The 10 Greatest Films of Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas was born with the name Issur Danielovitch, in New York, in December of 1916. He was a ragman’s son. He began on Broadway in the play Spring Again. He served in the navy in World War II as was discharged because of injuries.
Douglas made his movie debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers in 1946, alongside Barbara Stanwyck. Three years later, he received his first Oscar nomination for playing a boxer in the film Champion. He received additional Best Actor nominations for The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Lust for Life (1956). His only Oscar was an honorary award in 1996.
10. Tough Guys (1986) — Not a masterpiece, but an amusing film that brings two legends together for a final time. Over four decades, Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster made seven films together. In this comedy, they play two old train robbers released after thirty years in prison. They try their best to go straight, but realize there is only one thing they know how to do.
“Couldn’t take it anymore. People treating me like dirt ever since I got out of jail. Sweeping out toilets, scraping crud off dishes, my girlfriend tryin’ to kill me with sex — and I’m dressing like Bozo the Clown, just to fit in! I don’t want to fit in anymore.” — Archie Long
9. The Vikings (1958) — Richard Fleischer directs Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis as half-brothers that battle each other and vie for the heart of Janet Leigh in this epic testosterone-fest filmed on locale in Norway. Ernest Borgnine plays their father. Incidentally, Ernest Borgnine was born a month and a half after Kirk Douglas was born. Just saying.
“The sun will cross the sky a thousand times before he dies, and you’ll wish a thousand times that you were dead.” — Einar
8. Out of the Past (1947) — Adapted from the novel Build My Gallows High, by the author, Daniel Mainwaring (under the pseudonym Geoffrey Homes), Out of the Past is the finest example of the noir theme that one cannot escape one’s past. Robert Mitchum versus Kirk Douglas in a battle of wits.
“My feelings? About ten years ago, I hid them somewhere and haven’t been able to find them.” — Whit Sterling
7. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) — Disney’s big budget action flick, before they became the norm, brings the classic Jules Verne story to vibrant colorful life.
“There’s one thing you ought to know, Professor: Nemo’s cracked. I’ve yet to see the day you can make a deal with a mad dog. So while you’re feeding him sugar, I’ll be figuring a plan to muzzle him.” — Ned Land
6. Lonely are the Brave (1962) — This adaption of the Edward Abbey novel The Brave Cowboy is a portrait of American individualism. This isn’t a period western. Douglas plays a Korean war veteran that won’t join modern society. The supporting cast includes Walter Matthau, Gena Rowlands, and George Kennedy.
“‘Cause I’m a loner clear down deep to my guts. Know what a loner is? He’s a born cripple. He’s a cripple because the only person he can live with is himself. It’s his life, the way he wants to live. It’s all for him. A guy like that, he’d kill a woman like you. Because he couldn’t love you, not the way you are loved.” — Jack Burns
5. Spartacus (1960) — Stanley Kubrick’s epic telling of a Roman slave revolt that features a fine supporting cast including Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, and Tony Curtis.
“When a free man dies, he loses the pleasure of life. A slave loses his pain. Death is the only freedom a slave knows. That’s why he’s not afraid of it. That’s why we’ll win.” — Spartacus
4. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) — Vincente Minelli (father of Liza) directed this harsh portrait of the business of movie making with Douglas as a producer and Lana Turner as his actress.
“Don’t worry. Some of the best movies are made by people working together who hate each other’s guts.” — Jonathan Shields
3. Ace in the Hole (1951) — Dark and striking, this film is an expose on corruption within journalism and is possibly even more relevant today than in 1951. The film subverts the Hollywood happy ending and is certainly Wilder at his most cynical.
“Bad news sells best. Cause good news is no news.” — Charles Tatum
2. Lust for Life (1956) — Kirk Douglas plays the artist Vincent Van Gogh in this biopic that tells the sad tale of the tortured artist, directed by Vincente Minelli.
“If I’m to be anything as a painter I’ve got to break through that iron wall between what I feel and what I express. my best chance of doing it is here, where my roots are… the people I know, the earth I know.” — Vincent Van Gogh
1. Champion (1949) — Director Mark Robson keeps a tight pace in this beautifully shot film about a boxer’s rise, fall, and redemption.
“For the first time in my life, people cheering for me. Were you deaf? Didn’t you hear ‘em? We’re not hitchhiking any more. We’re riding!” — Midge Kelly
Films that almost made the list include Seven Days in May, The Big Sky, There Was a Crooked Man, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Two Weeks in Another Town, Paths of Glory, and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
What films would have made your list?
