Remember that awful take on Dick Tracy in 1990? The movie stars Warren Beatty and Madonna and an unrecognizable Al Pacino. Speaking of Al Pacino, “Dick Tracy” of that year wasn’t exactly “Scarface.” In fact, Warren Beatty’s vehicle was rated PG. (Take the kids! Have a good time!)
Dick Tracy, the star of the show, has 14 killings in that movie. That’s more than “Death Wish” from 1974, which had some of us upset at the time.
What happened between 1974 and 1990, and between 1990 and today?
For starters, a lot more on-screen murders.
We remember reading Col. Dave Grossman’s book “Teaching Our Kids To Kill” many years ago. In it, the man bombarded us with numbers — and, believe it or not, even journalists could get it. And could take away stats that could be remembered later. Like now. We’d call that book suggested reading.
As for suggested viewing, we give you Bill Maher’s show from Friday night. Yes, that Bill Maher. Not exactly a favorite member of the commentariat for those of us who make our living on the right-of-center columns. But boy, did Bill Maher knock it out of the park last week.
The topic of one of his segments was Woke Hollywood, which is woke on every level, and on every subject, except maybe one: gun violence. Or as Bill Maher put it, Hollywood will criticize everything that has a trigger except for the one thing that does. These days, you can find more on-screen deaths in a few minutes of a Marvel movie than you can in “The Godfather.” Which some people, we remember, walked out of in 1972.
Mr. Maher noted, probably correctly, that many things lead to mass shootings in the United States. Including young men at a loss with easy access to weapons. Even the Internet and phones can make them think their lives are so much worse than everybody else’s.
But why can’t we say that by the time a kid turns 18, he (it’s always a he) is exposed to 200,000 acts of violence on the big and little screen? And that that could pose problems when it comes to their thoughts of real violence?
“We don’t show movie characters smoking anymore because it might ‘look cool’ and influence children,” Bill Maher said, “but are you telling me these ‘cool dudes’ don’t influence them?” Then his program showed slow-motion shots (many shots) of stars like Will Smith, Keanu Reeves, Jamie Foxx and others who were slowly, methodically, and grossly shooting people in the face, belly, and other bits.
“And it’s not just the idea, presented over and over and over, that guns are the best solution to life’s problems — it’s why the hero is using a gun. They call them ‘action movies’; they should call them ‘revenge movies’. Because that’s the plot of every one of them. And there’s this sick similarity in this revenge fantasy that Hollywood turns out and those of school shooters . . . .
“Getting revenge on them that wronged ya is what happens — is all that happens — in movies that are made for, and loved by, young men. It’s the male version of getting your groove back … .
“Like every school shooter, our heroes are grievance collectors, and when it comes to action movies, there’s one story: He was a nice guy, but they pushed him too far. And now it’s on.”
Liberals will tar and feather conservatives who say it takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun, but then fill theaters with that exact storyline. And then skewer those of us who recommend red-flag laws and school resource officers as being too lenient when it comes to gun control.
We have to admit, we think Bill Maher hit this one out of the park. We don’t admit that much.