I once knew a girl who lived on Gordon Street, a long time ago when I was a young man. Not a day passes I don't think of her and the promise that I made which I will always keep. That one perfect day on Gordon Street. That's uh, five blocks up, two over.
Oh, how unfortunate it is that Charlton Heston has died. He was an actor that was true to himself, and gave us as the audience one of the most distinctive voices of all time. I've not seen anywhere near his entire body of work, 126 performances in both television and film, but from what I have seen has always made a lasting impression on me.
Growing up Catholic, going to Catholic schools, The Ten Commandments was required annual viewing, and despite what you may think about a bunch of Elementary school kids watching a film that's nearly three hours long, we all loved it. Heston's booming voice and lion's mane of a 'do in that film gave me the feeling that Moses could pretty much take on anyone or anything that came his way.
Of course the other film to be named here is Planet of the Apes. Of all his films this one was truly the one that got me geeked. Of course many will say that, and it's not like I'm a total nerd over the series, I've only seen the first two, but I think the circumstances in which you see certain films influences how you will react to the medium for the rest of your life. Planet of the Apes was one of those films that I saw as a kid really late one weekend night. You know those nights where you would just stay up and have the TV running while you continued to play with your Lego's, building a vast empire of red and yellow and green bricks. It'd be midnight and you'd be so tired because you never stay up that late. Then just as your interest in designing the space fleet for your moonbase begins to wane, on comes something that just pulls you in. Heston in space, crash landing in the middle of a desert, finding dead bodies. Oh yeah, and Apes that can talk. Damn dirty ones at that.
For a kid of 10 or 11, that is absolutely amazing, and I think because of that I have always had a certain predisposition to sci-fi. I still haven't become a sci-fi series reading, Star Trek quoting, card-carrying nerd about the genre, but damn if I don't get a kick out of most everything that comes my way. I'll always thank Chuck Heston and Planet of the Apes for that.
Of course there's many others to name. Ben-Hur was tremendous, Touch of Evil (the first "film school" film of Heston's I saw), The Omega Man, Soylent Green. Should I go on? It feels like I should, but there are so many. I would love to mention his cameo in Wayne's World 2. I know it's not Shakespeare or anything, but it definitely ranks up there in the top 5 film cameos of all time for me (a close 3rd to Bruce Willis in Loaded Weapon 1, with Peter O'Toole's cameo in the first Casino Royale beating the lot). Well that's the rambling for today. Just sad that Heston's gone now, up to that big maaaaaadhouse in the sky.
Oh, how unfortunate it is that Charlton Heston has died. He was an actor that was true to himself, and gave us as the audience one of the most distinctive voices of all time. I've not seen anywhere near his entire body of work, 126 performances in both television and film, but from what I have seen has always made a lasting impression on me.Growing up Catholic, going to Catholic schools, The Ten Commandments was required annual viewing, and despite what you may think about a bunch of Elementary school kids watching a film that's nearly three hours long, we all loved it. Heston's booming voice and lion's mane of a 'do in that film gave me the feeling that Moses could pretty much take on anyone or anything that came his way.
Of course the other film to be named here is Planet of the Apes. Of all his films this one was truly the one that got me geeked. Of course many will say that, and it's not like I'm a total nerd over the series, I've only seen the first two, but I think the circumstances in which you see certain films influences how you will react to the medium for the rest of your life. Planet of the Apes was one of those films that I saw as a kid really late one weekend night. You know those nights where you would just stay up and have the TV running while you continued to play with your Lego's, building a vast empire of red and yellow and green bricks. It'd be midnight and you'd be so tired because you never stay up that late. Then just as your interest in designing the space fleet for your moonbase begins to wane, on comes something that just pulls you in. Heston in space, crash landing in the middle of a desert, finding dead bodies. Oh yeah, and Apes that can talk. Damn dirty ones at that.
For a kid of 10 or 11, that is absolutely amazing, and I think because of that I have always had a certain predisposition to sci-fi. I still haven't become a sci-fi series reading, Star Trek quoting, card-carrying nerd about the genre, but damn if I don't get a kick out of most everything that comes my way. I'll always thank Chuck Heston and Planet of the Apes for that.
Of course there's many others to name. Ben-Hur was tremendous, Touch of Evil (the first "film school" film of Heston's I saw), The Omega Man, Soylent Green. Should I go on? It feels like I should, but there are so many. I would love to mention his cameo in Wayne's World 2. I know it's not Shakespeare or anything, but it definitely ranks up there in the top 5 film cameos of all time for me (a close 3rd to Bruce Willis in Loaded Weapon 1, with Peter O'Toole's cameo in the first Casino Royale beating the lot). Well that's the rambling for today. Just sad that Heston's gone now, up to that big maaaaaadhouse in the sky.
1 comment:
i was so sad to hear about this yesterday. i was raised on ben hur and heston will always be moses for me (which is totally not sacreligious because i don't "worship" moses or anything... sorry, tangent)
i hope he's in a better place now :)
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