Hormone Unbounded

The most salable commodity today has to be violence in all its outrageous manifestations. The newspapers do a very competent job reporting it because that is what they’re supposed to do. But you’d think the reading public’s appetite for this grubby material would be more than appeased by what’s going on in their neighborhood and around the globe.

No. Comes evening, they line up at the local theater for more of the same, now enhanced by spectacular color and ear-puncturing sound. And a torrent of dirty talk that would embarrass a gang member.

Check the June 17 Calendar. Of the 11 full-page ads from the studios, six feature someone aiming or firing an automatic. And one for Universal Tours displays guys clobbering hell out of other guys, guys being tossed out of windows and off roofs and one slob holding aloft a packet of dynamite with a lighted fuse and some copy below suggesting you bring along the kiddies.

I’ve given up trying to fight this epidemic of wanton behavior; maybe I’ll cash in on the trend myself. I’m working on a script which I believe touches all the angry bases and incorporates another hot trend. It should make me a pile. I’m calling it “The Great Oat Bran Massacre.”

DAVID R. SCHWARTZ

Beverly Hills