HONOR THY FATHER
US, 1973, 100 minutes, Colour.
Joseph Bologna, Brenda Vaccaro, Raf Vallone, Richard S. Castellano.
Directed by Paul Wendkos.
Honor Thy Father is a telemovie on the Mafia theme. It was made soon after the success of The Godfather. It boasts a very good cast indeed and was directed by Paul Wendkos who had made a number of effective action dramas in the fifties and sixties. The film focuses very much on the family relationships and the influence of the older generation on the new in the changing times in America. It in quite interesting in its way but is a companion piece as well as a derivative of the Godfather films.
1. Why do Mafia fi'lms appeal to modern audiences? The role of the Mafia in society, its collaboration and fraternity, its power struggles and effect on lives? Its role in American history?
2. Was this a successful Mafia film? Comment on its documentary and informative style. Its ordinariness in presenting the family background as well as the massacres etc.?
3. Was this effectiveness a televisionmjovie? Did this spoil its impact?
4. How did the title give the meaning to this particular Mafia film? The commandments’ overtone? The need for loyalty and family honour as the key to the characters’ behaviour? Why is such loyalty and family code so strong? Do audiences understand this code and respond to it? How much right is there in this code? How much wrong?
5. How well did the film present Mafia organization in the sixties? The changes from earlier days? The closing in of the police? The need for cleaning up the Mafia?
6. Had power hunger changed over the decades? The picturing of the families struggles? Power hungry men and ruthlessness? The visualising of the implications of this?
7. How important did the Bonanno family seem? Why was Joe Bonanno a threat to the families? Why did he disappear? What ambitions did he have for his family? How did he rely on loyalty to hold on? Was he an intelligible character in his Mafia background, his family background, his ambitions?
8. Could Bill Bonanno have escaped from working in the Mafia? his education and background offered possibilities, yet his memories of his father, especially with the horse? How strong was the hold that his father had on the son? How was this communicated in the film? Why his response in loyalty? Even to becoming counsellor, organizing massacres and committing them? The contrast between this behaviour and his relationship to wife and children? What was the comment then of this family relationship on the wider fami1y?
9. How well were Rosalie and the children presented? as a strong alternative to Bill for his way of life? Rosalie’s worries, the clandestine meetings? Bill's interrogation of his children about what he did and their response? The moral comment on the proceedings during these sequences?
10. Was the film too brutal in its portrayal of the war and massacres? Was it factual in its presentation of the shootings and the ambushes? The betrayals and claims of loyalty? Which details were most impressive in this regard?
11. Did Bill have adequate choices at the end? The reappearance of his father in whom he trusted? The advice of Nick his death (the realistic details?) Why did Bill decide for himself?
12. The inevitability of the betrayal in Arizona and with the credit card? The ironic transactions, of destroying the Mafia , the card and not the gun?
13. Did.Bill do the right thing in handing himself over? The attitude of his father? Of Rosalie and the children? Does this indicate the change in the Mafia and the possibility of its finishing?
14, How valuable a film in the Mafia cycle was this? Its intentions in documentary presentation and insight? Did the execution of the film measure up to its intentions?
