Dumas' Progeny

Although this picture of Faye Dunaway and Christopher Lee in The 4th Musketeer: Milady's Revenge would be from 1974, it causes me to think of the Bonnie and Clyde movie from 1967 in which she starred with Warren Beatty. The coach in this picture seems to have more headroom than the stolen Ford Deluxe in which Bonnie and Clyde met their demise in May 1934, but the shoulder room looks a little tight. Perhaps those two pistols behind the heads of Milady and Rochefort are what raised that memory of the two young bandits jerking like electrified frogs' legs under a relentless spray of lead which perforated both the Ford and its occupants. I saw that movie as a kid on television many years after its theatrical release; the memory of that scene is still quite vivid.

Although I was allowed to watch Bonnie and Clyde on television, I did not get to go to the theater to watch The Three Musketeers, or The 4th Musketeer....because...Mom. I suppose the fact that I was less than 10 years old could've had something to do with it. Fortunately, I did get to see both of these movies after I was married--which was a considerable number of years later--and I'm still angry that I never got to see those movies as a kid. Of course I had not read Dumas' Three Musketeers in either English or French at that time, I just knew that I would love the story--it had SWORD FIGHTING. I did read the book in English when I was a freshmen in high school; several years later I was able to read it in French...and I continue to reread it in that language every few years for fun. It's a great story. My theory is that Dumas' characters were at least part of the inspiration for the Cartwrights of Bonanza, as well as Kirk, Spock, Bones, and Scotty of Star Trek. Some day I may compare the various movies based on Dumas' book...but not today. My copy of the book in the original language came to me via one of the booksellers along the Seine in Paris...but I digress.

The Three Musketeers is an outstanding story because it has adventure, intrigue, sinister villains, beautiful women, interesting characters,...and did I mention sword fighting? Why do I bring that up? Because those are significant elements in memorable stories. No doubt, Dumas has influenced my own writing. In Justice in Season, the hero, McBride, is certainly like D'Artagnan; Parker may be a little like Captain Treville, or Athos; Shorty and Vaughn compare with the musketeers Aramis and Porthos; Sheriff Upton has a whiff of Cardinal Richelieu about him; and McBride's nemesis correlates with Rochefort. The stories are certainly different, and I never made any intentional transposition of characters. However, looking at the completed story, I can see the parallels...except for the sword fighting...unless the gunfights count.