An evening to remember Chuck

By Mr. Blunderson

I realize this is more about the movie than the man, I hope that this will nudge my fellow contributors to add some thoughts about Chuck as well.

Last night the Cirque du Jerks got together to bid a fond farewell Charelton Heston. We did this in a manner we felt most fitting, by enjoying one of his many fine movies. Hero Stew found a copy of disaster classic Earthquake, made way back in 1974.

This is the film that is the mold for how it's been done since. It didn't hurt that Mario Puzo (yes that Mario Puzu) wrote the first draft of the script. It probably didn't help that he was unable to continue working on this film when they had to modify the script to bring the budget down (Mr. Puzo was contractually obligated to The Godfather II). What I wouldn't give to see his draft of the script though as we can only speculate what part, if any of Puzo's original ideas for this thrilling epic survived the 11 subsequent drafts the script went through before finally getting shot.

Earthquake was the first movie to be presented in Sensurround, an experience that involved using 10 large subwoofers placed strategically around theaters emitting barely audible rumbles that would be felt by audience members as a means to truly make this an experience to remember. Although this in and of itself has nothing to do with the man we were honoring, it reminds us of how many films Mr. Heston made that stood apart from everything else that was being made in some small way... partly because he was in them.

As for me, I'll always remember that Earthquake featured the coolest camera lens blood splatter of it's era, and of course the legend Chuck Heston. I hate to spoil a movie that was made 34 years ago but we (Hero Stew, Big C, and I) didn't realize we were screening a film where Chuck doesn't survive through the final frame. His final moments were quietly heroic but undeniably Chuck and left enough ambiguity that we as an audience could wonder... did he make it?