RIP Charlton Heston
 

Rest in Peace, Ben Hur.

Moses, Moses, Moses

Damn dirty apes!

From my cold. dead. hands.

:(

A loss.

:(

Did somebody shoot him?

Ouch! ;)

Sorry to see this man go. I will always remember him in Ben Hur. I've seen this countless times and never get tired of it. Powerful actor.

As he once put it-

:(

They're all just about gone. I wasn't a huge fan, but I enjoyed alot of his work. He will be missed.

:( RiP

Okay. Let's go pry the gun out of his hands.*










*Not mine. I saw it on another site.
:D

kinda sad. I deplored his political and social positions, so pretty much hated everything I knew about him as a person.

But as an actor .... loved so much.




Oh ... er, Brad's seder just took on a new significance.

Soylent Green is

"Your eyes are full of hate, forty-one. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength."

Apparently, only for so long.

I too despised his politics - but always enjoyed his films.

RIP

Perhaps a late-night screening of Dark City is called for.

What am I saying... TOUCH OF EVIL!

One of my favorite movies is Greatest Show on Earth.

I love this film, Heston is deplorable as a latino, but he's not why I watch and love this film.

I have a funny (ironic) Heston story. We all get junk mail, right? We all get solicitations, right? Well, about 1990 I get the funniest piece of mail I've ever received. An engraved (and beautiful, I must say) invitation to a evening at Paramount to honor Charlton Heston by the Republican Party. Mind you, never having been registered as a republican, I can only wonder how I got on the list. After the witty reply I sent along with the original invite, I've never been approached by them again. Except for the odd solicitation call from McCain2008, or so said the caller ID.

Never my favorite actor, but he did make some damn fine movies, RIP Chuck.

Another legend lost, very sad.

I liked his quote in this article:

The AOL Article

In a Hollywood where conservative politics are frowned upon by most, I admired his courage to stand for what he believed. I am certainly no acting critic nor movie expert, but I enjoyed what of his I watched and knew. I will the lone voice in the wilderness here (there's a shock) and say I loved the man's politics.

There's a famous quote by Bette davis that comes to mind.

...never mind.

Maybe this pro-gun quote?

It's a madhouse, A MAAAADHOOOOUSE!

Okay, politics aside (actually, I appreciate his support for civil rights back in the 60's, and he's politically no different than many of my own family whom I adore), Heston is like movie comfort food. Every time I watch him, I'm ten years old and sitting in the family car at the drive-in with a greasy paper bucket of popcorn on my lap.

Omega Man - The original Legend

Earthquake! (in Sensurround) - It moved me.

RIP Mr Heston.

I'm sorry- are you saying hate kept him alive?


I concur.

I wonder if, based on that opinion, hate is also keeping us alive?

I agreed with Moore that Heston's attendance at the NRA meeting shortly after Columbine was heartless. He was asked to stay away by the mayor and still showed up. While Heston was a adequate actor, actions like that made him seem like quite a buffoon.

No, no, no, no, no. Sometimes I have a dry sense of humor, is all. I didn't agree with him on a lot of things, but I was just quoting Ben Hur and making a joke of it.

Why? I've never understood that. The NRA had absolutely nothing to do with Columbine and staying away based on that would in some way admit some form of culpability on behlaf of the NRA and legal gun owners. Unless I am remembering incorrectly, the weapons were acquired illegally.

I suppose this isn't really the place to rehash that kind of stuff....or maybe it is. There are arguments that a well trained armed teacher could have stopped much of the bloodshed. I suppose I've continued the opening of the pandora's box of the subject.....

Okies- :)

Wow, I knew our politics differed, L, but... armed teachers? Yikes.

No, the NRA had nothing to do with Columbine. So why did they stage the pro-gun rally there in the first place? Purposefully after children died at gunpoint? Families were grieving. It was as timely and considerate as Phelps and his protesters at funerals. People like guns and want to own them - I get it. But was that really and truly appropriate? Respectful? Not in my opinion.

The convention was planned long before the Columbine shootings (unless you're talking about something else I don't remember). It wasn't something they decided to do in response. It was the national convention of the National Rifle Association and was probably scheduled a couple years in advance.

And they did significantly scale the convention back. They took down all billboard advertising, and trimmed the convention from three days to one.

Why shouldn't teachers be armed? Or at least somebody on campus? It's not like the thugs are gonna go "Yo, that's a school, we can't shoot anybody at school".

This is the same argument you deplore when phrased as reducing the speed limit to unworkable limits to save 36,000 lives a year or its equivalent in the global warming context.

A world where "well trained armed teachers" exist is a world where everyone is armed and the police beat everyone with sticks every block or so to keep them in line. We don't want to live in a five mph world, and we don't want to live in this world either.

Heston's speech at the meeting mocks the mayor's request. Planned in advance or not, it was poor form. It could have been postponed.
Heston's speech

Where is the mayor's request mocked in that? He explains why the mayor's request isn't granted, but I see no mockery.

And he's right, for the NRA to cancel their event because of Columbine would have been to implicitly endorse the idea that the NRA was somehow entwined with Columbine.

I've said in other threads that I don't really support the idea of a right to bear arms (I agree one exists in our constitution but would have no issue with its approval). But I see no reason why the NRA convention should have been canceled because of Columbine. Any more than it should have been because of any of the other gun-related crimes that occurred in Denver in the weeks leading up to that convention.

I liked The Naked Jungle.

Even though no one got naked.

Okay, I'll bite, let's be pedantic about one word.

It's mockery to me.

He could postpone the meeting without seeming to cater to the wills of someone he disagrees with. It's done all the time. Postponing is not giving in.

And Columbine was not just any crime. It was a huge deal. Maybe not to some but to a majority of the country.

I still don't see how it is mockery. I hate using the dictionary definition, but I had to (to make sure that I wasn't going crazy)
Other than #6 ("offensively unfitting" would be my guess), I can't see where the word fits in. But even then, I would still wholeheartedly disagree.

The NRA canceled all events (normally several days of committee meetings, sporting events, dinners, and rallies) save the annual members' voting meeting -- that could not be canceled because the state law governing nonprofits required that it be held. [Their attorney had advised there was way to change location, since under NY law you have to give 10 days' advance notice of that to the members, or hold the meeting anyway and vote on it, there were upwards of 4,000,000 members -- and Columbine happened 11 days before the scheduled meeting.] Source (but the basic facts are in a lot of places)

And no one is disputing that. I certainly hope that you don't believe that Charlton Heston nor the NRA nor any other rational person in this country believes otherwsie.

So the whole repeating the "don't come" phrase is not mockery...
Okay...

No one has to agree with me on this. I have my opinion (the guy was a loon) and there it is.
:)

Should the porn industry cancel its annual Vegas convention if it turns out that at the same hotel a bunch of drunken bachelors got revved up on hours of bondage videos and then killed a hooker?

If the convention's main focus was about touting the safety and necessity of the freedom to own whips and 12 hookers were killed with whips and 23 others were hurt by them (without consent) less than a couple of weeks ago... uh yeah.

If you focus on JUST the 'don't come', perhaps. But if you read the entire speech you will see that he is responding to the request of the mayor:
_____________


In light of WHY (and how) the NRA continued with holding the meeting in Denver in May 1999, do you still believe that they were wrong to hold it?

I always thought it was the "Right to arm Bears."

Yes.

As do I. And I agree that Heston was mocking. Like a bird.



He practically dared people to kill him. I'm glad his good friend God finally obliged.

Are you referring to the now infamous "Cold Dead Hands" remark? The one that WASN'T made at the Denver convention, but rather a year later (unlike how Mr. Moore portrayed it in his fictional work Bowling for Columbine)?

Fictional? I think you need to check your dictionary again. Moore has backed up a lot of what he said in his documentary.
Click

Yeech, I'm sensing a distinct lack of respect for a dead man. I guess the internet really is only for tearing people new assholes, even after they've turned 84 and kicked the bucket.

:rolleyes: Show some respect. I may not agree with his politics but his film career changed the history of cinema - and I think you movie dorks should at least pay homage to that without spitting in his face before he's even buried.

Um, I reviewed his entire film career today (thanks, Variety) and it hardly changed the history of cinema (though I was surprised to learn The Ten Commandments was the second highest grossing film when it was released).

And yes, Kevy, that's the phrase. Where did I say he said it in Denver? I said it was practically a dare to kill him ... and I stand by that.


As for the Denver thing, I believe Heston showed the utmost disrespect for the dead. I'm merely returning the disfavor.

Why should someone dying mean that automatically one should show some respect towards them?
I have no respect for the man. His films were decent. He was an average actor. None of that has changed for me now that he's gone.

???

Ah yes, I know that page well. The one where he skirts around a great number of the more prominent accusations to rant a little more.

Nope, I stick with my original claim that far too much of that movie is distorted to be considered a documentary. I am not saying that the entire thing is completely false, but I have read enough and done my own research to know that I cannot and probably will never trust anything that Micheal Moore has to say.

Read the true facts here, here, here, and many other places across the internet. Unfortunately one of my favorite sights on the topic, http://www.hardylaw.net/ is currently down. Also, Larry Elder (no relation) had a great article on the subject, but I am unable to locate it at the moment.

Ahh, that's all right. Heston don't mind. Some might say that he's in a better place right now, but that all depends on your view of being buried underground. Either way, I am sure Heston would welcome any discussion about his life.

I was never much of a Heston fan though I do like a few of his movies. Touch of Evil is great. The Naked Jungle is OK. Planet of the Apes ... but then that's about it. Did I miss one?

To continue with the pedantic... Uh calling a documentary "fictional" would mean what then?

Sorry; I was being a bit pro-active. Since we were discussing Charlton Heston, Columbine, MM and BFC, and since MM distorted his movie to directly insinuate that the remark was made at the NRA convention in Denver right after Columbine, which was the topic at hand, I made a (to me) logical assumption.

CH was passionate in his beliefs in terms of gun control. I do not necessarily agree with him on everything, but I do admire his steadfastness.

:rolleyes:

"Touch of Evil" was great, but I'm not sure it was because of Heston's portrayal of a Mexican cop.

In general, I thought he had solid leading man presence. Much like Harrison Ford, you'd be on his side even if his line readings were a bit overheated.

All good fiction has a degree of truth or plausibility.

Ok, for some reason now I have teddy bear picnic stuck in my head. "If you go out in the woods today be sure of a big surprise..."

Thanks;)

For some reason, that song has always seemed sinister to me. As a kid, I pictured an army of evil, sharp-toothed bears marching through the woods to the bouncy chromatic (and foreboding) melody. Brrrr.

Well that's sick and fvcked up- I feel sorry for you right now.



:snap:

This is kind of off the subject, but I don't actually admire steadfastness. And, before you say it, yes: even in liberals. I admire people who are willing to listen to other people and get an understanding of the world around them. I admire compassion. (I don't think Heston had a lot, and yes, that is something that is informed by that speech in Denver.)

I have to say that I agree with GC in that I believe a person recently or long-time passed deserves no more respect than someone living. But I try to give everyone their due respect regardless. Heston did some things of merit in his life - in my opinion, mostly creatively. I pay tribute to those things. But I don't have to pay tribute to the others.

One who has the courage of convictions is admirable. To listen to others and remain true to what you believe is admirable. Remaining steadfast in what you believe does not equate to a lack of understanding of others or an unwillingness to listen to their opinions.

I checked. Mr. Heston is still dead.


Oh wait, he played Moses not Jesus. Never mind.

You seem to be equating "steadfasness" with being wrong.

Benazir Bhutto, The Dali Lama, Gandhi, All steadfast people who I think fully understood/understand the world around them.

I think she's saying that in her mind, the depth and breadth of his specific wrongness dwarfs his general virtues such as steadfastness or a winning smile.

Some years back, when his relevance was greater, I contemplated writing a Saturday Night Live skit that would have Pat Buchanan hosting a talk show called "Say What You Will About Hitler." The guests would talk about something in current events and at some point, Pat would turn to the audience who would chant "Say What You Will About Hitler," and Pat would say, "Yes, say what you will about Hitler . . ." and then he'd remark about some general virtue of Hitler's, such as steadfastness, would solve the current problem at issue.

When she said "This is kind of off the subject" I took that to imply a more general statement that just one applying to Mr. Heston.

Anyone's view that he was "wrong" is purely subjective opinion and is not in any way proof that he was in fact- wrong.

Now that's just wrong!




(Sorry, that one was just too hard to resist. )

Just as any view that he was "right" is purely subjective opinion and is not in any way proof that he was in fact - right.

Sick and wrong.

Moral relativist.

In his later years, yes, clearly.

Steadfastness in pursuit of positions I agree with is a sign of character, strength, and intelligence.

Steadfastness in pursuit of positions with which I disagree is a sure sign of moral turpitude, reckless disregard for reality, and quite possibly a sign of (I was going to say dementia but that would have unintended undertones for this thread) mental defect.

True.

Sad isn't it.

Yeah- way to twist his words. :rolleyes:

Perhaps the was right then wrong. When he marched for civil rights with MLK he was put on a communist "Watch List" under J.Edgar Hoover, and under then Governor Reagan. At a White house dinner with Reagan, Heston discovered from Reagan he was even being bugged.

As a gun owner I have no problem with his work as NRA President. However showing up in cities right after school massacres (3 Times!) and making his entrance Rifle Over Head saying "From My Cold Dead Hands!"
Was pretty classless. So now, speaking of classless, if anyone does want to pry his gun from his cold dead hands.... ;)

Certainly not lone my friend, but in the vast minority 'round there here parts. His politics were honorable in a industry overwhelmed by the activist left. And he was a great figurehead for the NRA, short-lived as it was. I never read the publication, but there is a nice memorial to him in the monthly NRA pub, America's First Freedom.

I'm not accusing you of this, but I love how people seem to throw the modifier "activist" around as an insult, but only when it's for a position they don't agree with.

Do you disagree with the statement? Do you not consider the film industry to be filled with members of the activist left? It's not an insult (like the gross insults thrown about in this thread) but simply a statement of fact. If you disagree that Hollywood is not filled with members of the activist left, feel free to explain.

Clearly, Heston was a member of the activist right. Being an activist shouldn't be considered an insult. It also boggles the mind how some people consider the term liberal or conservative to be an insult.

Strange.

I actually completely agree with this.

I do as well. I hate postmortem hypocrisy. If someone was a bitch or a dick while they were alive, things don't change just because they died.

That said, I can separate the man from his politics. I loved Charlton Heston, mainly because of his films. Never knew the man personally, but he doesn't sound horrible- he had his beliefs and he was free to express them.

Did he die AGAIN? Stay DEAD, man!

Someone better make sure Regan and Pope JP are still dead.

As a side note, we paid tribute to "Moses" at our Sedar. Our story of Passover involved guns this year. And hockey. But mostly guns. and hockey.

I think often times death causes reexamination of accomplishments in a more complete way. For example, Nixon was hailed postmortem as a foreign policy genius regardless of Watergate.

How sad, then - to have such lofty accomplishments overshadowed by such horrible crimes. Sorry, Scaeagles- but he really was a Dick.:p

And of course, we had a healthy dose of Chuck Heston at ours. Love me some Moses.


(And how am I ever going to re-edit the Ten Commandments Greatest Hits DVD to include Anne Baxter's immortal "Moses, Moses, Mosssesss" by next year??? Oi.)


:p

Moses Moses MOSSSESSSS!

I've been saying that ALL DAY LONG!

You used it as an insult:

Then again, maybe you simply meant that Heston's politics were even more honorable than the "activist left". But I doubt it.

We mentioned Heston at our Seder too, of course, complete with awful impersonation.

"Bitter Herbs are People!"

Is "activist left" the opposite of "slovenly right"?