What is it about the old movies, which were made 40 and 50 years ago in a different culture that are still so appealing?

They are called classics because there is something of lasting value that will endure the test of time and trends. They will always reflect the more gracious side of society and an era that powdered its nose, dressed for supper and honored its vows of chastity, marriage and military service.

The people in these times were not without problems, fetishes and dirty little secrets. They just chose not to force the rest of the world to wallow in their mire with them.  They worked out their problems in private and showed civility to society. They practiced restraint not only in their personal lives, but expected it in the films they went to see. They understood dignity and respect and expected no less from their actors and the characters they played.

There was a time when Hollywood set high standards for the rest of the nation. We can only hope they will see the parallel of recent box office hits, to the classics. This is Nina May & the Renaissance Women encouraging you to keep your standards high.

Have you ever seen a movie on an airplane and thought it wasn’t as bad as everyone said it would be? There was no gratuitous sex or foul language to spoil an otherwise entertaining plot.

But when you compare notes with people who have seen it, they begin to question your standards in judging a movie. Because they saw the uncut version. The one where gee whiz or doggone it weren’t really the expletives that were used in the original version.

So what gives? If the movie still works without all the garbage, just what audience is the studio trying to please by adding language that most people find irrelevant and intellectually insulting?

They must think a higher, more intelligent class of people fly so they clean up their act for them while they have a different set of standards for those on the ground. Or perhaps it’s the airlines we should thank for keeping their standards high and recognizing that people are smart enough to enjoy a good movie without being assaulted with words and scenes that add nothing to it.

Years ago, it was determined that if advertising was not allowed on T.V. for liquor and cigarettes, then it would dissuade people from consuming these products. No one really knows if it worked, but it made the social engineers sleep better at night.

Perhaps we should apply the same theory to props in movies. The law that should be passed, if you are dying to pass one, is that movie and T.V. producers cannot show any person in a show with a gun that they could not legally have in real life.  And that they can never show that person doing anything illegal with that gun, like murdering someone.

They can show skeet shooting contests, target practice, Olympic tryouts, hunting expeditions, but only images that are a reflection of the law.

Now, they could show the FBI breaking down the door of a suspected drug dealer, even if its the wrong door.  Or the BATF torching a religious compound and killing innocent citizens. But don’t show anything that is illegal. I think this would be a good law to pass. And it would really reflect the truth about guns much more than movies currently do.

This is Nina May wondering what you think about this idea.