is kirk douglas not the worse actor to make it to the top of hollywood stardom? i absolutely cringe when he starts his clinched mouthed shouting of his lines - way too over the top. he must have been in possession of pictures of some studio chief at play.
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Unfortunately, in the world of Hollywood, one stinker can cancel out 5 honorable mentions. Pitted against the "top ten" above, I think the four gems below more than even the balance.
1. The Vikings (1958). After a falcon tears out his right eye, Douglas has another hole in his head to match the one in his chin.
2. The Way West (1967). While his character is being whipped (under his own order) by his black servant, Douglas seems to be of two minds as to whether a whipping is supposed to hurt.
3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1973). Hard to tell, at any given moment, which character Douglas is supposed to be playing.
4. The Fury (1978). Douglas was, according to the credits, the star of this movie -- although many viewers have actually forgotten that he was even in it. When John Cassavetes' head explodes at the end, he literally achieves the effect that Douglas appeared to have been striving for all his career.
I don't particularly like Kirk Douglas (no offense to his fans), but I thought he did a good job in The Gunfight At The OK Corral!!!!! I also kind of liked him in The Bad and The Beautiful.
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I was thinking what great performances they were while I was watching it, then I realised how ridiculous they would look if filmed today. Things were different in those days - people were used to over the top stage performances and wanted the same in movies. William Bendix is brilliant in this - the scene where he and the young thief talk about the ships that went down in the war is incredibly touching. But Bendix would probably look like a giant ham nowadays too.
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher.
paths of glory
seven days in may
gunfight at the o.k. corral
spartacus
the fury
a whole bunch of others
Just finished watching it again. Watched it about a month ago.
Yes, Kirk emotes. I look for the scenes in his movies when he emotes, which are always the best parts of his movies.
Very good and powerful actor who gives a powerful performance in this movie.
The washing off his brain scene, and the death scene, from the point that Charlie gets the gun, are phenomenal.
All that was missing was Kirk saying as he approached Charlie was Kirk's line from 'Last Train from Gun Hill'....."I AM THE LAW".
Short Cut, Draw Blood
Although Detective Story is the best police movie I've ever seen (for the interrogation sequences and all the scenes with the detective lieutenant), it WAS painfully overacted - by Kirk Douglas AND Eleanor Parker. Douglas couldn't decide whether to go hard-boiled or psychotic, and Parker flipped back & forth between vulnerable waif and unforgiving ice queen so much it made me dizzy. The contrasts might have played well on the Broadway stage, but they could have used a bit of subtlety when transferred to the screen.
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