Remembering Charlton Heston
by brijeshmarand | created - 7 months ago | updated - 7 months ago | PublicOn October 4th, 2023, we commemorate the 100th anniversary of Charlton Heston, recognizing the legacy of the iconic American actor and political activist. He is renowned for his powerful performances in films like 'El Cid,' 'The Ten Commandments,' and 'Planet of the Apes,' earning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in 'Ben-Hur' (1959). Heston's impact goes beyond movies, leaving a legacy felt in both entertainment and society.
Which of these movies starring Charlton Heston do you find the most memorable?
Discuss the poll here
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1. Ben-Hur (1959)
G | 212 min | Adventure, Drama
After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet
Votes: 253,797 | Gross: $74.70M
2. Planet of the Apes (1968)
G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
Votes: 193,561 | Gross: $33.40M
3. Touch of Evil (1958)
PG-13 | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping and police corruption in a Mexican border town.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia
Votes: 109,844 | Gross: $2.24M
4. The Ten Commandments (1956)
G | 220 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Moses, raised as a prince of Egypt in the Pharaoh's household, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson
Votes: 77,921 | Gross: $93.74M
5. Soylent Green (1973)
PG | 97 min | Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A nightmarish futuristic fantasy about the controlling power of big corporations and an innocent cop who stumbles on the truth.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors
Votes: 70,604 | Gross: $7.92M
6. The Omega Man (1971)
PG | 98 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Dr Robert Neville has developed an experimental vaccine which makes him the only immune survivor of a biological catastrophe. A gang of homicidal mutants blame science for their condition and attempt to kill him.
Director: Boris Sagal | Stars: Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash, Paul Koslo
Votes: 34,087 | Gross: $8.72M
7. Midway (1976)
PG | 132 min | Action, Drama, History
A dramatization of the battle that was widely heralded as a turning point of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
Director: Jack Smight | Stars: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford
Votes: 21,502
8. The Big Country (1958)
Passed | 166 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A New England sea captain in the 1880s arrives at his fiancée's sprawling Texas ranch, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between two families over a valuable patch of land.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston
Votes: 21,141
9. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Passed | 152 min | Drama, Family, Romance
The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer are told against a background of circus spectacle.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: James Stewart, Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde
Votes: 16,063 | Gross: $36.00M
10. The Three Musketeers (1973)
PG | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A young swordsman comes to Paris and faces villains, romance, adventure and intrigue with three Musketeer friends.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Richard Chamberlain, Michael York
Votes: 20,169 | Gross: $22.02M
11. El Cid (1961)
Approved | 182 min | Biography, Drama, History
The fabled Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (a.k.a. El Cid) overcomes a family vendetta and court intrigue to defend Christian Spain against the Moors.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Raf Vallone, Geneviève Page
Votes: 15,712 | Gross: $26.62M
12. The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974)
PG | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
The Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: Michael York, Raquel Welch, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain
Votes: 11,719 | Gross: $19.10M
13. The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
G | 260 min | Biography, Drama, History
An all-star, large scale epic movie that chronicles the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
Directors: George Stevens, Jean Negulesco | Stars: Max von Sydow, Dorothy McGuire, Charlton Heston, Michael Anderson Jr.
Votes: 11,947 | Gross: $15.47M
14. Major Dundee (1965)
PG-13 | 123 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In 1864, due to frequent Apache raids from Mexico into the U.S., a Union officer decides to illegally cross the border and destroy the Apache, using a mixed army of Union troops, Confederate POWs, civilian mercenaries, and scouts.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, James Coburn
Votes: 8,828 | Gross: $0.01M
15. Khartoum (1966)
Approved | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the Sudan, in 1884 to 1885, Egyptian forces led by British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon (Charlton Heston) defend Khartoum against an invading Muslim Army led by a religious fanatic, Mohammed Ahmed el Mahdi (Sir Laurence Olivier).
Directors: Basil Dearden, Eliot Elisofon | Stars: Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier, Richard Johnson, Ralph Richardson
Votes: 8,277 | Gross: $6.54M
16. The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
Approved | 138 min | Biography, Drama, History
The biographical story of Michelangelo's troubles while painting the Sistine Chapel at the urging of Pope Julius II.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento, Harry Andrews
Votes: 8,058
17. 55 Days at Peking (1963)
Unrated | 154 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During the 1900 Boxer Rebellion, U.S. marine, Maj. Matt Lewis, along with British consul, Sir Arthur Robertson, develop a plan to keep the rebels at bay until an international military relief force can arrive.
Directors: Nicholas Ray, Guy Green, Andrew Marton | Stars: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven, Flora Robson
Votes: 7,426
18. Will Penny (1967)
Approved | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Western
Aging cowboy Will Penny gets a line camp job on a large cattle spread and finds his isolated cabin is already occupied by an abandoned woman traveler and her young son.
Director: Tom Gries | Stars: Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett, Donald Pleasence, Lee Majors
Votes: 5,258
19. Two-Minute Warning (1976)
Approved | 115 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A crazed sniper is set to kill spectators at an L.A. Coliseum football championship game and the police race against time to eliminate him.
Director: Larry Peerce | Stars: Charlton Heston, John Cassavetes, Martin Balsam, Beau Bridges
Votes: 4,387
20. The Naked Jungle (1954)
Approved | 95 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
The Leiningen South American cocoa plantation is threatened by a 2-mile-wide, 20-mile-long column of army ants.
Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Charlton Heston, Eleanor Parker, Abraham Sofaer, William Conrad
Votes: 4,408
21. The War Lord (1965)
Approved | 123 min | Drama, History, Romance
In 11th century Normandy, a Norman duke sends one of his knights to build a defensive fortress in order to guard the borders against Frisian raiders.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Richard Boone, Rosemary Forsyth, Maurice Evans
Votes: 3,685
22. Gray Lady Down (1978)
PG | 111 min | Adventure, Drama, History
A Navy Captain uses his experimental Snark to reach a nuclear submarine stuck on an ocean ledge.
Director: David Greene | Stars: Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Stacy Keach, Ned Beatty
Votes: 3,537
23. The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
Not Rated | 105 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
A disgraced merchant marine officer elects to stay aboard his sinking cargo ship in order to prove the vessel was deliberately scuttled and, as a result, vindicate his good name.
Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, Michael Redgrave, Emlyn Williams
Votes: 2,943
24. The Buccaneer (1958)
Approved | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, History
During the War of 1812, Louisiana buccaneer Jean Lafitte assists the Americans in defending New Orleans against the attacking British war fleet.
Director: Anthony Quinn | Stars: Yul Brynner, Claire Bloom, Charles Boyer, Inger Stevens
Votes: 2,762
25. Dark City (1950)
Not Rated | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Gamblers who "took" an out-of-town sucker in a crooked poker game feel shadowy vengeance closing in on them.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Charlton Heston, Lizabeth Scott, Viveca Lindfors, Dean Jagger
Votes: 2,701
26. The Last Hard Men (1976)
R | 98 min | Drama, Western
In 1909 Arizona, retired lawman Sam Burgade's life is turned upside-down when his old enemy Zach Provo and six other convicts escape a chain-gang in the Yuma Territorial Prison and come gunning for him.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen | Stars: Charlton Heston, James Coburn, Barbara Hershey, Jorge Rivero
Votes: 2,617
27. The Mountain Men (1980)
R | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A pair of grizzled frontiersmen fight Indians, guzzle liquor and steal squaws in their search for a legendary valley 'so full of beaver that they jump right into your traps' in this fanciful adventure.
Director: Richard Lang | Stars: Charlton Heston, Brian Keith, Victoria Racimo, Stephen Macht
Votes: 2,608
28. Crossed Swords (1977)
PG | 108 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Poor boy Tom Canty and Edward, Prince of Wales exchange identities, but events force the pair to experience each other's lives as well.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Mark Lester, Ernest Borgnine
Votes: 2,115
29. Julius Caesar (1970)
G | 117 min | Drama, History, War
The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar, but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony.
Director: Stuart Burge | Stars: Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, John Gielgud, Richard Johnson
Votes: 2,002
30. Secret of the Incas (1954)
Approved | 100 min | Action, Adventure
An adventurer searchers for hidden treasure in the Peruvian jungles.
Director: Jerry Hopper | Stars: Charlton Heston, Robert Young, Nicole Maurey, Thomas Mitchell
Votes: 1,966 | Gross: $1.40M
31. Ruby Gentry (1952)
82 min | Drama, Romance
A sexy but poor young girl marries a rich man she doesn't love, but carries a torch for another man.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Jennifer Jones, Charlton Heston, Karl Malden, Tom Tully
Votes: 1,766 | Gross: $3.85M
32. Three Violent People (1956)
Approved | 100 min | Western
When Confederate officer Colt Saunders returns to his Texas ranch after the war he finds his lands wanted by carpetbaggers and by corrupt provisional government commissioners Harrison and Cable.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: Charlton Heston, Anne Baxter, Gilbert Roland, Tom Tryon
Votes: 1,581
33. The Hawaiians (1970)
R | 134 min | Adventure, Drama
Captain Whip returns to Hawaii. He's inherited "worthless" land. He starts a plantation, staffed with a Chinese couple from his ship. Drilling thru lava for water and stealing/smuggling pineapple from French Guyana, things look brighter.
Director: Tom Gries | Stars: Charlton Heston, Tina Chen, Geraldine Chaplin, Mako
Votes: 1,437 | Gross: $0.28M
34. Gideon (1998)
102 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Gideon Dobbs is a young, simple-minded man who checks into a retirement home where he finds the residents have lost their lust for life. Through his innocence he changes their lives and teaches them that each day is a precious gift.
Director: Claudia Hoover | Stars: Christopher Lambert, Charlton Heston, Carroll O'Connor, Shirley Jones
Votes: 1,289
35. The Far Horizons (1955)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, History, Romance
After purchasing Louisiana from France, the USA sends surveyors Lewis and Clark, assisted by a Shoshone guide, to chart the new territory.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Charlton Heston, Donna Reed, Barbara Hale
Votes: 1,299
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