Chuck's last bow

Well, Charlton Heston passed away over the weekend, and I feel compelled to comment.

I am tempted to use that "I come not to praise Caesar but to bury him" line, but Heston played Marc Anthony in the 1970 film of "Julius Caesar" (in which Sir John Gielgud played the title role - instead of being stabbed with daggers, he was run through with swords: bloodier, you see). In fact one of the first films he made was of that Shakespeare tragedy, when he was a student at Northwestern in the 1940s - it was directed by David Bradley, who later inflicted "They Saved Hitler's Brain" upon the world.

Heston's first big role was in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Greatest Show on Earth" - which won a Best Picture Oscar, and could be a contender for Most Undeserved Oscar next to Marisa Tomei. But he won screen immortality by playing larger-than-life heroes in a larger-than-life manner: Moses, Judah Ben-Hur, Michelangelo, El Cid, and the occasional Something Different (viz. his role in "Touch of Evil"). Not to mention his forays into SF with the original "Planet of the Apes," "The Omega Man" (based on the Richard Matheson story "I Am Legend" - which also inspired the Will Smith movie of that name), and "Soylent Green."

In his later years, he sunk into a sort of self caricature, but not with tongue in cheek or a wink and a nod. He always took himself oh-so-seriously. (Recall the Bud Light radio commercials he did? Or his disastrous hosting of Saturday Night Live?) Despite his liberal youth, Heston swung to the right and became a champion of the gun industry, and president of its organization, the NRA. His flag- (and gun-)waving speeches were given the same gravitas as the Ten Commandments, proclaiming unto his flock that he would only part with his Holy Firearm when it is wrested from his "cold, dead hands." And lo, the flock carried his message unto all the land, displaying their fealty upon the bumpers of their pick-up trucks: "My President is Charlton Heston."
Down Eros, up Mars, indeed!

Love or loathe him, it's hard to deny his impact. Adios, Chuck.