Moses . . . Moses . . .

“Political correctness is tyranny with manners.” Charlton Heston

Found this quote today while reading a TIME article about Charlton Heston. You know, whether you like his conservative politics or not, you’ve got to admit he was quite the iconic actor. I just had to wonder, contemplating his death, whether any of the following things happened after he died:

1) Was he greeted in heaven by a half-buried, tumble-down replica of the State of Liberty?
2) Did the real Moses ask for his autograph?
3) Did he immediately walk onto the set of Something Odd Happened on the Way to Heaven and get top billing?
4) Was there a chorus of Egyptian slave girls there singing “Death came unto thee, death came unto thee?”

I’d like to think No. 2 happened. And maybe No. 4. No. 4 has significance in my family – many moons ago, after watching one of the televised showings of The Ten Commandments, one of the older kids got into trouble over something or other. As Mom was meting out the punishment, the offender began singing “Death come unto me, death come unto me,” as does, I believe, the wife of the pharaoh after one of the plagues in the movie. So we sing that little couplet every time we get in trouble.

I don’t object to his politics. He marched for freedom during the 1960s Civil Rights era, and he fought for gun rights in the 1990s. He really got castigated for his stance on guns, for his presidency of the National Rifle Association. I say, so what? I’m not exactly a gun nut. I don’t own any, and don’t plan on owning any. But it doesn’t bother me if other people want to own guns. The anti-gun-nuts feel like I’m a traitor because since I’m not slavering to have guns banned, I must want to have my children murdered or something. Same goes for the pro-gun-nuts, who believe since I don’t want a gun in my house that I may as well put a sign up on the house saying “Crazed maniacs, burgle this house and kill all therein, here lie no weapons.” (That the crazed maniacs will likely come in with guns, and that most crimes committed with guns in home break-ins are committed with guns the crazed maniacs find in the home are immaterial, or so it seems.) So he can wave around all the guns he wants. Doesn’t mean he didn’t make an excellent Moses.

Right now would come the time to argue that “Hollywood just doesn’t make them like that any more.” That may be partially true; I find it hard to believe anyone would authorize a Bible epic that didn’t feature some damning new theory to undermine those who have faith in the Bible. They’d find someone who’d agree to play the Moses hopped up on drugs as he ascended Mount Sinai, as believes some Biblical scholar. So I won’t go into that.

I rather liked three of his movies: The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, and Planet of the Apes. He's basically the same character in all three movies, but then again, you don't watch CHarlton Heston for characterization. You watch because he's this no-nonsense, take-charge I-Wanna-Be-Like-Him tough guy persona that didn't let rebellious Israelites, slavery, (Oxford comma!) or a planet ruled by damned dirty apes get him flustered.

Speaking of dead guys. . .

Arthur C. Clarke, another icon in another way, also recently died. Imperial Earth was the first book of his that I read, and, aside from seeing snippets of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, that was my introduction to him. I still look at Imerial Earth as a fine novel. Though, as I read his other books, I wonder, why did he get so obsessed with zero-gravity sex? A mystery for the ages, I suppose.