Working alongside Hollywood visionaries like John Ford and Howard Hawks, John Wayne established himself as the film industry’s biggest leading man for years. Starring in Western classics like The Searchers, True Grit, and Stagecoach, many saw Wayne as the epitome of American masculinity. One of his all-time classics found an unlikely remake in 20th Century Fox’s iconic kids’ movie, Ice Age.
Despite being separated by time and genre, Hollywood has many films that closely mirror the same stories, themes, and messages. One of the most creative of these came by way of Ice Age, a modern classic in children’s entertainment. Although the film is held up as an example of the wave of excellent animated entertainment between the late ’90s and mid-2000s, it wasn’t entirely original. In fact, at its core, the story is a tale that goes back millennia, but it borrows masterfully from a Western from the Golden Age of film. Taking some cues from this great John Wayne movie, Ice Age is a brilliant example of how old stories can find new relevance for younger audiences.
John Wayne’s Classical Western, Explained
In 1948, John Wayne starred alongside Harry Carey Jr and Pedro Armendariz as one of three outlaws, Bob Hightower, in the Old West. Just after robbing a bank in the small town of Welcome, Arizona, the trio ride out into the desert but are pursued by the town sheriff, Buck Sweet, and his posse. After narrowly avoiding a confrontation, the gunslingers happen upon a deserted wagon, with a pregnant woman inside. After learning that the husband is almost certainly dead, they care for the woman and, after she dies, look after her baby, who she names Robert William Pedro Hightower after their own names. Knowing Sweet isn’t far behind, they set off for the nearby town of New Jerusalem, but soon find themselves facing the desert heat, and their water running low.
The 3 Godfathers story was actually Hollywood’s third production of the same film after both a 1916 and a 1936 version popularized the tale. Essentially a Western adaptation of the “Three Wise Men” story from the Bible, the story is full of religious themes, with the lead always having a change of heart and a crisis of conscience. In the case of John Wayne’s portrayal of Robert Hightower, it sees him set aside his own self-interest in escaping the law to later accept his punishment so he can honor his pledge to the boy’s mother. The character may be a thief, but he embodies the more honorable reputation of Western gunslingers that was popular at the height of Wayne’s career.
True to Wayne’s image at the time, he doesn’t play as flawed a character as Chester Morris, the lead in the ’36 movie who is notably more self-interested and cold-hearted. Instead, Wayne is the voice of sense, conscience, and wisdom as he leads the Abilene Kid and Pedro Roca Fuerte through the desert to New Jerusalem. As the others succumb to thirst and exhaustion, passing away along the journey, Bob is left the only caretaker for young Robert. However, at the same time, the Sheriff has fallen into a deep rage at the belief that the outlaws murdered the woman and stole the baby. Just as an exhausted Bob finally stumbles into a bar in New Jerusalem, Sweet finds him and confronts him. After he passes out, audiences are shown he’s accepted responsibility and is sentenced to one year in prison due to the unique circumstances of his heroic act. Keen to return for his adoptive son, he boards the train to prison, waving goodbye, knowing he’s soon to return.
Ice Age Continued This Biblical Story
Ice Age follows the unlikely union of three animals during the Neolithic Period; a grumpy wooly mammoth, Manny; a chipper but clumsy sloth named Sid; and a treacherous saber-toothed tiger, Diego. Following an attack on a human nomad encampment by the tigers, a woman jumps from the side of a cliff into the river below. Although she manages to get her baby safely to shore, the mother passes away just as Manny and Sid find her. In the hopes of making up for his mistake to the pack, Diego pretends to be a well-meaning companion to the travelers — but secretly plans to walk them into an ambush. As their road trip across the perilous landscape continues, their shared experiences and teamwork warm the heart of Diego, who begins to identify more with his new friends than his own pack.
Ice Age and Three Godfathers are both modern adaptations of the “Three Wise Men” story in the Bible. Here, however, Diego takes on the role of all three outlaws, as he goes from villain to hero, alongside Sid and Manny’s own story of learning responsibility, tolerance, and friendship. Although the movie did land sequels, none had quite the depth of story arc as the first, thanks to its borrowing of a classic story. Alongside franchises like Shrek, Toy Story, and The Incredibles, it helped usher in a modern golden age of well-written, meaningful kids’ movies. Rather than explore three competent friends, the film is instead dedicated tothree strangers becoming almost a family through their shared commitment and journey.
3 Godfathers Is One of the Most Remade Movies
3 Godfathers is based on the novel The Three Godfathers by Peter B. Kyne and has been adapted both directly and indirectly several times. While a few of these movies are considered to be among Hollywood’s ‘lost films’ (a library of films destroyed in a fire that have no surviving copies), others are still available to watch. Not only can viewers find the 1916, 1936, and 1948 versions, but they can also look to Hell’s Heroes, Hell’s Heels, and Tokyo Godfathers for more versions. However, none of these made the story as accessible or timely as Ice Age. This success also proves just how versatile both Biblical and Western stories can be.
Ford’s 3 Godfathers takes the earlier versions and transforms them into the director’s signature style of a true epic Western. Where earlier versions of the film are slower-paced morality plays, focusing primarily on the conscience of the criminals, the ’48 version focuses more on the manhunt subplot. The outlaws in this film aren’t as unscrupulous as their ’36 counterparts, with all three immediately taking on the responsibility of the child. This is in line with the “all-American” ethos that Wayne’s characters typically take on, and the actor was notoriously conscious of how his characters would reflect on his own brand.
Ice Age Shows Kids Movies Can Have Meaning
Where many films aimed at younger audiences can often feel shallow, Ice Age carries several deep messages of overcoming differences, working together, and responsibility. All are key themes that carry particular weight with children, and Diego’s story particularly stands out as a great example of how friendship can lead to redemption and doing the right thing. Meanwhile, Manny’s journey of going from a reclusive, solitary mammoth only interested in getting away from Sid to a surrogate father and close friend shows how even he progressed.
The change in kids’ entertainment throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, both in storytelling and animation quality, cannot be understated. Ice Age was only one of many films that took classic ideas and reimagined them in a family-friendly, relatable, and timeless manner. If the movie has any statement, it’s that viewers should be able to look past their differences and come together around a shared purpose. Coming along in a wave of exceptional animated entertainment, Ice Age succeeds in presenting a family-friendly, accessible adaptation of one of the best John Wayne Westerns in history. At their core, both films show how responsibility and love for a child change a person for the better.