John Ford's classic Western 3 Bad Men, with Cleveland star pianist Jackie Warren playing her original score

The Western and American film came of age together, joining forces in the work of Tom Mix, W. S. Hart, and Broncho Billy. No director defined the genre more fully than John Ford, whose Westerns include many from before the advent of sound. 3 Bad Men (1926) is among Ford’s best: the story follows three outlaws who inadvertently rescue a young woman (Olive Borden), and become her unlikely protectors after her father is killed. George O’Brien co-stars as a young settler drawn into their struggle against a corrupt sheriff. Ford establishes conventions of the Western even as he upends them, setting them against a fundamentally alien landscape. Cleveland’s star pianist Jackie Warren (whose early career included accompanying melodramas in Colorado), will perform an original improvised score. September 16, 2026, 7:00 pm, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Noted John Ford expert Grafton Nunes will provide the film’s introduction at 6:30 pm. $25/$22 CMA, CSFF members.