‘Kind of Turns Us Off’ : Deukmejian Criticizes Sex, Gore in Movies

Gov. George Deukmejian gave Hollywood a slap on the wrist Friday for making too many movies filled with sex, gore and profanity and said the trend is keeping him away from the theater.

“We’d perhaps go to more movies and go as a family if the language was a little cleaner,” said the governor. “That kind of turns us off.

“It’s always very embarrassing as far as I’m concerned to go to a theater, especially with young people in the family, or even being there with my wife, to have the kind of language that is used in some of these films. I really don’t think that’s necessary to have a nice film.”

He added that there have been “some outstanding films where they haven’t had to have a lot of violence or sex or have a lot of nasty language.”

The traditionalist governor, who puts a high priority on home and family, provided the rare insight into his personal taste in movies during an interview with KCBS-TV movie critic Gary Franklin that will be aired later this month.

Comedies, Documentaries

His preference runs to comedies, said Deukmejian, but he said he likes an occasional “documentary-type story” and added that the most recent movie he saw was the Academy Award-winning “Amadeus,” which he “enjoyed very, very much.” He said he also liked “Gandhi.”

Deukmejian is the father of three, but only his 16-year-old daughter, Andrea, a sophomore at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, lives at home. Daughter Leslie, 20, is a student at the University of Colorado, and son George Jr., 18, is attending the University of California, Berkeley.

The governor said he and his wife, Gloria, sometimes rent movies to watch at home since they got a video cassette recorder about six months ago.

“I like to laugh,” he said. “I like to be entertained, but sometimes there will be some documentary-type story that I do enjoy. But usually when I want to watch a movie or get a movie to watch on the VCR, we like to be able to relax and enjoy it and see some comedy.”

He said he found the recorder “very helpful when there has been some movie we did want to see and hadn’t had the chance.”

Views on Bradley Victory

In an earlier interview, Deukmejian said Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley’s margin of victory in Tuesday’s election “wasn’t too surprising” and said it is “fair to assume he (Bradley) is thinking very seriously” of running for governor again in 1986.

Later, the Republican chief executive said the fact that the mayor won with 68% of the vote here “probably helps him in getting the (Democratic) nomination” for governor next year, “but I don’t believe it is going to have any impact as far as the general election is concerned.”

Deukmejian reminded reporters that in 1982, when he narrowly defeated Bradley, the mayor carried the city of Los Angeles.