one year after Grant arranged to rub out Custer, as the Rich People Party arbitrarily divvies up the Sioux Sacred Homeland. In the hands of a great director such as Frank Capra or William Wellman, this page of Shameful History might have come to poignant life like GRAPES OF WRATH (director John Ford's ONLY flick with some heart and soul). Though 3 BAD MEN is one of the few remaining watchable films by this over-rated Fascist (HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY is the only other one I can think of right now),Ford's lone scene of Native Americans here is limited to about three seconds of stock footage. Only someone with total tunnel vision will care about Ford's concept of "Honor Amongst Thieves," or whether anyone should make distinctions between Cosby and Trump if one of them molested 85 chicks, and the other "just" 80.