"The times they are a changin'" Topic

I was watching 'His Girl Friday' with Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell.
Grant in a restaurant scene raises a fork loaded with food to his mouth. In the same hand is a lit cigarette.
I think if he did this in public today hed be arrested if not beaten up or abused.
I suppose this movie will become banned because every character has a cigarette in almost every scene.

It isn't that much different from every Tarantino flick.

But if the times are a changing they are reflecting life. At one point almost everyone smoked. Now almost no one does.

No they'll just digitally remove the cigarettes or replace with them with something more PC E.g bananas to promote five a day healthy eating etc.

It's tough for me not to have a cigarette when I watch those films at home.

Yes I am a smoker.

Now almost no one does.

Is that true, or just wishful thinking? I know a lot of smokers… Myself included.

On topic, yes, things like that aren't shown in movies and TV much any more. I don't know if it's a reflection of reality (less smokers) or a reflection of the reality that they want you to see.

Coincidentally I was watching the famous cigarette scene between Charles Boyer and Bette Davies the other night- I think the film was Now Voyager.
Apparently lighting a coffin nail for your girlfriend and then passing it to her was not only acceptable then, it was considered romantic.
I'm glad I don't smoke anymore- you might as well have leprosy.

Burn burn the heretics!

Oh wait that might contribute to global warming we'll have to find a different way of getting rid of those evil smokers. 8-)

They'll never remove the smoking from the old movies-- hopefully they'll end up being a historical record of a habit that will eventually go the way of the dodo… 8)=

It is strange as anything to watch movies even from the 80s with people smoking in public buildings. I'm a smoker but only 30 so it doesn't even cross my mind that I'm allowed to smoke in doors in, say, a police station.

Whatever the public health implications, it is quite interesting as a fasion change.

And, seriously, I expect fasion had way more to do with it's expulsion from public places than public health concerns.

It is interesting to watch movies from earlier periods and see how much social change takes place over the decades. It is one reason we need to perserve film not just for its artistic merits but also as a wonderful documentation of the perceptions of society at the time. Not to mention all the images of the things we use to use and did. It is quite a surprise to see the old style wall mounted phones that needed an operator or the changes in style of automobiles, hairstyles, attire, and yes smoking.

Sort of like watching how the different Star Trek series have shown the equipment on board. They all look like they are using antiques now.

I wrote a short review for The Bank Job, which is set in about 1971. Appropriately, because it's a period piece, people are smoking everywhere and anywhere.

JW

Would Bogart be Bogart without a cig?

I've had more than one person comment to me, who've I'd roped into watching a pre-60's movie, how much people smoked – and unfilters at that!

By the way, that was Paul Heinreid lighting the smokie for Bette Davis in "Now Voyager" – a great scene.

Oh yes, there are a lot of smokers again. And the irony is that now in this town even outdoor public places are slated for banning smoking in them. Let's all return to the good old days of Prohibition. Banning smoking inside public buildings I can see. But beyond that is just oppression. I hate goody-two-shoes who legislate against subgroups of humanity for the good of humanity. (isn't this topic a Current Affairs borderline? I feel the claw of the Law reaching for my neck; BYE!)