Charlton Heston movies on TCM: Moses has his ‘Summer Under the Stars’ day
In 1985, Barbara Stanwyck told People magazine, “Whenever I get into trouble on the set [of The Colbys], which is frequently, I always ask, ‘Where is Moses?’ He can take care of this mess.” Turner Classic Movies’ viewers can check out Moses taking care of all sorts of different messes on Aug. 5, “Summer Under the Stars’” Charlton Heston Day.
TCM will be presenting one Heston movie premiere: Guy Green’s Hawaiian-set family drama Diamond Head (1963), in which Heston plays a pineapple grower, U.S. Senate candidate, and total control freak at odds with his strong-willed younger sister, the lovely Yvette Mimieux. Also in the Diamond Head cast: France Nuyen, Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winner George Chakiris (West Side Story), The Time Tunnel’s James Darren, and veteran Aline MacMahon (Gold Diggers of 1933, Five Star Final) in one of her last movie roles. And last but not least, silent film star Billie Dove reportedly has a bit role in the film. (See Charlton Heston movies’ TCM schedule further below.)
Now, with the exception of Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil, in which Charlton Heston actually bothered – or was coerced into – creating a flesh-and-blood character (as a dark-skinned Mexican narcotics officer, no less), the on-screen Heston tended to be as interesting as a slab of rock. I, for one, can’t help noticing his presence; yet, my eyes invariably focus on who or what is sharing the screen with him. In King Vidor’s melodrama Ruby Gentry (1952), Jennifer Jones nearly succeeds in rendering the much bulkier Heston downright invisible; in Richard Fleischer’s cult sci-fier Soylent Green (1973), Edward G. Robinson steals the show in his final film appearance; in Nicholas Ray’s ponderous, artificial political drama 55 Days in Peking (1962), Heston is dwarfed by the sets and costumes.
Ben-Hur (1959)
Despite strong competition from the likes of Paul Muni (The Story of Louis Pasteur), Warner Baxter (In Old Arizona), George Arliss (Disraeli), and Russell Crowe (Gladiator), among others, Charlton Heston’s Academy Award-winning performance for William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) remains one of the most absurd in Academy Award history.
After all, Heston’s Ben-Hur is Moses minus the staff, the tablets, and the fake beard, or The Greatest Show on Earth’s showman minus the circus, or The Agony and the Ecstasy’s Michelangelo minus the Sistine Chapel, or Earthquake’s construction engineer minus the collapsing buildings.
In short, Charlton Heston’s Judah Ben-Hur is Heston going through the motions as in just about every other of his movies. And true enough, he does move – atop a chariot, that is – but a) B. Reeves Eason’s chariot race in the 1925 Ben-Hur is more exciting and more intricately constructed b) silent film histrionics or no, the original Ben-Hur, Ramon Novarro, at least succeeded in creating a recognizable human being. (Novarro will have his “Summer Under the Stars” day on Thursday, August 8. You can check out his version of Ben-Hur then.)
I should add that Charlton Heston’s 1959 Best Actor Oscar competition consisted of the following: James Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder, Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, Laurence Harvey in Room at the Top, and Paul Muni in The Last Angry Man. And that Heston’s Ben-Hur nomination (and eventual win) turned out to be his only one.
Also worth noting is that William Wyler’s epic remains one of the biggest box office hits ever (adjusted for inflation) and remained the record-holding Academy Award winner until James Cameron’s Titanic (1997) and later Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) also took home 11 Oscar statuettes.
Note: Online sources claim that Charlton Heston’s Ben-Hur features the 1925 film’s leading woman, May McAvoy, in a crowd scene. Just about anything is possible, but even if that’s true, spotting her will likely be as easy as spotting Myrna Loy in the 1925 version (Loy can be clearly seen in a still showing the crowd at the climactic chariot race but not in the film itself) or Sophia Loren (who did work as an extra) in Quo Vadis.
And finally, The Big Question since time immemorial (or at least since Gore Vidal began wagging his tongue): Was Judah Ben-Hur Gay? If so, did he have an affair with Stephen Boyd’s Messala?
A Man for All Seasons remake, The Greatest Story Ever Told
I’ve yet to watch Irving Rapper’s melo Bad for Each Other (1954), costarring the sultry Lizabeth Scott – always a good enough reason to check out any movie, regardless of plot or leading man. A major curiosity is the 1988 made-for-TV version of A Man for All Seasons, with Charlton Heston in the Oscar-winning Paul Scofield role (Sir Thomas More) and on Fred Zinnemann’s director’s chair. VVanessa Redgrave, who plays Thomas More’s wife in the TV movie (Wendy Hiller in the original) had a cameo as Anne Boleyn in the 1966 film. According to online sources, Robert Bolt, who wrote the Oscar-winning 1966 movie (and the original play), is credited for the 1988 version’s screenplay as well.
Also of note, George Stevens’ mammoth, slow-moving The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) features the recently deceased Michael Ansara as Herod’s commander. Max von Sydow is a believable Jesus, while Heston plays John the Baptist – or Moses minus the staff but with the addition of seven veils.
Lastly, regarding the short-lived Dynasty spin-off of the mid-1980s, Heston told People: “This woman [Barbara Stanwyck] is the reason I did The Colbys,” adding that it was a good thing that the Double Indemnity and Blowing Wild actress felt comfortable making “rude jokes” about him.
Charlton Heston TCM schedule (EDT)
6:00 AM RUBY GENTRY (1952)
Director: King Vidor.
Cast: Jennifer Jones, Charlton Heston, Karl Malden, Tom Tully, Barney Phillips, James Anderson, Josephine Hutchinson, Phyllis Avery.
83m7:30 AM BAD FOR EACH OTHER (1954)
Director: Irving Rapper.
Cast: Charlton Heston, Lizabeth Scott, Dianne Foster, Arthur Franz, Ray Collins, Ann Robinson.
82m9:00 AM THE WRECK OF THE MARY DEARE (1959)
Director: Michael Anderson.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, Michael Redgrave, Emlyn Williams, Cecil Parker, Alexander Knox, Virginia McKenna, Richard Harris.
105m10:45 AM DIAMOND HEAD (1962)
Director: Guy Green.
Cast: Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, George Chakiris, France Nuyen, James Darren, Aline MacMahon, Elizabeth Allen, Philip Ahn, Billie Dove.
107m12:45 PM 55 DAYS AT PEKING (1963)
Director: Nicholas Ray.
Cast: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven, Flora Robson, John Ireland, Leo Genn, Harry Andrews, Robert Helpmann, Juzo Itami, Mervyn Johns, Kurt Kasznar, Paul Lukas, Elizabeth Sellars, Massimo Serato, Jacques Sernas, John Moulder-Brown.
162m3:30 PM SOYLENT GREEN (1973)
Director: Richard Fleischer.
Cast: Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Edward G. Robinson, Brock Peters, Paula Kelly, Stephen Young, Joseph Cotten, Mike Henry, Roy Jenson.
87m5:15 PM A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (1988)
Director: Charlton Heston.
Cast: Charlton Heston, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, Richard Johnson, Roy Kinnear, Adrienne Thomas.
149m7:45 PM CARSON ON TCM: CHARLTON HESTON (3/2/76)
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Charlton Heston.
10m8:00 PM MAJOR DUNDEE (1965)
Director: Sam Peckinpah.
Cast: Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, Senta Berger, James Coburn, Michael Anderson Jr., Mario Adorf, Brock Peters, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Jody McCrea.
136m10:30 PM BEN-HUR (1959)
Director: William Wyler.
Cast: Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O’Donnell, Sam Jaffee, Finlay Currie.
222m2:30 AM THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965)
Director: George Stevens.
Cast: Max von Sydow, Dorothy McGuire, Charlton Heston, Michael Anderson Jr., Carroll Baker, Ina Balin, Victor Buono, Richard Conte, Joanna Dunham, José Ferrer, Van Heflin, Martin Landau, Angela Lansbury, Pat Boone, Janet Margolin, David McCallum, Roddy McDowall, Sal Mineo, Nehemiah Persoff, Donald Pleasence, Sidney Poitier, Claude Rains, Gary Raymond, Telly Savalas, Joseph Schildkraut, Paul Stewart, John Wayne, Shelley Winters, Ed Wynn, Michael Ansara, Robert Blake.
199m
notes
Charlton Heston movie schedule via the TCM website.
Charlton Heston Ben-Hur publicity shot: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.