F.C. Schaefer's Blog, page 5
July 23, 2023
My review of OPPENHEIMER.
Christopher Nolan does not do anything small, he’s a big picture film maker, both in style and theme, in every way, and he brings all of his skills to bear in OPPENHEIMER, his three hour biopic of the man who oversaw the construction of the atomic bomb that ended World War II and then found himself at the center of the contentious politics that followed that conflict. At first glance, the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer would appear to be a tough sell to modern audiences used to the super heroics of the MCU and the DCEU, or franchises like JOHN WICK, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, but Nolan pulls it off not by pandering to the so-called “modern audience,” but instead treating them like adults and giving them a cinematic experience which rewards patience and investment.
The screenplay by Nolan covers Oppenheimer’s prewar years as a brilliant student in Britain and Germany, then as a professor at UC Berkeley, the World War II years with the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, culminating in the successful detonation of the A-Bomb in July of 1945, followed by its use against Japan to end the war. The last section concerns the aftermath as the Cold War rages and Oppenheimer’s opposition to the further development of nuclear weapons, specifically the hydrogen bomb, brought him into conflict with powerful men in Washington who retaliated by destroying his reputation. Of course this is not a smooth linear narration, as the film jumps forward at times, and then circles back to put events in perspective and give a fuller picture of what was at stake, and to illuminate the motives of certain historical characters. Much of this action is dialogue driven, with lots of scenes of men sitting at tables and talking, but to Nolan’s credit, the pace never lags, and he resists the temptation to explain the dense physics involved. His script is filled with a lot of historical personages played by a huge cast, many of whom have worked with Nolan before: Cillian Murphy in the title role; Emily Blunt as his wife, Kitty; Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock (the Communist Party member with whom Oppenheimer had an affair); Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves; Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss; Kenneth Branagh as Niels Borh; Tom Conti as Albert Einstein; Josh Hartnett as Ernest Lawrence; David Krumholtz as Isidor Rabi; Matthew Modine as Vannevar Bush; Gary Oldman as Harry Truman; James Remar as Henry Stimson; Dane DeHaan as Kenneth Nichols; Casey Affleck as Boris Pash; Jack Quaid as Richard Feynman; Benny Safdie as Edward Teller; Rami Malek as David Hill; Jason Clarke as Roger Robb; Tony Goldwyn as Gordon Gray, and with appearances by Josh Peck, David Dastmalchain, Alex Wolff, and Alden Ehrenreich, who really stands out as a Senate aide who figures a few things out. It says something that many of these actors have only a few minutes of screen time, but Nolan was still able to snag them. It also says something about the script that if you don’t know who their characters are, and why they were important, the screenplay does a very good job of conveying why they matter to the narrative.
Murphy is superb in the title part, perfectly capturing the great self-confidence of his character in his early years and later as head of the Manhattan Project, but I think Murphy really shines when the guilt at having helped usher in the atomic age takes hold of his character. The later Oppenheimer is a gaunt and haunted figure, and Murphy accomplishes much of this simply with a facial expression or body language. Two other standout performances are by Damon, whose General Groves perfectly captures the hard-driving can do spirit of the military during the war, and RDJ, who makes us totally forget Tony Stark in his portrayal of Lewis Strauss, a self-important insider who ultimately becomes Oppenheimer’s nemesis after the war. This reminds us what a powerhouse dramatic actor RDJ really can be. Can’t say enough about the cinematography by Hoyte de Hoytema and the score by Ludwig Goransson, and the practical effects during the testing of the Trinity bomb at Los Alamos, which is the dramatic highlight of the film, is far more impactful than anything CGI could produce; this sequence, which comes at the end of the second hour, is what the film has been building to and casts a long shadow over the remaining third.
Though Nolan’s sympathy clearly does lie with his title character, he does not shy away from the man’s faults, he was an unfaithful husband, and possessed more than a little of the overweening self-confidence, even hubris, found in many a brilliant mind. He proved to be a poor communicator for his views of how nuclear weapons should be controlled after the war, and may well have welcomed the investigation by the Atomic Energy Commission, which ended in him being labeled a “security risk” for his past associations with known Communists, as a fitting punishment for his work in the development of the bomb. But Nolan deftly and subtly draws a contrast between Oppenheimer and Strauss, the former being a consequential figure because of his accomplishments, and the latter being a self-important and petty man desiring of a greatness that he cannot achieve. I think Nolan handles the complex politics of the era well, covering everything from the American Communist Party’s staunch support for the losing side in the Spanish Civil War to the McCarthy era witch hunts. And this is one historical film that stays very far from the simplistic “woke” view of history itself. It will certainly reignite the long simmering debate over whether the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the right thing to do. Some are already knocking the film because there is no depiction of the destruction the bombs wrought in Japan. It’s funny how those who are quick to excoriate Oppenheimer, Truman and the other Americans for their role in the dropping of the bombs, never seem to have the same indignation for the leaders of Japan who launched the war in the first place, and then demanded that their people fight on and suffer unimaginable losses after they had clearly lost the war. And what did they think would have happened if Hitler had developed such a weapon? That was the very real fear that drove Oppenheimer, Einstein, and all the others in America who pushed to make this terrible weapon a reality.
In the end, I think OPPENHEIMER is a legit contender for being Nolan’s best film, at the very least I wasn’t scratching my head when it was over unlike TENET. It has a thoughtfulness and intelligence one rarely sees in a major Hollywood production these days and solidifies my opinion that Christopher Nolan is the 21st Century successor to Stanley Kubrick. It’s also a great piece of film making, and one that all true lovers of the art form should seek out.
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
Visit my Goodreads author's page at:
http://bit.ly/2nxmg
Visit my Amazon author's page at: https://amzn.to/3nK6Yxv
The screenplay by Nolan covers Oppenheimer’s prewar years as a brilliant student in Britain and Germany, then as a professor at UC Berkeley, the World War II years with the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, culminating in the successful detonation of the A-Bomb in July of 1945, followed by its use against Japan to end the war. The last section concerns the aftermath as the Cold War rages and Oppenheimer’s opposition to the further development of nuclear weapons, specifically the hydrogen bomb, brought him into conflict with powerful men in Washington who retaliated by destroying his reputation. Of course this is not a smooth linear narration, as the film jumps forward at times, and then circles back to put events in perspective and give a fuller picture of what was at stake, and to illuminate the motives of certain historical characters. Much of this action is dialogue driven, with lots of scenes of men sitting at tables and talking, but to Nolan’s credit, the pace never lags, and he resists the temptation to explain the dense physics involved. His script is filled with a lot of historical personages played by a huge cast, many of whom have worked with Nolan before: Cillian Murphy in the title role; Emily Blunt as his wife, Kitty; Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock (the Communist Party member with whom Oppenheimer had an affair); Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves; Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss; Kenneth Branagh as Niels Borh; Tom Conti as Albert Einstein; Josh Hartnett as Ernest Lawrence; David Krumholtz as Isidor Rabi; Matthew Modine as Vannevar Bush; Gary Oldman as Harry Truman; James Remar as Henry Stimson; Dane DeHaan as Kenneth Nichols; Casey Affleck as Boris Pash; Jack Quaid as Richard Feynman; Benny Safdie as Edward Teller; Rami Malek as David Hill; Jason Clarke as Roger Robb; Tony Goldwyn as Gordon Gray, and with appearances by Josh Peck, David Dastmalchain, Alex Wolff, and Alden Ehrenreich, who really stands out as a Senate aide who figures a few things out. It says something that many of these actors have only a few minutes of screen time, but Nolan was still able to snag them. It also says something about the script that if you don’t know who their characters are, and why they were important, the screenplay does a very good job of conveying why they matter to the narrative.
Murphy is superb in the title part, perfectly capturing the great self-confidence of his character in his early years and later as head of the Manhattan Project, but I think Murphy really shines when the guilt at having helped usher in the atomic age takes hold of his character. The later Oppenheimer is a gaunt and haunted figure, and Murphy accomplishes much of this simply with a facial expression or body language. Two other standout performances are by Damon, whose General Groves perfectly captures the hard-driving can do spirit of the military during the war, and RDJ, who makes us totally forget Tony Stark in his portrayal of Lewis Strauss, a self-important insider who ultimately becomes Oppenheimer’s nemesis after the war. This reminds us what a powerhouse dramatic actor RDJ really can be. Can’t say enough about the cinematography by Hoyte de Hoytema and the score by Ludwig Goransson, and the practical effects during the testing of the Trinity bomb at Los Alamos, which is the dramatic highlight of the film, is far more impactful than anything CGI could produce; this sequence, which comes at the end of the second hour, is what the film has been building to and casts a long shadow over the remaining third.
Though Nolan’s sympathy clearly does lie with his title character, he does not shy away from the man’s faults, he was an unfaithful husband, and possessed more than a little of the overweening self-confidence, even hubris, found in many a brilliant mind. He proved to be a poor communicator for his views of how nuclear weapons should be controlled after the war, and may well have welcomed the investigation by the Atomic Energy Commission, which ended in him being labeled a “security risk” for his past associations with known Communists, as a fitting punishment for his work in the development of the bomb. But Nolan deftly and subtly draws a contrast between Oppenheimer and Strauss, the former being a consequential figure because of his accomplishments, and the latter being a self-important and petty man desiring of a greatness that he cannot achieve. I think Nolan handles the complex politics of the era well, covering everything from the American Communist Party’s staunch support for the losing side in the Spanish Civil War to the McCarthy era witch hunts. And this is one historical film that stays very far from the simplistic “woke” view of history itself. It will certainly reignite the long simmering debate over whether the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the right thing to do. Some are already knocking the film because there is no depiction of the destruction the bombs wrought in Japan. It’s funny how those who are quick to excoriate Oppenheimer, Truman and the other Americans for their role in the dropping of the bombs, never seem to have the same indignation for the leaders of Japan who launched the war in the first place, and then demanded that their people fight on and suffer unimaginable losses after they had clearly lost the war. And what did they think would have happened if Hitler had developed such a weapon? That was the very real fear that drove Oppenheimer, Einstein, and all the others in America who pushed to make this terrible weapon a reality.
In the end, I think OPPENHEIMER is a legit contender for being Nolan’s best film, at the very least I wasn’t scratching my head when it was over unlike TENET. It has a thoughtfulness and intelligence one rarely sees in a major Hollywood production these days and solidifies my opinion that Christopher Nolan is the 21st Century successor to Stanley Kubrick. It’s also a great piece of film making, and one that all true lovers of the art form should seek out.
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
Visit my Goodreads author's page at:
http://bit.ly/2nxmg
Visit my Amazon author's page at: https://amzn.to/3nK6Yxv
July 11, 2023
It's Survivor with magic more than the second coming of The Hunger Games.
I’m a long way past the demographic for ALL US VILLAINS, a piece of YA fiction from authors Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. But I do like a good story, and often find that teen fiction satisfies my desire for horror and suspense much better than the regular “horror” section at the brick and mortar bookstores in which ¾ of the shelf space is devoted to the published works of Stephen King (most of which I have read), with a chunk of the leftover space given to King’s son, Joe Hill. This leaves scant room for other authors. I don’t blame King and Son for this development as the fault goes to big publishing for not investing in and promoting up and coming new writers. I say this as an independent author who has gone the self-publishing route. I picked up ALL US VILLAINS because it was well reviewed and had a premise I found intriguing: a tournament where teens fight to the death until there is one champion who can claim the prize of controlling a well spring of high magic. Some have likened it to THE HUNGER GAMES with a magic system. The main protagonists represent their families in this death match, and all live in a fictional city called Ilvernath in a world where magic is real. The wider world is never discussed much, and it is never made clear if this city exists on an alternate earth, or some kind of parallel timeline to our own as the technology would put it in the late 20th or early 21st Centuries. Maybe the two co-authors simply didn’t want to waste space on exposition and world-building, and just left it to the reader to fill in the blank spaces. There are four POV characters: Briony Thorburn, the popular girl; Alistair Lowe, the arrogant “bad boy;” Isobel Macaslin, the wallflower in the shadow of her former BFF; and Gavin Grieve, the outcast from a bad family. The title of the book would lead the reader to believe that this cast of characters and the other teens who take part in the tournament are out right bad guys or anti-heroes, but all are presented with some likable qualities, and if they act out of malice, it is because it is expected of them by their ruthless families. The authors work hard to get the reader invested in them, and at any one time in the book, one might wonder who they are supposed to root for to come out on top. There is a hint of romance between two combatants, a couple of shocking betrayals, and more than a few plot twists.
Overall, ALL US VILLAINS felt more like “SURVIVOR with magic” than the second coming of THE HUNGER GAMES, which was satisfying enough for me. I thought the authors could have explained their magic system better, and I don’t wonder if they might have had a better story if they had leaned into their premise a little more and made some of their characters true villains. There’s violence, and some brutal deaths, but the authors keep it very much within the bounds of YA fiction standards—nobody would mistake this book for anything by Clive Barker in his prime. ALL OF US VILLAINS is the first book in a two part series, and the first part ends not so much with a cliffhanger as it just stops. I found this to be unsatisfying, but hardly a deal breaker, and if I get my hands on a copy of the next book, ALL OF OUR DEMISE, I will definitely read it to find out how things turn out for these “villains” though I am still not sure who I am rooting for, and that might be a good thing.
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
Visit my Goodreads author's page at:
http://bit.ly/2nxmg
Visit my Amazon author's page at: https://amzn.to/3nK6Yxv
June 18, 2023
Who's Better Than Ezra? A review of The Flash.
I like to go into most superhero and comic book films cold, avoiding reviews and spoilers as much as I can, and that was true with the big screen solo turn of Ezra Miller’s THE FLASH, last seen some years ago in the much-maligned JUSTICE LEAGUE film if you don’t count the cameo on CW TV’s THE FLASH with the well-cast Grant Gustin in the title role. This film adaptation has had a long and somewhat troubled production history, and a lot of fans didn’t know what to expect, especially considering the spotty quality of other DC films. This DC film certainly has some flaws, but overall, I think its strong points outweigh its weaker ones.
And for me, the strongest point is the return of Michael Keaton to the role I always thought he played better than anyone else: Bruce Wayne, and his alter ego, Batman, the Caped Crusader. It’s been a very long time, and a long, long road since those Tim Burton films, but this 21st Century incarnation of Keaton’s Batman truly fit well into this story that is a variation of the classic Flash comic book arc, “Flashpoint,” where Barry Allen uses his super powers to journey into the past and save his mother from being murdered and his father from going to prison for the crime. In this film, Barry saves his mother’s life, but becomes marooned in an alternate universe where there are no meta humans, and General Zod has just arrived to threaten Earth in the same manner as he did in MAN OF STEEL. That Keaton’s older and retired Bruce Wayne is the only one Barry can turn to for help is the perfect plot turn, and if it is fan service, so what? We’ve earned it.
Another strong point is the flaw that was turned into a strength, and that is Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen. I won’t argue with those who say Miller was miscast as Barry (I would have preferred Dylan O’Brien), who bears no resemblance to the original comic book incarnation, but I thought he made it work in JUSTICE LEAGUE, where he gave a good comic performance in essentially a supporting role. But I thought Miller’s jokey and manic persona would be a rough fit as the lead in a solo film. But having the Barry of his early 20s train and mentor his college age former self after he inadvertently loses his super speed in the alternate universe sets up a great dynamic by having Miller play straight man to himself.
Another potential minus that was turned into a plus was the much-overused concept of the multiverse, which has become such a trope at both DC (endless Elseworld stories) and Marvel (DR. STRANGE AND THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS and WHAT IF?). The comic version of “Flashpoint” has stood for years as one of the best of this type of story arc, and the DC animated film remains the definitive take on it, but I liked that THE FLASH took this premise and didn’t wimp out on it at the end; the resolution is not necessarily a happy one for all involved, but it feels true and earned, and that is the heart of good storytelling. I have to respect a film that allows the viewer to get invested in characters, and then is willing to take the risk of having them meet a grim fate. I liked that the film opens with a strong action sequence, that really shows us how Barry’s powers work, but the best part is that they up the ante at the end, with a spectacular battle sequence between the heroes and Zod’s forces that comes as close as any film has done to those great battles between heroes and villains on the comic page, where multiple things are happening at once, and the viewpoints ricochet back and forth until it all comes down to one moment.
Though I thought the CGI for the most part worked, I was not fond of the style in which they presented the multiverse. I am not a fan of the way they showed Barry running when he is using his super speed with his limbs splaying about; when the Flash is at the height of his powers, he ought to run like an Olympic sprinter on super steroids. This was something the TV series did much better. Though doing “Flashpoint” is a live action film seems like a natural choice for the big screen, I feel like the screenwriters shouldn’t get too over reliant on taking plot threads from other films in your superhero universe and cribbing them together, this worked very well in SPIDERMAN: NO WAY HOME, but the Spidey franchise had a lot of unfinished business. Still, THE FLASH had a lot of humor that worked (as opposed to THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER), and it had a lot of heart, something the MCU has been lacking lately. The scene where Barry says a final good-bye to his mother in the grocery store will evoke tears in many.
Then there are the cameos. It was great to see Ben Affleck, Gal Godot, and Jeremy Irons again, and it was good to see Christopher Reeve and Helen Slater get their due. There are a couple that are too good to spoil including one in the final scene that harks back to a very controversial piece of casting in a good way. But where were Lynda Carter, Brandon Routh, John Wesley Shipp, and especially Grant Gustin?
In the end, THE FLASH is not the kind of superhero film that will win over any converts among those who disdain these types of films. It will certainly be looked back as one of the last gasps of the Snyderverse, and because of Ezra Miller’s off-screen troubles, even hardcore DC fans may take a pass on it. Warner Bros. has already made the commitment to start over with James Gunn, so it is doubtful we will ever see these particular incarnations of these characters ever again. But in years to come, I think fans will come back to this film, much like the way BATMAN RETURNS has been given a new appraisal in recent years. Sasha Calle’s take on Supergirl is sure to gain a real following, and I think THE FLASH, ably directed by Andy Muschietti, will be seen as a solid effort, worthy of respect.
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
Visit my Goodreads author's page at:
http://bit.ly/2nxmg
Visit my Amazon author's page at: https://amzn.to/3nK6Yxv
And for me, the strongest point is the return of Michael Keaton to the role I always thought he played better than anyone else: Bruce Wayne, and his alter ego, Batman, the Caped Crusader. It’s been a very long time, and a long, long road since those Tim Burton films, but this 21st Century incarnation of Keaton’s Batman truly fit well into this story that is a variation of the classic Flash comic book arc, “Flashpoint,” where Barry Allen uses his super powers to journey into the past and save his mother from being murdered and his father from going to prison for the crime. In this film, Barry saves his mother’s life, but becomes marooned in an alternate universe where there are no meta humans, and General Zod has just arrived to threaten Earth in the same manner as he did in MAN OF STEEL. That Keaton’s older and retired Bruce Wayne is the only one Barry can turn to for help is the perfect plot turn, and if it is fan service, so what? We’ve earned it.
Another strong point is the flaw that was turned into a strength, and that is Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen. I won’t argue with those who say Miller was miscast as Barry (I would have preferred Dylan O’Brien), who bears no resemblance to the original comic book incarnation, but I thought he made it work in JUSTICE LEAGUE, where he gave a good comic performance in essentially a supporting role. But I thought Miller’s jokey and manic persona would be a rough fit as the lead in a solo film. But having the Barry of his early 20s train and mentor his college age former self after he inadvertently loses his super speed in the alternate universe sets up a great dynamic by having Miller play straight man to himself.
Another potential minus that was turned into a plus was the much-overused concept of the multiverse, which has become such a trope at both DC (endless Elseworld stories) and Marvel (DR. STRANGE AND THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS and WHAT IF?). The comic version of “Flashpoint” has stood for years as one of the best of this type of story arc, and the DC animated film remains the definitive take on it, but I liked that THE FLASH took this premise and didn’t wimp out on it at the end; the resolution is not necessarily a happy one for all involved, but it feels true and earned, and that is the heart of good storytelling. I have to respect a film that allows the viewer to get invested in characters, and then is willing to take the risk of having them meet a grim fate. I liked that the film opens with a strong action sequence, that really shows us how Barry’s powers work, but the best part is that they up the ante at the end, with a spectacular battle sequence between the heroes and Zod’s forces that comes as close as any film has done to those great battles between heroes and villains on the comic page, where multiple things are happening at once, and the viewpoints ricochet back and forth until it all comes down to one moment.
Though I thought the CGI for the most part worked, I was not fond of the style in which they presented the multiverse. I am not a fan of the way they showed Barry running when he is using his super speed with his limbs splaying about; when the Flash is at the height of his powers, he ought to run like an Olympic sprinter on super steroids. This was something the TV series did much better. Though doing “Flashpoint” is a live action film seems like a natural choice for the big screen, I feel like the screenwriters shouldn’t get too over reliant on taking plot threads from other films in your superhero universe and cribbing them together, this worked very well in SPIDERMAN: NO WAY HOME, but the Spidey franchise had a lot of unfinished business. Still, THE FLASH had a lot of humor that worked (as opposed to THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER), and it had a lot of heart, something the MCU has been lacking lately. The scene where Barry says a final good-bye to his mother in the grocery store will evoke tears in many.
Then there are the cameos. It was great to see Ben Affleck, Gal Godot, and Jeremy Irons again, and it was good to see Christopher Reeve and Helen Slater get their due. There are a couple that are too good to spoil including one in the final scene that harks back to a very controversial piece of casting in a good way. But where were Lynda Carter, Brandon Routh, John Wesley Shipp, and especially Grant Gustin?
In the end, THE FLASH is not the kind of superhero film that will win over any converts among those who disdain these types of films. It will certainly be looked back as one of the last gasps of the Snyderverse, and because of Ezra Miller’s off-screen troubles, even hardcore DC fans may take a pass on it. Warner Bros. has already made the commitment to start over with James Gunn, so it is doubtful we will ever see these particular incarnations of these characters ever again. But in years to come, I think fans will come back to this film, much like the way BATMAN RETURNS has been given a new appraisal in recent years. Sasha Calle’s take on Supergirl is sure to gain a real following, and I think THE FLASH, ably directed by Andy Muschietti, will be seen as a solid effort, worthy of respect.
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
Visit my Goodreads author's page at:
http://bit.ly/2nxmg
Visit my Amazon author's page at: https://amzn.to/3nK6Yxv
June 8, 2023
The vampires are closing in.
The short synopsis of my BIG CRIMSON series: Jim has been a teenager since 1959—the year he was turned into a vampire and condemned to walk the Dark Road. Night after night, down through the years, he has roamed the halls of the finest hotels and casinos, from New York to New Orleans, from Las Vegas to L.A., being seduced and seducing, enjoying the pleasures of the flesh, and taking what he needed from so many willing bodies. That is until he earned the wrath of Zachariah Locke, the ancient king of a vampire clan, forcing Jim to hide out in a small southern town. But Locke tracks him down, and Jim would have died the true death if not for the intervention of Kyle Harris, a young prison guard whose door Jim knocked on in his hour of need. Having slain Locke, known as the Big Crimson among his kind, Kyle earns the gratitude of Jim, who vows to honor his debt no matter what. It’s a big obligation because Locke’s bloodsucking clan is determined to exact vengeance on the killer of their Maker. Forced to endure small-town life, Jim rediscovers the things missing from his immortal existence: a friendship with Kyle, and perhaps, love. The latter in the form of Jennifer Pryor, the lonely girl next door who has caught on to Jim’s true nature. The three of them form a bond of sorts and for a few drowsy days during a hot summer, this creature of the night has a brother and a girlfriend. But then Little Angel, Locke’s child vampire pet, shows up in town and proceeds to make a few vampires of her own. Worse, she is followed by Luther Hatfield, a blood-drinking, flesh-eating monster. Both Little Angel and Luther are bent on avenging their Maker, and they have help from some willing locals. Jim manages to save Jennifer from their blood-stained fangs, but when Luther invades the prison where Kyle works, Jim must be prepared to risk more than everything he has to lose to honor the debt he owes.An excerpt from BIG CRIMSON 3: BLOOD WILL TELL:
But Kyle couldn’t get past it: that the reason Luther Hatfield and his crew were there was because of him. All the day’s events—as well as the atrocities of this night—were on him. “It should have been me and no one else in that basement. I’m the reason why all this shit’s gone down.”
“Don’t say that, don’t even think it.” Jim was adamant. “Blame me if anybody. It was my decision to try and hide out here that got this whole crap storm brewing. You’ve done nothing but the right thing from the get-go. No shame in that. Put the blame where it belongs, on Luther, Little Angel, that bastard Cutler, even Captain Garland Quinn. They’re the ones who only cared about what they wanted and didn’t give a rat’s ass who they hurt getting it. Besides, you not being home today gave me the perfect opportunity to impress Miss Pryor by rescuing her from the bad guy.”
Jim’s words were the truth, and they eased the guilt some. “I think it’s the other way around. She’s been impressing you from the first night you laid eyes on her.”
The vampire started to respond but stopped and turned toward the office door, his brow furrowed, and for the first time, Kyle noticed how quiet the night had become. Gone were the war cries of rage and joy from the departing inmates.
“What’s wrong?” Kyle asked, fearing the answer.
“They’re coming.” It was the answer Kyle absolutely did not want to hear.
Jim’s movements were a blur, snatching up a computer monitor at least fifteen years beyond obsolete from a desk and hurling it at the window, shattering the glass and ripping down the blinds. What happened next occurred at the speed of light. Kyle felt the familiar tug at his collar, and then a rush of fresh air against his face and sweat-drenched shirt before he was lying on the flat roof of the administration building, the inky night sky above.
“It was Rivera, one of Luther’s attack dogs,” Jim said as he pulled Kyle upright. “Heard him coming through the door on the floor below us; had to move fast before he smelled you.”
“And we’re safe up here?” The roof of the administration building afforded a good view of the five cellblocks, all lit up and deadly quiet—a sight Kyle found very unnerving with the knowledge the cells inside were now as empty as Christ’s tomb.
Jim gestured with his thumb. “Safer than being down there.”
“Not anymore!” Little Angel Frye sprang over the parapet and landed on a rooftop AC unit with the deftness of a feline. “Luther is going to be sooo pleased with us.” The “us” were right behind her; Jason Macendale and his three buddies clambered over the parapets, their faces fish-belly white.
“Oh shit.” Kyle and Jim had exactly the same reaction at exactly the same time.
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
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June 7, 2023
The vampires come to get their man.
The short synopsis of my BIG CRIMSON series: Jim has been a teenager since 1959—the year he was turned into a vampire and condemned to walk the Dark Road. Night after night, down through the years, he has roamed the halls of the finest hotels and casinos, from New York to New Orleans, from Las Vegas to L.A., being seduced and seducing, enjoying the pleasures of the flesh, and taking what he needed from so many willing bodies. That is until he earned the wrath of Zachariah Locke, the ancient king of a vampire clan, forcing Jim to hide out in a small southern town. But Locke tracks him down, and Jim would have died the true death if not for the intervention of Kyle Harris, a young prison guard whose door Jim knocked on in his hour of need. Having slain Locke, known as the Big Crimson among his kind, Kyle earns the gratitude of Jim, who vows to honor his debt no matter what. It’s a big obligation because Locke’s bloodsucking clan is determined to exact vengeance on the killer of their Maker. Forced to endure small-town life, Jim rediscovers the things missing from his immortal existence: a friendship with Kyle, and perhaps, love. The latter in the form of Jennifer Pryor, the lonely girl next door who has caught on to Jim’s true nature. The three of them form a bond of sorts and for a few drowsy days during a hot summer, this creature of the night has a brother and a girlfriend. But then Little Angel, Locke’s child vampire pet, shows up in town and proceeds to make a few vampires of her own. Worse, she is followed by Luther Hatfield, a blood-drinking, flesh-eating monster. Both Little Angel and Luther are bent on avenging their Maker, and they have help from some willing locals. Jim manages to save Jennifer from their blood-stained fangs, but when Luther invades the prison where Kyle works, Jim must be prepared to risk more than everything he has to lose to honor the debt he owes.An excerpt from BIG CRIMSON 3: BLOOD WILL TELL:
“How could a boy deliver the final death to Zachariah Locke?” Luther spat. “Answer me that, would you please.” He was in the middle of the rec room in Building D, his voice loud enough to be easily heard over the rioting inmates, now busily taking advantage of their unexpected liberation and making the most of their chance to give vent to years’ worth of bottled-up hatred for the institution where they’d been confined against their will day and night.
“The Virginia Department of Corrections does not hire boys,” Kyle answered. “I’ll have you know I met all of their qualifications, including age.” He was leaning with his back against the wall, right where Luther had flung him when the inmates commenced their rampage.
Every head in the room instantly turned in Kyle’s direction, for Luther’s query had been directed not to him but to the three vampires who were standing back in deference amidst the overturned chairs, upended tables, and dead bodies. There were others there as well, Jenner, Ray-Lo, and Starkey stood meekly off to one side in a cluster of mortals that included their counterparts from neighboring cellblocks. Hammond, Graves, and Franklin were huddled off in a corner by themselves, all three looking absolutely terrified now that they were no longer large and in charge.
Luther rounded on Kyle. “Watch your tongue, boy, I can pry your mouth open and yank it out by the roots faster than you can blink your eyes if I so get the notion.”
Kyle was scared, a lot, but damned if he was going to let this monster know it. “You’re no Zachariah Locke,” he said, shaking his head. “And he died easy.”
Despite his bulk, the big vampire was quite nimble on his feet. He was in Kyle’s face in half a second. “My name is Luther Hatfield, and I have taken virgin brides on their wedding night, raping them and draining them dry by morning. My friends here are Mr. Dukes, Mr. Wolf, and Mr. Rivera. They have done just as bad. These things we did willingly at the behest of Zachariah Locke, the most generous soul to ever walk this earth. I say generous because he bestowed upon all of us the gift of life eternal. It is no exaggeration to say that we followed him with the same adulation a group of fishermen and a tax collector once felt for a Jewish carpenter. Do not speak of his name with levity again. I will not make this point a second time.” As if to underscore Luther’s words, there came a shattering crash from the interior of D Building as the cons continued to run riot.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” The only thing Kyle cared about at that moment was his fellow correctional officers, miserable cowards though they may be, and the inmates, even if they were full of hate and rage. He did not want any more harm coming to them, and the main way to accomplish that was to keep all the attention on him.
“You sound like a man with doubts. I can give you chapter and verse on how it went down between me and your Lord and Maker.” Keep the monsters talking—it was the only thing he could think to do.
It was the vampire called Rivera who spoke up. “A Big Crimson could never fall to a mortal whelp. Before you say another word, I call you liar.” His two compatriots nodded in agreement with these sentiments.
Luther Hatfield held up a hand, immediately silencing them. “Time is short, and there is much to be done, but I do want to hear it from your lips, Kyle Harris. How exactly did you deliver the true and final death to our Lord and Maker?” The vampire arched his right eye incredulously.
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
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My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
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June 5, 2023
The littlest vampire is not to be messed with.
Kyle Harris was a young man making his way in the world when he saved the life of Jim, who has been a teenager for sixty years, by killing his attacker, Zachariah Locke, the king of a vampire clan. The clan vows to hunt down Locke’s killer and exact vengeance, but Jim has vowed to honor his debt to Kyle and protect him. Now Kyle has a vampire under his roof, one who has drawn the notice of his landlord, and even worse, the attention of Jennifer, the lonely girl next door. Yet, Kyle manages to carry on like everything is normal until the night Jim and Jennifer hook up, and Little Angel, Locke’s child vampire pet, catches up with them. In the blink of an eye, the truth is revealed, and Kyle and Jim have some explaining to do. In this except from BIG CRIMSON 2: THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR, Jim explains how much trouble Little Angel is in after she goes rogue and defies the laws of the Undead.An excerpt from BIG CRIMSON 2: THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR:
“So this Little Angel is making her own little clan,” he opined. “That much is certain.”
“She’s making an ass load of trouble for herself,” Jim said, jumping up from his seat on the weight bench, causing Brett to tense and cringe as if he were about to bolt up the steps; the kid was obviously scared piss-less to be in the room with the vampire. “In fact, in my world, what she’s done is a capital offense—the most heinous of the heinous. Only the Lord and Maker of a Clan can sire, or sanction the siring, of another one of our kind. That they are the absolute gatekeepers of the Dark Road is the corner-stone of their power, no exceptions ever made. For those very few who break this commandment, the punishment is a screaming bitch: your head is taken if you are lucky, or you are staked down for the sun to burn if you are not. And this happens not just to the rule-breaking sire. The same fate is meted out to the one they sire and all others on the Dark Road who could even remotely be considered an accessory or might have even the slightest knowledge of the breach and did not come immediately to the Lord and Maker of a Clan and absolve themselves. No reprieves, no exemptions, and no immunity. This goes double for outlaws, renegades, and those outside a clan like me. ”
Somehow all this made sense to Kyle. “In other words, Little Angel is on vampire death row now.”
“Yeah, and if what Jim says is true, Carrie is going to have to walk the Green Mile with her.” This came from Jennifer.
“Too bad for them,” observed Mr. Brown, “but good for the rest of us.” In front of him on the steps, Brett winced at this cold-blooded assessment.
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
Visit my Goodreads author's page at:
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The vampires attack, and there is no escape.
The main protagonist of my BIG CRIMSON horror trilogy, Kyle Harris, is a Good Samaritan who comes to the aid of young man who comes to his back door one evening after sunset begging to let inside lest he be killed by an attacker. Turns out, the young man and his attacker are vampires, and Kyle’s act of kindness sets off chain of events that makes him the object of the wrath of a vampire clan. One thing Kyle has in his corner if the gratitude of the young vampire whose life he saved. But that might not be of much help when the vampires out to get Kyle invade his place of employment: the state prison where he works as a correctional officer. The following is an excerpt from BIG CRIMSON 2: THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR when the going gets tough in the inside the prison walls.An excerpt from BIG CRIMSON 2: THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR:
“Son of a fucking bitch, that’s what I’m talking about!” shouted an exuberant con as he stood over the guard’s headless corpse.
“Looks like they cut and dressed that pig proper!” Silo Morgan yelled and got a high five from two other inmates.
“Yeah, motherfucker!” sang a chorus of cons craning their necks to get a better look.
“I am in deep, deep shit,” Kyle muttered to himself. He was standing right behind the mob of inmates gathered around the headless body, and he knew the situation had already slipped beyond control. The formerly stifling air inside the recreation room was now alive with a deadly exhilaration and a lust coiled like a rattler ready to strike after days of tension, boredom, and cold turkey. Blood was in the air—literally. Kyle could feel the ground shifting beneath him—all bets were off and all arrangements of mutual convenience null and void. He knew he should turn and flee through the door behind him, get to the outside and seal the cellblock. All his training told him it was time to retreat, but it would mean abandoning the lieutenant and his fellow officers still inside D Building.
That he would not do.
Wading in, he grabbed one inmate and then another, flinging them back against the wall behind him. You’re way outnumbered and they know it, he thought, just don’t let on like you know they know it. Act like you’re in charge. It might work. Across the room he saw his fellow CO, Roger Emerson, backed up against the far wall. Kyle managed to catch his attention, “Call the lieutenant, and tell him to come now. Officer down. Then help me!” Emerson didn’t move; instead, he just kept hugging the cinderblocks as though hoping to escape through a crack in the wall, eyes the size of saucers.
“Get away from him. I SAID NOW!” Kyle reached the center of the room; a pool of dark red now surrounded the headless corpse. For a second, he felt his stomach rise into his chest and acid gurgle in the back of his mouth, but somehow he fought the nausea back dawn. Puking in front of the cons now would be a fatal sign of weakness. “GET BACK!” he commanded to the inmates gathered in close, and in doing so, felt dozens of hard-as-stone eyes turn their full gaze on him. For a moment, the situation teetered on a high wire, and then the inmates complied, stepping away ever so much, allowing Kyle to get a better view.
The USMC insignia tattoo on the left arm told him the identity of the headless man was Leland Jolly, who’d done a twenty year stint in the Corp, survived Desert Storm, came home, and got a job at the prison; Leland had been on duty at the front gate.
“BACK OFF NOW!” To his relief, the circle around the body widened, but as much as Kyle had kept his eyes on the inmates, he’d continually been cutting his gaze upward toward the ceiling where, twenty feet above, the broken skylight now revealed an unobstructed view of the night. Whoever had separated Leland Jolly from his head was surely still up there.
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
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June 1, 2023
The vampires attack down south of the border.
In my vampire horror series BIG CRIMSON, the blood suckers prowl the night, blending in among the mortals, pretending long enough to find a victim to feed upon. In the first book, a young man named Kyle is the Good Samaritan who saves the life of a creature of the night named Jim, putting him in Kyle’s debt. Which is a good thing, because to save Jim, Kyle slew Zachariah Locke, the chief of a vampire clan who are now out to avenge their Maker and he needs all the help he can get. Soon, Kyle and Jim, and their neighbors are fighting off the Undead right and left. In the second book in the series, BIG CRIMSON 2: THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR, the tale of a vampire attack south of the border is related. Read about it below.An excerpt from BIG CRIMSON 2: THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR:
“No sooner had she taken a seat on a bar stool than she was surrounded by a half-dozen guys, all wanting to buy her a drink. It was kind of comical at first, and from my vantage point, I could tell she was eating it all up, obviously having had an awful lot of practice wrapping men around her little finger.
“Then it happened, one overly exuberant and more than slightly drunk guy bumped another guy’s arm and spilled a drink all over her; it was the kind of thing that happened every night in a half-million watering holes from one side of the world to the other. She even laughed about it, but the guy whose arm had been bumped reacted badly—again, the kind of thing that happens every night where more than two people get together to get drunk. He turns to the guy who bumped his arm, and made him look like an oaf in front of the most gorgeous woman in the world, called him a very bad name, and sucker punches the dude in the face. You could hear the nose snap all the way over where I sat. It was over in a flash, with one dude on his back in the middle of the floor and the other one grasping his hand. Oh, and there was blood, gushing from the shattered nose and smeared on a bunch of skinned knuckles—like I said, nothing that doesn’t happen every night of the week.
“However, what happened next could only occur in hell…or so I thought.”
Mr. Brown looked down at the floor for a moment before he continued. “The whole place had gone silent. It was like everyone had sucked in their breath at the same time, but I distinctly remember hearing some ‘80s hair band wailing from the boom box Manuel kept behind the bar. Then, out of nowhere, came a noise—part cobra hiss, part mad dog growl—the kind of sound a demon would make while it’s fucking you in the ass. My head was going from side to side trying to figure out where the hell this sound was coming from, then I saw her, still perched on the bar stool, but she wasn’t the most beautiful woman of the century anymore. Her face was twisted into a snarl: lips pulled back, saliva dripping off perfect pearly whites. In an instant, I knew that demon sound was coming out of her, and that’s when her canines grew long, like a dog’s, right before my eyes.
“Before I could decide if it was all a tequila-induced hallucination, she launched herself off that stool and pounced on the poor guy on the floor like a big cat, sinking those fangs into the soft of his neck. Some woman screamed, then another; the gringos had seen enough, and there was a mad dash for the door, but the way was blocked by the bikers, every one showing their fangs now, as did the lowlifes and hustlers. It was as though that demon sound was a dinner bell. The tourists didn’t stand a chance. One poor guy just stood there, pie-eyed, while one of those bikers walked right up and chomped down on his jugular vein, and a lady sitting two tables away was pulled to the floor by two cabana boys. One of them bit into her neck, and the other hiked up her dress and found the big artery in her thigh.
“And me, I sat there, glued to my chair the whole time and watched every single gringo in Oro Carlos get massacred, simply refusing to believe what I was seeing. Even when all the tourists had gone down and the room was filled with the sucking sounds, I just sat there in the corner and took it all in; I sat there even when one of the bikers strode over to my table, grabbed me by my collar, jerked me up out of my seat, and bared his fangs. Even then, I didn’t believe it, didn’t believe the evidence of my eyes. Then Manuel was there, pleading with the biker, calling him Poncho and saying something in Spanish—the only words I could make out were marchado and Cruz. Poncho ignored him and pulled me close—I could smell the salty scent of blood in his breath—but Manuel reached over and pulled the crucifix from inside my shirt, the one I’d totally forgotten I still wore. That was it; Poncho took one look at the silver cross and dropped me like a hot potato. Then he went across the bar, kicked a cabana boy off a young gringo girl, and fed on her.
“And that’s how I learned vampires are real.”
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
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May 31, 2023
The origin of the species...the vampire species.
All good vampire stories have got to have a good monster origin back story to give it the right kind of verisimilitude necessary for the dark fantasy elements of a horror tale to work. In the first book of my BIG CRIMSON horror trilogy, Good Samaritan Kyle inadvertently saves the life of a vampire named Jim from Zachariah Locke, the leader of a clan of the Undead. Jim is now in Kyle’s debt, as Locke’s clan are out for revenge against those who took his life. In the excerpt below, the original atrocity that resulted in the creation of the first vampire is relayed to Kyle by Jim, the blood drinker whose immortal life he saved.Excerpt from BIG CRMSON 1: THERE’S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN:
“…Let me elaborate. A minute ago I compared the blood to a faithful lover. Well she loves some better than others. Some like Locke are fortunate enough to be a literal descendant of Juda, a greedy old shit from back in Bible times who actually got an angel of the Lord drunk, then slit his throat while he was sleeping it off. Juda did all this because Satan came to him on a river’s edge in the dark of night and told him that to eat the flesh of one of the Lord’s hosts was to gain immortality, so Juda threw a big feast for all his kin and friends where the murdered angel’s flesh was the main course.”
“Wait a minute. I don’t remember that story being in any part of the Bible, Old Testament or New.”
“Maybe not, but everyone who has ever set one foot on the Dark Road knows it’s the truth. It’s also true that old Juda and his clan got what they wanted: life everlasting, but it came with a hitch or two or three. Seems that God was mighty pissed at what happened, and in his wrath, he cursed the dead angel’s blood so that it would forever be in the mouths who those who’d tasted it, giving them a thirst for it that could never be sated. And because Juda had taken the Devil’s council in the dark of night at the water’s edge, all of our kind was forever forbidden the warmth of the sun on their skin. That cursed angel’s blood has flowed down through the centuries, and if it happens to flow into someone lucky enough to be part of old Juda’s family tree, you get to be royalty; you get to be a Big Crimson. That’s why Locke was the Maker of Clans, the Sire of Bloodlines, and when you rammed that fork into his heart, releasing his life force, every member of every bloodline, all the fruit on every vine, flowing to and from Locke, felt it at that moment. It’s a sensation like being tossed into a roaring furnace, and for a minute, you can feel the flesh being seared from your bones. We feel it when our Maker dies the true death, and in turn, a Maker feels it whenever anyone who has drunk from him meets their demise.”
Kyle remembered the scorching heat and mini hurricane that swept his back-yard just before Locke began to ooze the previous night. “I think I know what you’re talking about.”
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
Visit my Goodreads author's page at:
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May 22, 2023
The making of THE GODFATHER, a real story in its own right.
I have become a big fan of the subgenre that can be called “the making of (insert film title).” This includes Glen Frankel’s books on the making of HIGH NOON and THE SEARCHERS along with W.K. Stratton’s account of how THE WILD BUNCH came to be. My favorite is still Chris Nashawaty’s book on the chaotic filming of CADDYSHACK, which really is a deep dive into a special time and place in American popular culture. So of course Mark Seal’s LEAVE THE GUN, TAKE THE CANOLI: The Epic Story of the Making of THE GODFATHER would end up on my reading list. With all due respect to CITIZEN KANE, I consider THE GODFATHER to be the greatest film ever made in America. The grand story of Don Vito Corleone, his sons, the men who make up his organized crime family, and all those in the wider world who become entangled in their Mafia Empire to be one of the most compelling pieces of fiction ever created. It is filled with larger than life characters, so vividly rendered that we have come to know them like they are part of our own family. What Seal’s book does is remind us that it took some real larger than life flesh and blood characters to bring the novel to the screen, and in the course of that journey, created a story every bit as compelling as the movie they made.Among those larger than life characters: Mario Puzo, a financially unsuccessful published novelist who was constantly short of money because of a family to feed and an addiction to gambling; Charles Bluhdorn, the tycoon who bought a failing Paramount Studios with the determination to turn its fortunes around though he knew next to nothing about the film business; Robert Evans, the former actor hired to manage production at Paramount, who had an ego as big as his cocaine habit; Albert Ruddy, formerly employed at the Rand Institute, now a Hollywood producer with a reputation for bringing in films under budget; Francis Ford Coppola, the director and screen writer for a handful of small films whose biggest qualification was his Italian-American heritage; and Marlon Brando, the greatest American actor of the post war era, but now a has-been after a string of box office disappointments and some self inflicted wounds to his career.
Of all these characters, I really came to like Puzo, if only because I am a self-published author and know how hard it can be to get words on paper (or these days, a laptop screen). There is something in Puzo’s determination to be a success that really speaks to any writer, and how he came upon the idea to write a book about the inside workings of a Mafia family is a real tale of circumstances coming together at the right time. Though he always denied having any direct source in the Mafia, Seal’s book recounts how close Puzo walked up to that line; one of my favorite anecdotes is the author’s trip to Las Vegas for “research.” Though the book was a publishing phenomenon in the late ‘60s, and a natural for a screen adaptation, the path it took to become the film classic so many of us love was a rocky one. That is what I like best about these books where we get to see the alchemy of the creative process. Two very contrasting themes emerge in Seal’s book. One is the enormous self-confidence needed to be a success in Hollywood, to sit behind a desk and make decisions that risk millions of dollars just on a hunch and a gut feeling, not to mention the leadership skills it takes to bring a film crew and a cast of actors together and marshal them efficiently to one purpose. Another anecdote of how a young Ruddy got a part-time job at a shoe store to help cover the payments on a Jaguar perfectly illustrates this. But with the striving for success comes self-doubt and second guessing. Coppola was anxiety stricken throughout the production and afterward, convinced (not without reason) that he was about to be fired at every turn, and that he was doing a lousy job, and that the finished film would surely be failure. He was not alone, as many in the front office at Paramount fought every casting decision, the staging of scenes, and the cost of everything. Only a few would admit after all was said and done that they were wrong.
Much has already been written and documented about the production of THE GODFATHER, and Seal leans on some of these old sources, but his book does help put a lot of this into context, and after the passing of time, give it a proper prospective. A lot of the suits at Paramount wanted anybody but Brando as Don Vito, with everybody from Ernest Borgnine to Laurence Olivier touted for the part—Burt Lancaster tried to buy the rights to Puzo’s novel for himself. From a cinephiles standpoint, the portrait of Brando that emerges in these pages is of a legend on the skids who rises to the challenge after years of failure, and commits totally to the role. By all accounts, Brando was a joy to work with on the set of THE GODFATHER, and for a lot of us film lovers this is bittersweet, because this great talent would spend much of the rest of his career squandering his gifts and taking jobs for the money. Al Pacino was almost nobody’s choice to play Michael, and James Caan was far from the first choice to play Sonny, and how they came to get those roles is a fascinating part of the story. With all due respect to Lenny Montana, who made a magnificent Luca Brasi, I would love to have seen what Timothy Carey would have done with the part, and I am disappointed that Seal doesn’t mention Joe Spinell, whose few minutes as Willie Cicci made him a fan favorite. But despite that, I learned so much from this book, including the un-credited contribution Robert Towne made to the script, the background on how the famous horse’s head scene was shot, along with Sonny’s beat down of Carlo (who really had it coming), and Sonny’s subsequent spectacular death scene at the tollbooth. Some of the best remembered dialogue was ad-libbed on the set, including the book’s title by Richard Castellano. Seal also documents just how much the real life Mafia was involved in the film’s production in New York City thanks to Joe Columbo, an organized crime boss who really knew how to play the angles.
Coming in at just over 400 pages, Mark Seal’s book is a quick read and a must read for any true film lover. It left me wanting to know more. THE GODFATHER, both the novel and the movie, were a cultural event, the kind we just don’t see any more in the fractured 21st Century. That is our loss, but we still have this great movie to remember the glory that once was, and this book truly honors the men and women who made it all happen.
My book, BIG CRIMSON 1: THERE'S A NEW VAMPIRE IN TOWN, can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/3GsBh2E
and on Smashwords at: https://bit.ly/3kIfrAb
My alternate history novel ALL THE WAY WITH JFK: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF 1964 can be found on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2jVkW9m
and on Smashwords at: http://bit.ly/2kAoiAH
Visit my Goodreads author's page at:
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