Family-friendly films - Editorial

Christian Century, July 5, 1995 by James M. Wall

IN ONE OF the more memorable lines in Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart says he moved to Casablanca "for the waters." Informed that Casablanca is in the middle of a desert, Bogart growls, "I was misinformed." Senator Bob Dole must have felt like using that line after a speechwriter allowed him to praise Arnold Schwarzenegger's True Lies as a family film.

That movie includes considerable violence and a scene in which Jamie Lee Curtis is tricked into doing a strip-tease for a man she doesn't realize is her husband. To give Dole some wiggling room, it may be noted that the main characters in True Lies are married to one another, they don't fool around with anyone else, and they conclude the film with a joint project that destroys the enemy. Perhaps that is enough to constitute a family film for Bob Dole.