Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 29, 1990                   TAG: 9007310332
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BLOODY MOVIES

Most moviegoers probably aren't surprised at the numbers. Large-scale "action-adventure" pictures have been numerous and profitable for years. Questions of aesthetics and taste aside, the more physical excitement (explosions, chases, crashes, shoot-outs and such) these films contain, the more popular they have been.

Some have suggested that the trend has gone as far as it can, or should. But violence on screen is still a pale reflection of violence on the streets. Homicide rates are rising at record levels. Though statistics for the first half of this year are incomplete, police departments in the largest cities are reporting an average increase in the number of murders of around 20 percent.

Seattle, with a 75 percent increase over last year's figures, leads the list. New York follows at 45 percent; in Chicago murder is up 14 percent. In real numbers, those percentages could add up to more than 23,000 lives by the end of the year. At the current rate, 1990 will top 1980 for the most murders in a single year.

Is there a connection between murder rates on screen and streets? Not directly. These popular movies cater to a national fascination with guns and violence. But cinematic killings don't accurately depict real murders. They don't cause violence in the streets, though they may be a contributing factor.

Philadelphia District Attorney Robert D. Castille summed up the situation well when he said the record homicide level is due to "the ready availability of powerful handguns and the effects of drugs on human beings." Movies can't change either of those.