"Soylent Green" and other Heston movies

[nobody]

I just finished watching "Soylent Green" from beginning to end for the first time ever- and I've got to hand it to Charlton Heston... he's acted in some great movies. "The Omega Man", "Planet of the Apes"- this guy is giving Johnny Depp a run for his money when it comes to my personal movie collection.

I'd like to see more of Heston's best work. Does anyone have any other Heston suggestions?

[DaveMunger]

Hmm, you just mentiond the whole Heston trifecta, as a friend of mine called it just this week. I think his other best work was mostly the Moses type stuff.

[Mr Hockstatter]

Ben Hur was great.  Also Earthquake, Airport 1975, and Midway.

One hell of an actor.

[AndyC]

The Ten Commandments is an old favourite, and probably aired on TV during the past week. Ben Hur is another great epic starring Heston.

As previously mentioned, Earthquake and Airport 75 are great examples of his work in disaster movies. And his dystopian future and post-apocalyptic roles (Omega Man, Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes) are some of the best.

Just showed my wife Planet of the Apes last week. She liked it, even if she did know the surprise ending ahead of time (probably from references on the Simpsons). My favourite aspect of this movie has to be Heston's performance. I used to have a whole set of Heston sounds from PotA on my computer at work, because Taylor often spoke in loud, sudden, scenery-chewing bursts of overacting, which I loved. And the lines sound hilarious out of their original context.

"You cut up his brain, you bloody baboon" (after which Taylor goes charging up like a madman to strangle Dr. Zaius - great scene)
"It's a madhouse! A MAAAAD HOOOUSE!"
"Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!"
and the classic:
"You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! God damn you all to Hell!"

Fun.

[The Burgomaster]

Let's not forget:

* TWO MINUTE WARNING
* MAJOR DUNDEE

[Ed]

I like his role as an overaged gun nut activist.  The one he's always on TV in these days.  
Sorry guys, I like the movies.. Soylent Green  especially, but I don't really like him or his acting.
-Ed

[trekgeezer]

Heston, made a lot of good movies. Will Penny, Big Country, and the Naked Jungle are some of my favorites.

Well, Ed I'm afraid all Mr. Heston is doing now is probably trying to figure out who the people around are and where he is at.  He stepped down from the NRA almost two years ago because he has alzheimers.

[Ed]

See, I'm not up on current NRA events.  Thanks for the update, Trek.  That'll teach me to shoot my mouth off.  I TRY to think before I type and the one time I let go there we are.

-Ed

[Deej]

The Burgomaster mentioned Two Minute Warning. CLASSIC!! A tragic mating of star-studded disaster flick and 70's cop-on-the edge film. It has some big names, some used to be big names and some almost big names in the cast. No one really has anything to do, and they all sit around not doing it for the first 3/4 of the movie. Walter Pidgeon, a second string Clark Gable from the 40's, actually spends the entire movie just wandering around waiting to get shot! It's like they took 4 or 5 screenplays that didn't have endings, and just figured it would be easier to make one giant mess of a movie in which the stories are resolved by having one or all of the characters shot!! BEAUTIFUL!!! GENIUS!!!

What would have been inspired casting(given hindsight)? Casting OJ Simpson as the aging quarterback...and have him go on a stabbing spree while the sniper took care of all the actors who weren't on The Love Boat that week!

And you can tell the actors who play the SWAT roles really dig running around with rifles....I mean they're DEEP in character!! They have lousy actors playing a lousy SWAT team...MAGNIFICENT!!

Just guessing here, but, the best way to get a dying confession from a mortally wounded person is probably NOT to shake him violently and shout in his face. Finally, just for fun, count how many times Chuck Heston refers to someone as "Pal" or "Fella" or "Bub". IT'S NOT A TOUPEE!!!! FELLA!!

[trekgeezer]

Don't get me wrong Ed, I'm not a big NRA supporter ( I'm not an anti--gun person either), I just was watching the news when he gave his 'retirement' speech.

[Scott]

All those are great films and I'll throw in EL CID and THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

[Ed]

I'm the same way, politically and gun-wise.  I own a few non-handguns, and love to shoot.  But I'm not into applying poolitical pressure either.  
Still, to be on topic... There were some good Heston movies mentioned that I didn't consider.
-Ed

[Yaddo 42]

He was kind of the poster boy for big studio historical epics during the 50s and 60s.

El Cid
Khartoum
55 Days at Peking
Major Dundee
Ben Hur
The Ten Commandments
probably others I've overlooked

Plus I'd like to mention his work in "Touch of Evil". Like they said "Chuck Heston playing a Mexican" but the film still works.

The critics hated it, but he and Brian Keith are fun to watch in "Mountain Men".

Hammy and over the top as he could be, he could be subtle and effective when he wanted to, look at his supporting role as Cardinal Richelieu in the Three and Four Musketeers films from the 70s.

Not because of Heston or anyone else in the cast, but I've always had a soft spot for the film "Solar Crisis". It makes no damn sense, but as corny space opera I like it anyway.

Although he has crap like "The Last Hard Men" on his resume as well.