BIG GUNS--You might think you’re looking at...

BIG GUNS--You might think you’re looking at Guns & Ammo magazine instead of the entertainment pages. No fewer than seven ads for current movies prominently feature weapons or the suggestion of them. And during the holiday season, observed as a time of peace on Earth, there were even more.

Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds each holding pistols in “City Heat”; a finger being pointed as a gun at Michael Keaton’s head in “Johnny Dangerously”; an ominous machine gun laying on its side in “Cotton Club”; Tom Selleck and Cynthia Rhodes each holding a weapon in “Runaway”; Eddie Murphy with a raised pistol in “Beverly Hills Cop”; Kyle MacLachlan shouldering a spear-like space-age tool in “Dune”; the ominous laser weapon held by Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Terminator”; machine-gun laden Chuck Norris in “Missing in Action” and a gang of armed youths in “Toy Soldiers.”

One marketing executive said it may just be coincidence that so many films’ stories inherently called for the suggestion of action and violence in the ad campaigns. Even “Supergirl” comes flying at us with clenched fists.