For those of us who would like to see more of his work, please share your top 3/5/10/however many favourite Kirk Douglas films.
My current top ten, chronologically...
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Out of the Past (1947)
Champion (1949)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Paths of Glory (1957)
The Vikings (1958)
Spartacus (1960)
Seven Days in May (1964)
He was GREAT in his movies!
He frequently played witty and cynical men of action and he was excellent. He was also excellent at playing brutal kind of selfish people.
His son is a favorite of mine too.
I completely agree. For me his best performances were when he leaned towards the selfish/cynical/dark side.
shareYes.
He also played some characters like that who were actually good guys. I recall a western like that that but the name is escaping me.
There are no actors or characters like that today.
I didn't really see enough of his movies, but I liked the ones I saw.
I can recall seeing:
Lust for Life (1956)
Paths of Glory(1957)
Spartacus(1960)
Tough Guys(1986)
I must admit I didn't much care for Lust for Life - I never seem to engage with artist biographies and I found Douglas' performance rather over the top.
I'm sure I saw Tough Guys on VCR back in the '80s but I don't recall much about it. I'm a huge Burt Lancaster fan so I should give it another look one of these days.
Paths of Glory is brilliant and Spartacus is a fine film too.
Spartacus
There was a crooked man
Cactus Jack
20000 Leagues under the sea
The Final Countdown
Gunfight at the OK corral
The Heroes of Telemark
Ulysses
Vikings
Saturn 3
Not a great role, but if you want to see him having fun check out Tough Guys & Greedy
shareThe man could play drop dead serious & he could also be great in comedy & other tongue in cheek roles. He could pull it off no matter what the tone. Everyone is forgetting "The Fury". He was great in that also.
shareYes - De Palma was doing some excellent work in that period, I can't believe I have never seen The Fury
shareLonely are the Brave (David Miller, 1962)
shareI will only mention two:
The final countdown
Spartacus
R.I.P. Mr. Douglas
My favorites in order are:
The Light at the Edge of the World (1971)
There Was a Crooked Man (1970)
Ulysses (1954)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
The Fury (1978)
The Chosen (1977) - aka: Holocaust 2000 - An Italian "Omen" knockoff.
The Vikings (1958)
There Was a Crooked Man is high on my watchlist.
I was not even aware of The Light at the Edge of the World - it sounds like the kind of thing I typically enjoy so I shall check that out also, thanks!