Rest In Peace: Charlton Heston

There's a scene in Bowling For Columbine where Charlton Heston, after being blindsided by Michael Moore, turns from being a robust gun rights supporter into a frail old man as he walks away from the camera. You almost felt sorry for him. It's not as if he was doing anything wrong,he just felt that responsible gun owners shouldn't be punished for the actions of the irresponsible anymore than auto owners shouldn't be punished for the actions of drunk drivers or responsible marijuana users should be punished for those who keep shows like Family Guy on the air.
Charlton Heston marched with Martin Luther King during a civil rights march in Washington DC in 1963, but is perhaps better remembered for his roles in his science fiction trilogy: Col. Taylor in Planet of the Apes ("You maniacs!"); Col. Robert Neville in The Omega Man ( recently remade starring Will Smith as I Am Legend); and detective Robert Thorn in Soylent Green ("It's people!"). Okay, maybe more people will remember him for his Oscar-winning role as Judah Ben-Hur, but around here, it's his over-the-top acting that we appreciate, not his increasingly right wing political stances he took in his later years (We attribute that to the onset of Alzheimer's disease).