PWAC Victoria: Paula Wild, Writing Sample

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Smoke on the Silver Screen

by Paula Wild © Summer 2001

Tobacco use in the movie industry has a big effect on young people's smoking habits. Cover story for Secondwind, a publication of the Alberta Lung Association, Summer 2001.

Not to be reprinted or reused
in any way without permission.

Smoking has been used as a prop on the silver screen since the advent of silent movies. One hundred years later, actors are still puffing away on film despite the fact that tobacco kills more people than alcohol, cocaine, heroin, homicide, suicide, automobile accidents, and AIDS combined.

Humphrey Bogart, James Dean and Cary Grant are just a few of the stars who have portrayed smoking as glamorous, sexy and cool. A classic moment in To Have and Have Not (1944) has a sultry Lauren Bacall leaning against the doorway to Bogart's hotel room asking, "Anybody got a match?"

Typical of that era, most of the scenes in To Have and Have Not take place amidst swirls of smoke. In this film, and many like it, smoking not only creates ambiance; it also plays a significant role in the development of a romantic relationship and is shown as a means for women to attract men.

Bogart smoked through most, if not all, of his over 70 movies and posed for numerous ads with cigarette in hand. He was 58 when he died from throat and esophagus cancer. Other actors who have succumbed to smoke-related diseases include Betty Grable, Gary Cooper, Yul Brynner, Sammy Davis Jr., and Michael Landon.

Smoking on the silver screen peaked during the 1970s and early '80s when buying time for tobacco was big business. Philip Morris paid $350,000 to have one of its brands featured in the James Bond movie License to Kill and Sylvester Stallone accepted $500,000 to smoke Brown and Williamson cigarettes in five movies.

But even after the tobacco industry's 1989 voluntary ban on paying to place products in films, actors continue to flaunt cigarette brands on a regular basis. Some offenders are Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding, Bruce Willis in The Last Boy Scout, and Al Pacino in Sea of Love. A recent study conducted by the Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire reveals that brand names of cigarettes are actually seen in movies 11 times more often than before the ban.

In 1995, Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!, a program of the American Lung Association of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails, began recruiting teenagers to screen the top 50 domestic box-office movies for tobacco content. The 2001 survey noted that, even though smoking is decreasing in the general population, 48 percent of movies reviewed from the 1999-2000 season contained pro-tobacco messages. It also noted a significant increase in actors smoking cigars.

Many scriptwriters, directors and actors see smoking as a tool to make a character appear cool, edgy or sophisticated. Pipes lend a thoughtful, intellectual air and cigars are often associated with wealth, status and power. There are people in the movie industry, however, who feel that much of the smoking that takes place on screen is unnecessary and that there are alternative ways to depict a character's personality. But when pressed, most admit that if they are asked to incorporate smoking in a movie, they will. Not many are willing to limit their options in this extremely competitive business.

Part of the problem is personal preference and perception. "Some stars like to smoke so they want that written into the script," says Patrick Kudell, Executive Director of the American Lung Association in San Bernadino, California. "And if they are a big-name actor, they'll get what they want."

"Many people in the movie industry feel that the amount of tobacco use shown in films is on par with the real world," adds Kori Titus, project director for STARS (Seeking Tobacco Alternatives with Realistic Solutions), another program of the American Lung Association in Sacramento. "The reality is that most people in the entertainment industry smoke much more than people outside of it."

STARS and Proletariat Filmworks recently completed a documentary film by Terry Moloney titled Scene Smoking: Cigarettes, Cinema and the Myth of Cool. In this film, Angie Dickinson admits that she began smoking to look good for her first smoking role and Jack Klugman--who lost his vocal chords to cancer--says that he started smoking to emulate his idol, screen star John Garfield.

In another part of the documentary, Sean Penn acknowledges that "irresponsible smoking on screen is bad acting," but then goes on to say, "If it feels right for a character to smoke, I'm going to smoke. In fact, I will do it a lot. I'm not for smoking but I'm not against it in film."

And to a certain degree, Penn has a point. What would a Wild West barroom scene or a 1940s movie about Las Vegas pit bosses be without that familiar smoky haze? In some cases, it is historically correct to show characters lighting up but most contemporary films fall short when it comes to portraying the reality of smoking. Today's movie stars smoke on screen three times more often than the general population and they rarely, if ever, suffer from bad breath, stained teeth and wrinkled skin. And it's never mentioned that smoking is one of the leading causes of impotence among men.

With the predominant age of movie audiences being 11 to 19, there are concerns about how smoking on film affects young people. Over the last 60 years, tobacco or alcohol has been used by at least one character in 68 percent of animated feature films and one out of five movies made for children contain scenes with smoking. Leading characters are lighting up in nine out of 10 movies--and it's predominantly the good guys who are doing it.

In North America, approximately 28 percent of the population smokes and 85 percent of that number are under age 18. It is estimated that more than 3,000 teenagers start smoking every day in the United States alone and that one-third of these new smokers will eventually die from a smoking-related disease.

According to research conducted by the Dartmouth Medical School, teenagers whose idols smoke in movies are 16 times more likely to use tobacco than other teens. As Jack Klugman states in Scene Smoking, "Kids see you on screen and you're 20 feet high--you become so much larger than life."

"It's tough making a living in the film industry and most people are more worried about their next deal rather than doing the right thing," says Kori Titus of STARS. "And a lot of actors don't think of themselves as role models. STARS isn't suggesting that smoking be censored from movies but we would like to see the industry create a stronger balance between artistic freedom and social responsibility."

"Hollywood gets beat up a lot because they are an easy target," Titus continues. "But smoking in the entertainment industry isn't all about Hollywood. We need to stop passing the buck and teach children media literacy. We need to let children know that what they see in the movies isn't always the way things are in real life. And that what they see isn't necessarily something they should do."

For more information on smoking and the silver screen, visit www.saclung.org.

Paula Wild
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Last updated: August 13, 2002 http://www.islandnet.com/pwacvic/wildp01.html