Christmas in the Movies Everyday Through December
The trio that opens the story are three failed cowboys, who moved onto cattle rustling, and when that option dried up, they make a plan on robbing a bank. John Ford establishes early that there is honor among these three thieves and they are bound by their own code. They've ridden through the desert and they have a plan for the town they reach.
They ride into Welcome, Arizona and immediately make friends with the first resident they meet, Perley Sweet (Ward Bond) -whom they tease for his house address of "B. Sweet"
--then discover he's the local sheriff!
It is once these three men meet up with the abandoned mother that we formally get their full names:
William Kearney- the "Abilene Kid" (Harry Carey Jr)
Pedro Roca Fuente (Pedro Armendariz) and
Robert Marmaduke Sangster Hightower (John Wayne)
Because the baby son she's bears will have all their names. These three men are not bearing gifts but they do show their hearts are in the right place. Now they must care for little William Pedro Robert.
John Ford delivers the story in his personal style and it kept me glued to the end. I loved this movie.