Hell's Heroes (1929)

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An overlooked gem from 1929. The premise has been remade a number of times, but I can't imagine any being better than this. I hope the three godfathers, actors Hatton, Bickford & Kohler, got big bonuses. They clearly deserve hazard pay for filming in the middle of nowhere. Looking like a parched pancake, it's a nowhere desert the three fugitives must limp across. Worse, there's no sign of relief in any direction. Yeah, they're tough guys, but this is a battle with nature in the raw, a desolate face that's both unyielding and waterless. And catch the rags the guys are wearing. The tatters get even holier as they trudge along. Wardrobe must have shopped on skid row, while I doubt that a grubbier threesome has appeared in Hollywood annals.Speaking of holy, there's a subtext of Christian symbolism to the story, without rubbing our nose in it. Note, for example, the brief cross-shaped cactus providing comfort to the martyred Barbed-Wire as his two buddies depart. Good subtle detail. Then again, the results suggest something of the Three Wise Men, western style. After all, when Mom dies, the three bank robbers are gradually redeemed by their care for the infant boy under what amounts to self-sacrificing circumstances. Their desert trek then becomes a moral proving ground the outlaws must cross in order for symbolic redemption to occur. At the same time, delivering the infant to the altar on Christmas day closes the Three Wise Men loop. By that time, each has shown a higher regard for the infant than himself. Nonetheless, I like the brief moments when the guys show their masculine libido. For example, Bob enjoys biting saloon girls in erotic fashion, while he and Bill jockey over who gets firsties with the girl in the covered wagon. Thankfully, filming was prior to the dead hand of Hollywood's censorship code. Anyway, it's legendary William Wyler's first talky and he hits a homerun, with both staging and performances. In fact, some of those desolate shots against the sky are downright iconic, proving again that artistry surpasses time. Also, the acting's first-rate. Seldom has a trio of tough guys interacted with such unforced naturalness, conveying a rare level of male bonding.. Too bad grubby Oscars aren't awarded for best shabby characters, because these three rank right up there with Sierra Madre's Bogart and Huston. So, don't pass this one up despite its obscurity. I'm really glad an old movie fan put me on to it, and I think you will be too.

Hell's Heroes is a 1930 western drama film. The story follows a group of bandits who find themselves in dire straits after a botched robbery. In an unforgiving desert, the men face a series of events that changes their lives.Entertaining and moving, Hell's Heroes is a heartfelt movie. The story is fantastic and unexpected events keep the picture fun. This film is a true emotional roller coaster.There are a few faults with the film, such as bad acting at times and some faulty premises. The way two beautiful women are fighting over a poor and gross ruffian is hard to believe. Parson Jone's 100-yard shot with a revolver is also a stretch, not to mention some parts toward the end that I don't want to give away. The movie also gets a bit boring and slow during the last act.Overall, I recommend Hell's Heroes. Entertaining and unexpected, this film has a short running time and is well worth a viewing. Definitely a must for any fans of older western movies.

This is an early version of John Ford's "Three Godfathers" and is itself a remake of Ford's still earlier "Three Badmen." I've never seen the last but "Three Godfathers" has more of Ford's rough humor and corny sentiment. It's also in crisp and impressive color."Three Godfathers" had John Wayne in the lead and you pretty much know he's going to survive -- at least long enough to reach the town of New Jerusalem with the baby he holds in his arms, thoroughly dehydrated, and order a tall cold beer in the saloon before collapsing."Hell's Heroes," directed by William Wyler, isn't at all funny or sentimental, though the religious symbolism is unavoidable. Four men rob a bank. One is killed outright. The other three escape into the desert, lose their horses, and adopt the newborn infant of a mother dying alone in an abandoned wagon. There isn't enough water for all of them. The three bandits trudge off towards New Jerusalem but, one by one, they fall dead by the wayside until only Charles Bickford is left. He dislikes the baby. ("What the hell do you want now?") He blames the infant for the deaths of his best pals.In the end, having shed all his accoutrements except the wrapped-up baby, he reaches the end of his rope at a well. The well is poisoned but Bickford can walk no farther. So he sacrifices himself. He drinks his fill of the arsenic water and it gives him an hour before it kicks in. By that time he should have made it to the town. He does make it successfully, but instead of collapsing in a saloon he dies in a church, having saved the infant.It's one of the earliest talkies and is pretty rough hewn. All the bandits talk tough but Bickford is the toughest of them all. He winds up dead and in rags on Christmas day, and no one applauds his arrival. Well, it's a noble death. I suspect these days that some of us would have drunk all the water without sharing it with the infant and, when it quivered and was still, would have eaten the child. It's a Social Darwinist world out there.

Hell's Heroes (1930)*** 1/2 (out of 4) This early talkie from Universal is the first sound version of "Three Godfathers", which would eventually be remade in 1936 with Chester Morris and again in 1948 by John Ford with John Wayne in this lead. The story here is the same as three ruthless outlaws (Charles Bickford, Raymond Hatton, Fred Kohler) rob a bank and then head out into the desert before losing their horses during a major wind storm. Soon afterwards they stumble onto a baby and the men must decide to let it die or try to walk it back to the town they were just running from. I've ended up watching these sound versions in reverse order as I started off with the Ford one many years ago and then just recently saw the Morris version, which was the better of the two. This one here is clearly the leader of the trio because of how raw it is. This movie is pretty mean spirited from the start up until the end and I really love that Wyler didn't pull any punches. Being the pre-code era we get a few things not available in future versions and that includes one sequence where the men argue about who's going to "take" the mother first. We also get a fairly violent scene involving a suicide, which is shown in a long shot. A lot of people bash American westerns saying they aren't ugly enough but that's not true here. The dirt, grease and ugliness of the characters are all over them and their unshaven faces make them look exactly like what their characters would look like. The three leads turn in wonderful performances but to me it was Hatton who steals the show as the big goon who quickly turns into a softy after finding the baby. Bickford is equally impressive and the final vision of him is quiet haunting and will certainly stay with you for a long time. The film runs a fairly short 68-minutes but there's enough heart and soul in this thing for two movies. Another impressive thing is that this was an early talkie yet you really can't tell as everything is recorded very well and it actually sounded a lot better than the same studio's Dracula and FRANKENSTEIN, which would follow the next year.