Kirk Douglas is one of those actors who I always thought was a titan, even though I could only tell you a couple things he was in before I have to go to Wikipedia.
But those couple things... wow, what a memorable performance.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was a huge part of my childhood.
Spartacus was a huge part of my adolescence.
And those are pretty much the only two movies I remember Kirk Douglas for. But he was a legend on screen in both of those movies.
...other than that...
I rented Gunfight at the O.K. Corral years ago, but got bored with it and never finished it.
I saw most of The Way West when it was on TV on night. I never saw the whole thing, but I was fascinated with what I did see. It looked like a really interesting story.
I saw Paths of Glory, of course. And I also saw the Tales from the Crypt episode with the exact same plot, which also starred Kirk Douglas. (I actually saw the Tales from the Crypt episode first, and only later learned what it was based on.)
And I think I must have seen one of Kirk Douglas's early film noirs when it was being re-run on one of the Ted Turner networks back in the 90s, but for the life of me I can't remember which one it was.
...and that's it. I think those are all the movies I can associate Kirk Douglas with. But in my mind, he's still one of the Hollywood greats just because of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Spartacus.
Also interesting to reflect on Douglas's longevity. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Spartacus were already classic movies from a bygone era when I saw them as a child. And here I am at middle-age.
And Kirk Douglas was already middle aged when he made most of his classic films. He was 38 for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 41 at Paths of Glory, 44 when Spartacus came out, and was 51 already at The Way West. And then he kept living all this time.
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When I read the news I thought, "OK, what's my favourite Kirk Douglas role?" And I didn't really have one. I could have gone with Spartacus, but to be honest I don't remember it very clearly -- I watched it right after I'd had my wisdom teeth removed, so I was still pretty goofy. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea I recalled well enough, but who wants to be remembered for a kids' movie? His Vincent Van Gogh was hailed at the time, but has dated pretty badly. And I've not yet seen Paths of Glory. The only role I recalled with any clarity was when he played across Burt Lancaster in Tough Guys. It felt like a vanity project that was given to these two old-timers, but played fairly well for all that. I wanted to quote something from the '80s scifi stinker Saturn 3 (hey, I see Martin Amis gets a screenplay credit!) but in the end I just let it pass. It seems a little strange to me that he was the embodiment of Hollywood Star for all this time.
So it's not just me then.
Yeah, that's how I'd put it as well. He was the embodiment of a Hollywood Star for his time, and yet it's hard to name more than a couple really notable things he was in.
But then that's probably because he's a victim of his own longevity. Back in his day, I'm sure people remembered him for a whole bunch of movies that we've since gone on to completely forget about. Probably the further away you get in time from a Hollywood star, the more their notable work shrinks to just one or two famous movies.
Paths of Glory I saw almost 20 years ago now, but I remember enjoying it. I think I'd recommend it.
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