The Vegas Voice 9-20

36
September 2020
For you movie buffs, can you remember
when we watched movies about how gangs
of youths took over? Marlon Brando’s 1953 The
Wild One, 1955’s Blackboard Jungle . . . and let us not forget 1968
Wild in the Streets, starring Christopher Jones.
In 1968
protests
marches began
against the
Vietnam War.
Personally,
I was lucky
inasmuch as I
had done my
Reel to Real
By: Morris Heldt / A Senior’s P.O.V.
duty serving
my country
and was
released from
the service and
back in college.
I did however have empathy for that movement as I saw up close
what was happening to our young men.
Back to the reel, (movies), how many of you have seen Star Trek
or Star Wars or any futuristic story about space travel? How many
believe that one day that will exist, or is possible?
I began to wonder after writing my first script how writers could
visualize and create such scenarios that created fictional chaos like
in Wild in the Streets. That scenario went beyond a simple protest
movie to a movement to take over the United States government.
Back then, I was a young man and did not relate to the senior
population fearing as they watched a much younger and immature
generation take over their republic – destroying the history of their
country.
The disrespect and contempt for the older generation was without
parallel in that movie.
When a writer creates a story for the reel its entertainment, but when
people’s “group think” manifesto becomes real, it can be frightening.
Especially for us seniors, who don’t move as quickly as we once did, nor
think as fast as we once did.
As a senior I wanted to let people who are worried about the future of
this country know that you are not alone. Unfortunately, I have learned
over these many years in reading and watching movies is if we can
think it, fortunately or unfortunately, it can come true.
If you believe in a God, continue to pray. If you don’t have faith,
continue to try to figure out what is best for you. And, if you simply
believe in destiny, pour yourself a drink, sit back and watch the show.
Personally, watching what I am watching, I think I want a rewrite.
Morris Heldt is a retired award winning film and television
producer and published author. He and his wife moved to the Las
Vegas valley from the beach in 2004.