3 Bad Men (1926, John Ford)

Pretty Girl loses her dad on the way to the gold rush, gets semi-adopted by Bad Men (her name for the notorious wanted criminals). Bad leader Bull decides what she needs is a husband, so they “hire” an Irish guy after a good scene of checking the bar for eligible men. Sure, they don’t respect land rights, and sometimes do some robbing and killing, but it’s quickly clear that the Bad Men are better than the whitehat sheriff of the town where everyone stays while waiting for the gold rush to begin (there’s an official start date/time, so it’s literally a race). Soon, Bad Bull is leading a revolt against the corrupt sheriff, who wants to burn down the church full of women and children. Turns out rescuing babies by tossing them out the window of a burning building wasn’t invented by Hard-Boiled. Then our romantic couple needs to be saved from a pursuing gang of evil cops. High-hatted Spade stays back to hold the pass against the sheriff’s men, delaying them by 15 seconds. Soft-hatted Mike…