what can you say about actor charlton heston. with his fairly wooden presence onscreen, his stentorian voice, and his quality of bombast, he was the antithesis of actors of his generation. heston didn't melt into a character, rather he possessed the screen and appears in his films almost in bas-relief to the action. he lived large and was always in 3-d.

that he made a fistful of films that have been important in my life and that his bad acting style in these flicks is a thing of beauty to behold. i'm being sincere. there is no one quite like charlton heston. therefore, here is a short list of my favorite heston movies with a little commentary. god rest your soul, mr heston.

omega man

this is a seminal film in my life. i still love it. a remake of a superior movie, last man on earth starring vincent price, which took liberties with the source material richard matheson's novel i am legend [you can watch what i consider the superior version of matheson's story last man on earth here] heston's neville must battle loneliness and the rabid religious zealotry of 'the family', a group of nocturnal freaks who are neither vampires but are survivors of the plague that wiped out all of humankind. the family blame those who use 'the wheel' for their misery and so are on the hunt for food processing, electricy using, car driving heston. utterly depressing with decent special fx and a terrific score, heston burns the screen with his manliness. will smith should've studied heston and this film before starring in i am legend a movie so stinky that even turds were seen backing away from it.

soylent green

this movie scared the shit out of me as a youngster. the over-population, the environmental degradation, the lack of food, how the film is photographed almost in sepia which mimics the smog of new york city. heston plays a detective investigating the murder of a corporate official of the soylent company. during his investigation heston learns that our earth is dying, and we have been reduced to eating the dead. prescient as fuck in its depictions of the earth ravaged by global warming, the film plays as news today. i recall coming out of the theater after seeing soylent green. it was a nice summer day, and sac is alleged to possesses as many or more trees than paris, paris france you know. i remember looking around and being grateful to being under a thick canopy of leaves. then i remembered heston's famous dying words at the end of the film. his body prone, his arm held straight up and bloodied, he shouts in his magnificent voice it's people!! soylent green is people!! i've not been the same guy since. the movie was also the great edward g. robinson's last role.

okay, i'll list more heston films tomorrow.