Before we say good bye to actor Charlton Heston we should remember, as I had forgotten, his contributions to some of the seminal science fiction stalwarts. Who can forget or hasn't used "Get your dirty paws off me you damn dirty ape!" or the scene of Miss Liberty herself all but destroyed. Yes, at the very least let us take a moment to appreciate that cornerstone. And not to be forgotten, Soylent Green (It's People!) or The Omega Man, which if you didn't know is Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, I Am Legend which had just been redone by Will Smith.
All in all Heston did his part to legitimizing big screen science fiction. In the process giving us some of the most memorable moments in science fiction film history.
All in all Heston did his part to legitimizing big screen science fiction. In the process giving us some of the most memorable moments in science fiction film history.
4 comments:
In my library, I have a poster taken from Planet of the Apes showing CH in the court scene with the 3 monkeys (i..e, see no evil...). The poster's title says 'Somewhere in the univerise there must be something better than man'. All in all, a classic.
CH was willing to tackle projects that others in his position would have considered irrelevant and threatening to their status (or simply not have understood at all).
[You know, looking at that poster, those 3 apes do remind me of some current famous people in Austramerican politics! It's uncanny, until I remind myself that apeas are intelligent :-) ]
"Touch of Evil" and "Planet of the Apes" are classic. No denying Heston was a talent.
I even recall the cameo he had in "Wayne's World" (I only watched parts!), during the spoof on "The Graduate". Wayne stops in the gas station as he's madly rushing to the church to stop the wedding. The station attendant is sort of frumpy and boring and so Wayne looks at the camera and says something like, "This scene needs something better," and in steps Heston as a replacement for the other actor. And he nailed it. A pro. The difference was dramatic (no pun intended).
That being said, he lurching from the far Left to the far Right, from marching with King to his rifle pumping presidency of a radical gun lobby, was bizarre.
So I am of a divided mind. A real movie star who made some terrific movies yet also, sadly, more than a little bit the flake.
But we honor the good. So, R.I.P., Mr. Heston.
again I am wondering if Heston's extreme shifts in politics were more of a relative observation. From our position he seemed to swing wildly left to right. But public opinion is at best a massive pendulum. If Heston stood solidly on a platform of individualism and less government intervention, I suspect those so oft to judge others by the prevailing political wind would see him waffling back and forth. But at the end of the day, the most disturbing element of Mr. Heston's politics was as a spokesman for the NRA. I am grateful that he picked up the banner of personal freedoms, just never saw him as the mouth peice of the radical right, which if you want a common thread for each of his movies....there it is, the lone person fighting against the press of oppression.
"...I am wondering if Heston's extreme shifts in politics were more of a relative observation"
&
"...the lone person fighting against the press of oppression."
Paul, I think you nailed it. It's very difficult for people who have never met a person to understand all the nuances in the landscape of that person's character.
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