Charlton Heston's legacy

siouxcityjournal.com ^ | 2008/04/14 | Michael McNeil

[Old Sarge]

I miss Chuck already.

[Borges]

Heston was great but “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” was a horrible movie and virtually single handedely killed off the Hollywood Biblical Epic.

[Bobalu]

[Clint N. Suhks]

[cleveland gop]

Me too. That he marched with MLK shows the true essence of a great man.
As I said during the 40 year anniversary of the MLK assassination, if MLK were still alive today, he would take the Rev's. Sharpton and Jackson and brow beat them to an inch of their lives.

In the MSM, people like Heston and MLK are afterthoughts because their lives and ideas are/were too conservative for the liking of the entitlement based lives every liberal wants.

I know we remember Charlton in this thread. But ask yourselves this question. Would MLK be happy knowing there are 17-year old girls who have given birth 7 times, or that there are cities that spend 45% of local tax dollars just on entitlements alone? We know what the answer is.

RIP Charlton Heston, a great American in more ways than one.

[cleveland gop]

Only you could find a great pic like that!!!

[ohioman]

Why bother bringing it up? All actors have been involved in a few bombs. However, Heston was involved in some of the finest movies ever made. I always loved the Omega Man, but it always seems to get left off of the “best of” list.

[knarf]

" .. and especially to you, Mr. Al Gore ...........

FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS ! "

[Right Cal Gal]

Seriously! Now that pic is something that’ll really send a “tingle up your leg!”

[Borges]

It’s prominently mentioned in the article. Heston was in a lot of much better films.

[cleveland gop]

You, for sure, me, probably not. but still a great shot of two great Americans who we miss very much!

[OB1kNOb]

In a 1997 speech, he denounced a culture war he said was being conducted by a generation of media, educators, entertainers and politicians against: "... the God-fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle-class, Protestant - or, even worse, evangelical Christian, Midwestern or Southern - or, even worse, rural, apparently straight - or, even worse, admitted heterosexuals, gun-owning - or, even worse, NRA-card carrying, average working stiff - or, even worse, male working stiff - because not only don’t you count, you are a down-right obstacle to social progress. Your voice deserves a lower decibel level, your opinion is less enlightened, your media access is insignificant and, frankly, mister, you need to wake up, wise up, and learn a little something from your new America and, until you do, would you mind shutting up?”

Sounds like a page from most any Obama or Hitlery campaign speech.

[Right Cal Gal]

And I still never miss The Ten Commandments....I can even take the over-acting by Ann Baxter.

I loved him the TGSET, but frankly, the most memorable line for me is still John Wayne at the bottom of the cross saying “He truly was the Son of God...”

[onedoug]

Player King, Branagh's Hamlet. A showcase for the ages.

[Sans-Culotte]

Heston was great but “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” was a horrible movie and virtually single handedly killed off the Hollywood Biblical Epic.

The costume epic, biblical or otherwise, was already in its death throes at the time of the release of The Greatest Story Ever Told. After the phenomenal success of Ben-Hur, the last successful costume epics were Spartacus (1960) and El Cid (1961) (Lawrence of Arabia was certainly "epic", but I do not include it as it was not set in ancient times). King of Kings (1961) was both a financial and critical flop, as was Cleopatra (1963) and The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964). By the time of The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1965, it was apparent that the age of the costumed epic was over. It did not help that The Greatest Story Ever Told received poor reviews.

I actually rather like the film. It is certainly flawed, but there are some striking scenes. I particularly like the sequence in which we see suffering and cruelty in Jerusalem, with Christ, hooded, moving through the crowd. We then hear Heston as the Baptist calling the people to repentance, and the camera seems to fly from the walled city of Jerusalem to the Jordan river, as we see the Baptist and his followers. We then see Jesus fully for the first time as he comes before the John for his baptism. There are several other sequences that are very impressive to me. On the whole, the movie is long and rather slow, but it interests me as an extremely formal telling of the Gospel. I far prefer it to King of Kings which scarcely dealt with Christ and the Gospel at all.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

Heston was great but “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” was a horrible movie and virtually single handedely killed off the Hollywood Biblical Epic.

What's the matter? Didn't you like John Wayne as the Roman Centurion? ;) ("Well, let me tell you this, Pilgrim...")

[Borges]

Regardless of its concerns ‘King of Kings’ was a much better film. Director Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause) always had a sympathy for the outsider.

[Fiji Hill]

Heston’s films are also notable for the efforts by their producers to make them historically accurate. For example, in Moses and Egypt; the Documentation to the Motion Picture The Ten Commandments (Los Angeles, USC Press, 1956), Henry S. Noerdlinger describes the painstaking efforts that went into recreating the Egypt of Moses’ day. Similarly, a commentator once noted that the chariot racing scene in Ben Hur accurately represents all that was known about chariot racing at the time the film was made in 1959.

By contrast, films made in recent years that are set in historical times, are often full of anachronisms and historical inaccuracies. Prime examples of the historically sloppy film making of recent years include A Perfect World, Brave Heart, Pearl Harbor, and Good Night, and Good Luck.

[Cacique]

Here's one we're selling on E Bay Here.