Correct usage of "beide": does it require the article?

Question

I didn't find any satisfactory reference about the usage of the pronoun "beide". It means "both" and probably comes from the same source too, but I'm confused about the article to use in front of it. Suppose you want to say:

The girls go to the cinema, they both like movies.

Would you then write:

Die Mädchen gehen ins Kino, sie beide mögen Filme ?

Is this correct? In this case you have the personal pronoun preceding "beide". One other case would be the one where you have no personal pronoun. So, I have three attempts to check:

1. Die beiden Männer lachen,

2. Beide der Männer lachen,

3. Beide Männer lachen.

Which one is right? And, as a consequence, what is the proper usage of "beide", does it require the article?

Answer 1

You can always use beide with article and also without, as long as you have a sufficiently defined subject. This means:

Your example on the girls is correct, as well as your other examples, but example number 2 is quite unusual.

beide does not require an article, but can be used with article.
If used after the article you have to adjust the form.

!CAVEAT!
Please care about the subject of beide. If you had wrote:

Die Mädchen gehen ins Kino, sie mögen beide Filme.

the translation would be:

The Girls go to the cinema, they like both movies.

But as the order is the exact same as in English:

Both men laugh.

that should not be the problem.

You can translate all your examples as the one sentence above.