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Post by darksidebeadle on Jul 21, 2022 3:21:13 GMT
I grew up watching classic westerns, they were always on tv when I was young but for some reason there was rarely any with Kirk Douglas. Since then I have seen a couple but none that have really grabbed me. He is a real blind spot for me when it comes to westerns, what are your favourites from him?
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Post by movielover on Jul 21, 2022 3:24:05 GMT
Along the Great Divide
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
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Post by mattgarth on Jul 21, 2022 3:37:42 GMT
The Big Sky
The Indian Fighter
Last Train From Gun Hill
Man Without a Star
and ... Lonely Are The Brave
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Post by stryker on Jul 21, 2022 4:11:25 GMT
MAN WITHOUT A STAR. LONELY ARE THE BRAVE, THE LAST SUNSET, POSSE, A GUNFIGHT, GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL, LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL.
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Post by telegonus on Jul 21, 2022 7:22:50 GMT
The Big Sky The Indian Fighter Last Train From Gun Hill Man Without a Star and ... Lonely Are The Brave for me. The first two or three viewings didn't get under my skin particularly, but its classic status kept me coming back, and finally I accepted it. More than any other scene in a Kirk picture the one with him having to face down the One Armed Man earned a large measure of,--forget sympathy, empathy from me for an actor I could never, till then, warm up to--but he drew me in. I sensed a basic decency, and more so than in Spartacus or anything else but for maybe Lust For Life. I got it. Kirk Douglas was too modern seeming,--too modern looking--for me to buy him as a true westerner, but he really acted in LATB; and in a different way, in Man Without A Star--that enabled me to appreciate his skill as an actor. He brought a lot of fire to Doc Holliday of the O.K. Corral, too. Beyond the westerns, I think his best screen work came relatively early, in Champion. He was capable of master class work, chose the mainstream and the big money over what better fare he might have got from foreign producers and directors; and he did his share of "for love of art" films, and many were good, though his choice of material was often uninspired. The guy put a ton of effort into his work. He never phoned it in.
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Post by darksidebeadle on Jul 21, 2022 7:58:25 GMT
The Big Sky The Indian Fighter Last Train From Gun Hill Man Without a Star and ... Lonely Are The Brave for me. The first two or three viewings didn't get under my skin particularly, but its classic status kept me coming back, and finally I accepted it. More than any other scene in a Kirk picture the one with him having to face down the One Armed Man earned a large measure of,--forget sympathy, empathy from me for an actor I could never, till then, warm up to--but he drew me in. I sensed a basic decency, and more so than in Spartacus or anything else but for maybe Lust For Life. I got it. Kirk Douglas was too modern seeming,--too modern looking--for me to buy him as a true westerner, but he really acted in LATB; and in a different way, in Man Without A Star--that enabled me to appreciate his skill as an actor. He brought a lot of fire to Doc Holliday of the O.K. Corral, too. Beyond the westerns, I think his best screen work came relatively early, in Champion. He was capable of master class work, chose the mainstream and the big money over what better fare he might have got from foreign producers and directors; and he did his share of "for love of art" films, and many were good, though his choice of material was often uninspired. The guy put a ton of effort into his work. He never phoned it in. Champion is definitely one of his best performances but my favourite film with him is Ace in the Hole. To be honest though I find him a bit too much In most films. |
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Post by telegonus on Jul 21, 2022 8:50:58 GMT
Lonely Are The Brave for me. The first two or three viewings didn't get under my skin particularly, but its classic status kept me coming back, and finally I accepted it. More than any other scene in a Kirk picture the one with him having to face down the One Armed Man earned a large measure of,--forget sympathy, empathy from me for an actor I could never, till then, warm up to--but he drew me in. I sensed a basic decency, and more so than in Spartacus or anything else but for maybe Lust For Life. I got it. Kirk Douglas was too modern seeming,--too modern looking--for me to buy him as a true westerner, but he really acted in LATB; and in a different way, in Man Without A Star--that enabled me to appreciate his skill as an actor. He brought a lot of fire to Doc Holliday of the O.K. Corral, too. Beyond the westerns, I think his best screen work came relatively early, in Champion. He was capable of master class work, chose the mainstream and the big money over what better fare he might have got from foreign producers and directors; and he did his share of "for love of art" films, and many were good, though his choice of material was often uninspired. The guy put a ton of effort into his work. He never phoned it in. Champion is definitely one of his best performances but my favourite film with him is Ace in the Hole. To be honest though I find him a bit too much In most films.
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Post by telegonus on Jul 21, 2022 9:00:20 GMT
Yes, no one ever accused Kirk Douglas of under-acting. He was, even well into middle age, like an actor as energizer bunny. Yet in his self-produced mystery thriller, The List Of Adrian Messenger he was sublime, as were his "guest stars" and supporting players, from George C. Scott to Dana Wynter, Herbert Marshal to Clive Brook--it was a winner from star to finish; and indeed the stars, including Kirk, were in on it from the beginning. It was a joy to watch, and a lot of the credit must go to director John Huston, and the rousing score, courtesy of Jerry Goldsmith; and a whole lot of horse racing, to link it, albeit slightly, to some of the actor's western films.
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Post by stryker on Jul 21, 2022 11:43:41 GMT
Champion is definitely one of his best performances but my favourite film with him is Ace in the Hole. To be honest though I find him a bit too much In most films. Kirk Douglas always wanted to play Randle P. McMurphy in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, so much so he bought the screen rights to Ken Kesey's book. Don't think he could have topped Nicholson's inspired performance, but he would have been interesting. Kesey wanted Gene Hackman for the role, glad that didn't happen. Have you seen POSSE (1975) - Douglas fits the role of the politically ambitious marshal like a glove? Did you ever see THE FURY (1978), Kirk's intensity was off the charts. I think he is strikingly effective in Out of the Past, The Strange Love of Martha Ive and A Letter to Three Wives. As he is in The Bad and the Beautiful, Ace in the Hole, Spartacus, Lonely are the Brave, Strangers W hen We Meet, Paths of Glory, Man Without a Star, The Last Sunset ...And I found Burt and Kirk fascinating in TOUGH GUYS (1986) - while a good idea, it wasn't a great flick, but these two old guys still loomed large on the big screen. It didn't didn't do that much theatrically, but it was f...... huge on home video. Kirk Douglas was something, what a movie star, there was only one of him. It is hard for me to think of him without a sense of great affection.       
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Post by timshelboy on Jul 21, 2022 11:48:30 GMT
MAN WITHOUT A STAR  with Claire Trevor |
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Post by politicidal on Jul 21, 2022 13:33:40 GMT
The War Wagon (1967) and There Was a Crooked Man...(1970) are my favorites.
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