The Truth

BY: DR. FOREST LEWIS

Richard Widmark passed away a few days ago at his Connecticut home.

Mr. Widmark was a hero of mine's. He possesed that leathery/hardened face, that only comes from being a man back in the rough and tumble days of the old west. Widmark thrilled a many of us young kids with his westerns in the 1950's and 60's. He also played one hell of a gangster!

I remember him playing a punk in the 1947 movie, "Kiss Of Death." He stole the scene, playing the psychopath, Tommy Udo. In the scene, he pushes an old woman in a wheelchair, down a flight of stairs. The victim didn't survive.

The 93-year old Widmark who used guns a lot in his movies, had a secret, He "Hated Guns." In fact, Widmark was a "Gun control Nut." When I found this out, I was deeply hurt, and also angry. Here was yet another Hollywood liberal who made "Millions Of Dollars" using guns in his movies. However, at the end of the day, when the cameras stopped rolling, this hypocrite loathed the very thing that made him a mega-star, and also very rich. Who can ever forget the movie, "Madigan." Widmark plays this gritty New York City detective. He and actor Harry Guardino encounter this psycho in a New York City apartment building. The psycho is holding a hostage. Widmark and Guardino stormed the place, with guns blazing. The psycho is killed, but so is Widmark's character!

The late actress, Inger Stevens plays his wife. She gives the Police Commissioner, played by Henry Fonda, an earful as she leaves the hospital after seeing her dead husband for the last time. What a touching scene that was!

From the roles that he chose, one would never expect Richard Widmark to be a rabid anti-gun zealot. But here is the late Richard Widmark in his own words:

"I know I've made kind of a career out of violence, but I abhor violence. I am an ardent supporter of gun control. It seems incredible to me that we are the only civilized nation that does not put some effective control on guns"

How is that for hypocrisy? "He kind Of Makes A Career Out Of Violence? His entire movie career was based on violence. I would have had much more respect for Widmark had he turned down roles involving the very thing that he said he hated, guns. But Widmark was typical of the so-called Hollywood elite. They don't want you to own a gun, but they insists that they be protected by people who, "Carry Guns." They hate guns, but they don't mind cashing the checks they have earned using guns. This is the height of hypocrisy in my opinion!

One would think that Widmark being born at a time when people had more respect for guns would not have been so Anti-2nd Amendment. As I read his obit, I began to wonder if Richard Widmark knew anything about the brave men who founded this country? I also wondered if this man knew anything about "Freedom?" Further, I began to question if he knew the danger that existed from his call to control guns? That danger being, giving people control over the very existence of every "Freedom Loving American."

Today, we rail against young people who we say learn very little about this country's beginning.

It is obvious that people like Richard Widmark never learned anything about the grit of our founders, and the role that guns played in giving us our freedom.

I will always treasure Mr. Widmark's movies. However, his politics can rest in peace with him!