A Word about Chuck Heston
Here's the deal with the late, great Charlton Heston.
The man appeared in some of the biggest films of all time. The image in today's local newspaper article is of him in full Cecil B. DeMille mode (i.e., Moses) with the Ten Commandments looking imperiously on the unworthy masses.
But, anyone who ever saw Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine saw another side of Mr. Heston. It's not the way the NRA clamored over him because he had weapons and spoke out repeatedly on the citizenry's "right" to own them. No, it was Mr. Heston's clearly stated belief that the reason there was so much violence in this country is because this country is "the only country" where the "races" are mixed in with each other.
So, Chuck Heston was...what? Racist? Misinformed? Exhibiting the first signs of the Alzheimer's Disease that would eventually kill him? I don't know.
But here's the thing. There are three films that Charlton Heston starred in that I personally love, but my love for them has nothing to do with his presence.
Cecil B. DeMille's remake of The Ten Commandments is probably the biggest. We grew up watching it every Easter. What makes that film for me has always been and will always be the chemistry between Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter, two actors who passed away decades ago (literally, both died in 1985, Brynner from lung cancer and Miss Baxter from a brain aneurysm). For me, that film is about everyone around Moses, rather than Moses himself.
Ben-Hur, the film which brought Heston his only Oscar. The character he played was only as interesting as the chemistry between him and whoever shared the screen at the time. I mean, aren't his scenes with Stephen Boyd (as Messala) more potent than any of the so-called love scenes between him and Haya Harareet? Is that Gore Vidal's influence? Who knows? And, then there's the spectacular chariot race sequence, which remains one of the greatest stunt/action sequences of all-time. But Chuck? Eh.
And finally, The Planet of the Apes, the 1968 classic (and not the misguided, disappointing Tim Burton remake--although Heston did voice work as the villain Thade's father). Heston is more engaging in this film, the fatalist who accepts the fate of the three astronauts but then struggles for his own identity amongst his Simian captors. And, he had more chemistry with Kim Hunter in full "ape" make-up than he ever did with any of his other female co-stars. It is Heston's Taylor that buckles to his knees when he finally realizes where he is, when he finally realizes that it was man's own desire for destruction that led to Simian dominance.
How ironic it is a lesson that the man himself never learned.
The man appeared in some of the biggest films of all time. The image in today's local newspaper article is of him in full Cecil B. DeMille mode (i.e., Moses) with the Ten Commandments looking imperiously on the unworthy masses.
But, anyone who ever saw Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine saw another side of Mr. Heston. It's not the way the NRA clamored over him because he had weapons and spoke out repeatedly on the citizenry's "right" to own them. No, it was Mr. Heston's clearly stated belief that the reason there was so much violence in this country is because this country is "the only country" where the "races" are mixed in with each other.
So, Chuck Heston was...what? Racist? Misinformed? Exhibiting the first signs of the Alzheimer's Disease that would eventually kill him? I don't know.
But here's the thing. There are three films that Charlton Heston starred in that I personally love, but my love for them has nothing to do with his presence.
Cecil B. DeMille's remake of The Ten Commandments is probably the biggest. We grew up watching it every Easter. What makes that film for me has always been and will always be the chemistry between Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter, two actors who passed away decades ago (literally, both died in 1985, Brynner from lung cancer and Miss Baxter from a brain aneurysm). For me, that film is about everyone around Moses, rather than Moses himself.
Ben-Hur, the film which brought Heston his only Oscar. The character he played was only as interesting as the chemistry between him and whoever shared the screen at the time. I mean, aren't his scenes with Stephen Boyd (as Messala) more potent than any of the so-called love scenes between him and Haya Harareet? Is that Gore Vidal's influence? Who knows? And, then there's the spectacular chariot race sequence, which remains one of the greatest stunt/action sequences of all-time. But Chuck? Eh.
And finally, The Planet of the Apes, the 1968 classic (and not the misguided, disappointing Tim Burton remake--although Heston did voice work as the villain Thade's father). Heston is more engaging in this film, the fatalist who accepts the fate of the three astronauts but then struggles for his own identity amongst his Simian captors. And, he had more chemistry with Kim Hunter in full "ape" make-up than he ever did with any of his other female co-stars. It is Heston's Taylor that buckles to his knees when he finally realizes where he is, when he finally realizes that it was man's own desire for destruction that led to Simian dominance.
How ironic it is a lesson that the man himself never learned.
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