It Was Simpler in 1964

In Kenneth Turan’s review of Tom Hanks’ new movie (“The ‘Thing’ Hanks Does Is Likable, Delightful,” Oct. 4) he writes, “Perhaps ‘That Thing You Do!’s’ trickiest accomplishment is allowing us to believe that the early 1960s was a simpler, happier time, devoid of the violence and strife that are so much on everyone’s mind today.”

I was there in 1964. And I remember it. It was emphatically a simpler, happier time and devoid of the violence that now fills our lives.

In 1964 there were no drive-by shootings. Children weren’t being shot down in the street. Six-year-olds weren’t suspended from school for sexual harassment. The back windows of automobiles weren’t blown out by the dozens. Kids learned to read and write in school instead of how to put on condoms. And no baseball player spit on an umpire. Give me 1964 any time, and give me a review of the movies instead of an effort to rewrite history according to the latest politically correct agenda.

ROBERT CARNEGIE

North Hollywood