The Godfather and Shakespeare

Some time ago I wrote a blog comparing the first Godfather movie to Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. I received some very interesting responses to this blog.

This past holiday season a television station aired all three Godfather movies. It seemed a strange choice for Christmas, but my wife and I watched them all, the first being our favorite.

I could not help but notice that the end of The Godfather reminded me of a scene from Shakespeare's Henry IV part I. The scenes have to do with secrets that husbands keep from their wives (even the women have similar names).

First, here is the scene from the end of The Godfather.

KAY
Michael, is it true?

MICHAEL
Don't ask me about my business, Kay...

KAY
Is it true?

MICHAEL
Don't ask me about my business...

KAY
No.

MICHAEL (as he slams his hand on the desk)
Enough!

Those familiar with The Godfather will undoubtedly recognize this scene.
The scene from Henry IV part I occurs in Act II, Scene iii. Harry 'Hostspur' Percy is planning an attack against King Henry. Hotspur's wife, Lady Percy (Kate) is questioning Harry what troubles him so that his sleep is disturbed. Kate wants to know where Hotspur is going and why.

LADY PERCY
Come, come, your paraquito, answer me
Directly unto this question that I ask....

HOTSPUR
But hark you, Kate,
I must not have you henceforth question me
Whither I go, nor reason whereabout...
... I know you wise, but yet no further wise
Than Harry Percy's wife. Constant you are
But yet a woman...

Both of these scenes have patriarchal overtones. The husbands (the head of the family) do not believe it is important their wives know (or cannot be trusted with) the truth of their business.

The women in these scenes (both strong women) know that it is their wifely duty to know their husbands' business.
Case in point: So many wives in the news today live a lavish lifestyle then claim ignorance when their husbands are arrested for a crime (some quite despicable; how about the husband who stole body parts from the recently deceased).

Men may think women are just nosey, but if they are, men give them good reason to be.


Stephen Gaspar is a writer of mystery/detective fiction. 
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Review for The Templar and the True Cross

I came across this review for The Templar and the True Cross. It was written by Joseph Kindoll for Knights Templar Magazine.

It is the autumn of 1314. The Knights Templar are no more, and their Grand Master has been consigned to the flames. De Molay’s dying curse has already claimed the life of the Pope whose machinations had sent him to the pyre. In these troubling days, one exiled Templar is summoned back to Paris by King PhilipIV himself to solve a mystery - to discover what has happened to the true cross of Christ. The uncompromising Knight, Jean-Marc de Montpellier, obeys this summons in spite of the prior actions of his monarch. As he delves deeper into this mystery, he
finds himself caught up in a web of intrigue that threatens to claim his life...or even worse, his honor.
The Templar and the True Cross is a historical thriller by Canadian author and teacher Stephen Gaspar. Fans of historical fiction will find much here to enjoy. Gaspar masterfully weaves action, mystery, politics, and religion into a compelling story.
While his protagonist is a character of his own invention, many other personalities
in this novel are historical figures. The book has the feel of being very thoroughly
researched, but it still manages to be a page-turner.
I would highly recommend The Templar and the True Cross to any fan of Templar fiction.

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Best Mystery/Detective Movies

When I fell in love with mystery/detective stories, it was not through books, but rather the medium of film - the movies. A short time ago I wrote about my favourite courtroom dramas, so I thought I would list my favourite mystery/detective movies. I am not putting them in order of a top-ten list, but chronologically. Needless to say, all of these are in my collection.

The Maltese Falcon (1941) John Houston directed Humphrey Bogart as private detective Sam Spade from the Dashiell Hammett novel. Houston was smart to not change the story and use most of the original dialogue Hammett wrote. Great supporting cast: Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet. Sam Spade gets caught up with three unscrupulous characters chasing down an medieval statuette.

The Big Sleep (1946) Howard Hawks directed Humphrey Bogart as private detective Philip Marlowe from the Raymond Chandler novel. The Big Sleep has Bogie and Bacall and some snappy banter. The story, while good, is a bit confusing and by the end you may not know exactly who killed who.

In the Heat of the Night (1967) Norman Jewison directed this racially charged movie with Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs a Philadelphia homicide detective and Rod Steiger as a small-town police chief. Rod Steiger gets all the best lines: “I got the motive which was money and the body which is dead!”

Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Sidney Lumet directed this Agatha Christie story set on a train in 1935 Eastern Europe. Albert Finney as quirky Belgian detective Hercule Poirot leads an all-star cast in an old fashion whodunit.

Chinatown (1974) Roman Polanske directed this original screenplay by Robert Towne. The story takes place in 1937 Los Angeles and it is all about water. Jack Nicholson plays private detective J.J. Gittes and Faye Dunaway as the widow of a murdered husband. John Houston plays one of the most interesting bad guys, Noah Cross who says: “Course I'm respectable. I'm old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.”

Mississippi Burning (1988) Alan Parker directed this story written by Chris Gerlomo, which is loosely based on true events of a 1963 FBI investigation into the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi. A great team of Willem Dafoe as the straightlaced FBI investigator, and Gene Hackman, the ex-southern sheriff and now likeable FBI man. This is a racially charged detective movie with sociological redeeming values.


The Fugitive (1993) Andrew Davis directed this movie that was based on Roy Huggins' 1960s television series of the same name. Harrison Ford stars as Dr. Richard Kimble who is wrongly accused for the murder of his wife. While being transported to prison, a train accident allows Kimble to escape. He is vigorously pursued by U.S. Marshall Sam Gerard played by Tommy Lee Jones who has the better part.


Seven (1995) David Fincher directed this moody thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker. Morgan Freeman plays Somerset, a detective who on his last week before retirement, investigates a series of bizarre murders based on the seven deadly sins. He is teamed up with Mills, a young detective played by Brad Pitt. From the title sequence on, Seven has a disturbing quality. The story begins on a rainy day, and the rain persists until almost the end of the movie. 



The Usual Suspects (1995) Brian Singer directed this movie written by Christopher McQuarrie. Kevin Spacey plays small-time hood, Verbal Kint who tells his story to two investigators how the meeting of five men who meet in a police lineup ends up with almost all them dead, along with a bunch of Argentinian mobsters on a ship that was set ablaze. The movie has a strong cast with Gabrielle Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Stephen Baldwin, Pete Postelthwaite and Chazz Palminteri. Great twist at the end.

L A Confidential (1997) Curtis Hanson directed this James Ellroy novel set in 1953. Kevin Spacey and Russel Crowe lead an ensemble cast of police detective in Los Angeles. Kim Basinger is captivating as the Veronica Lake lookalike in a land of movie celebs, crooked politicians and LA’s less than finest. Parts of the movie depicts some true events. L A Confidential captures the period, and the perpetual grey in which these characters exist. 



Gosford Park (2001) Directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. This Agatha Christie-like story takes place at a English country home in the 1930s. We see the British class system of self-absorbed upper class and their underestimated servants. It is a sleeper, with little action and only one murder. Strong ensemble cast: Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Derek Jacobi, Alan Bates, Clive Owen and Kristin Scott Thomas to name a few.

Honourable Mention: The Thin Man (1934) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) Soylent Green (1973) Brick (2005)

 Stephen Gaspar's books are now available on Kindle!

The Godfather, Titus Andronicus

Upon rereading William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Titus Andronicus, I was struck by the notion of how much the final scene reminded me of the movie The Godfather (1972).

The title character, Titus, is an old Roman general who has lived his life in servitude to his nation. Titus has lost the majority of his sons in wars, and even when he is offered the garland of Rome, he humbly refuses it in favour of the dead emperor’s eldest son, Saturnine.

For his queen, Saturnine chooses the captive Goth, Tamora, whom Titus had defeated and brought back to Rome. In a sacrificial rite, Titus kills Tamora’s eldest son, and she vows vengeance.

Now in a position of power, Tamora and her two remaining sons, Chiron and Demetrius wreck havoc on the Andronici. Tamora’s sons kill the Saturnine’s brother, Bassianas, who is married to Titus’s daughter, Lavinia. Chiron and Demetrius frame Titus’s sons for Bassinas’s death, for which they are arrested. In trying to rescue his falsely accused brothers, Titus’s other son, Lucius is banished from Rome.

In a most brutal act, Chiron and Demetrius rape Lavinia and cut out her tongue and cut off her hands so she cannot reveal who had assaulted her. 

Tamora’s secret lover, Aaron the Moor (Shakespeare’s most evil villain), comes to Titus and tells him that his two arrested sons will be spared if Titus cuts off his own hand and gives it to the Emperor. Titus does so, but in return, his son’s heads are sent to him.

This would be enough to make anyone mad with grief, and at one point Titus appears to be mad, but he will have his revenge, for he learns that Chiron and Demetrius are the cause of his woes.

In the climax of the story, Titus invites Saturnine, Tamora, and Lucius who is now the leader of the enemy Goths. Shocking his dinner guests, Titus kills Lavinia so she does not have to live with her shame. Titus reveals Chiron and Demetrius assaulted Lavinia, and that he killed them and baked their heads in the pie they have just eaten. Titus kills Tamora, the Emperor kills Titus, and Lucius kills the Emperor. That’s a high body count for a dinner party.

Titus Andronicus is reputed to be Shakespeare’s first tragedy, and it certainly is tragic, not to mention bloody.

The bloodbath in the last act of Titus made me recall the violent last act of the first Godfather movie when Michael Corleone orders the assassinations of mob dons, Moe Green, his brother-in-law Carlo, and Tessio, who betrayed the family. When Tessio is led off to his death, it reminded me of Aaron who gets his just deserts in the last act of the play.
   
Both The Godfather and Titus Andronicus are bloody (remember Sonny’s death).  Old Vito Corleone reminds me of old Titus. Both men are patriarchs who lived with honour. Titus even kills his own son out of loyalty to the Emperor. Michael Corleone would eventually have his own brother killed. These are stories of revenge and murder, both families working outside the justice system and seeking their own sense of justice.

Michael Corleone ended up taking over the family and becoming the Godfather. In the similar fashion, Titus’s son Lucius became Emperor.

William Shakespeare probably got his ideas for Titus Andronicus from Roman history and Greek myths, and it would seem The Godfather could have been influenced by Titus Andronicus.

Whereas The Godfather movie has been proclaimed as one of the greatest American motion pictures ever made, Titus Andronicus has not always been a favourite of Shakespeare fans. If you are one of those, or if you have never read the play, I would suggest you watch Julie Taymor’s Titus (1999) staring Anthony Hopkins; it is one of my favourite Shakespearean films.

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The Merchant of Venice - Courtroom Drama

While watching a fine production of The Merchant of Venice at the Stratford Festival this week, I was stuck by the fact that it is probably the oldest courtroom dramas ever written. Surely it is the most compelling; with Shylock poised with his knife ready to cut off a pound of Antonio’s flesh. Portia’s Quality of Mercy speech is something school children should memorize. The manner in which we show mercy to others is how mercy will be given to us is a lesson we should all realize.

It made me start to think of other great courtroom dramas; such as Witness For the Prosecution (1957) with Charles Laughton. The story and dialogue move along well and Agatha Christie has a great surprise ending.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) with Gregory Peck about a white lawyer in the deep south defending a black man against rape while under the eyes of his young children.

Presumed Innocent (1990) with Harrison Ford and a strong cast has a DA on trial for murder. Just because some of the movie was shot in Windsor did not bias my opinion.

My all-time favorite Australian movie is Breaker Morant (1980) with Edward Woodward. Based on true events, three Aussies are put on trial by the British military during the Boer War.

Paths of Glory (1957)  with Kirk Douglas in Stanley Kubrick's anti-war film. Three French soldiers are put on trial for cowardice during The Great War.

One of my personal favorites (not only for the courtroom drama) is A Man For All Seasons (1966) with Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More who was put on trial and executed under Henry VIII.

Other more contemporary movies such as JFK (1991), A Few Good Men (1992), A Time to Kill (1996) also make the list.

Oscar Wilde at the Wedding

This blog was written because of a wedding. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding of two good friends. The happy couple are both readers and on each table they placed several classic works of literature for their guests. I thought this was a truly unique and wonderful keepsake as each book was inscribed.

I chose The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) by Oscar Wilde which I had not read since high school. The Picture of Dorian Gray and its author were met with criticism and disdain at the time of its release as being immoral.The story is about a beautiful young man who is obsessed with retaining his youth and beauty.
I was amazed how Oscar Wilde foresaw the future of our youth-oriented culture and its obsession with beauty.

"How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June... If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that-for that-I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!"

"I know, now, that when one loses one's good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything.”

 "Life has everything in store for you, Dorian. There is nothing that you, with your extraordinary good looks, will not be able to do."

Pleasure-seeking and new experiences are also recurring  themes in Dorian Gray

His sudden mad love for Sibyl Vane was a psychological phenomenon of no small interest. There was no doubt that curiosity had much to do with it, curiosity and the desire for new experiences...

There is the desire to be free of anything that is the least way uncomfortable ... like feelings. Dorian proposes marriage to Sibyl Vane, then spurns her. Sibyl commits suicide and Dorian instantly distances himself from the tragedy.

“How fearful,” his friend Basil says in a moment of consoling.
“No,” said Dorian Gray, “there is nothing fearful about it. It is one of the great romantic tragedies of the age.”

Later, when another of his friends sends Dorian an article in the newspaper regarding the dead girl, Dorian rips up the paper.

How ugly it all was! And how horribly real ugliness made things! He felt a little annoyed with Lord Henry for having sent him the report.

Dorian Gray is the forerunner of today’s society of self: self-absorbed, self-centred, selfish.
Dorian contemplates the new Hedonism.

... yet it was never to accept any theory of system that would involve the sacrifice of any mode of passionate experience.

Being independently wealthy Dorian has time to study perfumes and set himself to discover their true relationships. He studied music and collected the strangest instruments that could be found. He collected jewels and researched their histories. Embroideries, tapestries, ecclesiastical vestments. Dorian would lock himself up in his room horribly fascinated reading about historical figures of those whom vice and blood and weariness had made monstrous or mad.

In Dorian’s world sin was fascinating, and gave to the intellect a quickened sense of joy. And if the sin was too terrible, it was not confessed, but one only need self-medicate driven out of the mind, to be drugged with poppies, to be strangled lest it might strangle one itself. There were sins too horrible and ugly to look at.

There are few characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray, but perhaps the most interesting and charming is Lord Henry who, like the Devil, sets Dorian on his path of narcissism and murder.   

Lord Henry is an aesthetic with a cynical wit (somewhat like Wilde himself). Lord Henry’s most charming quality is his use of epigrams that use paradox to criticize conventional morales and society.     

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it."

"I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones."

"To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable."

"Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed."

I can see why Oscar Wilde’s first novel was met with ridicule. Most of the main characters lack soul, for they have sold it for selfish reasons.

“I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.”

The characters lack humanity, for they deny the things that are human.

“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”


You get an uneasy feeling reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. You should. It is your moral compass telling you something is not quite right. There is something wrong with this picture (get it?).

We only need look at what today’s media is trying to sell society to see Wilde could clearly see the shape of things to come; youth, beauty and self. Was he trying to warn us, I wonder, or was he just trying to say:

“You must have a cigarette. A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure.”