Ten Best Kirk Douglas Movies

Kirk Douglas in Spartacus (1960), image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Kirk Douglas, born Issur Danielovitch Demsky in Amsterdam, New York, on December 9, 1916, made his motion picture debut as district attorney Walter O’Neil in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). In his subsequent films, Douglas would go on to play a number of memorable characters, including a boxer, police detective, Hollywood producer, Old West lawman, timber baron, sailor, Marine colonel, Mafia don and aircraft carrier skipper.

Here are ten outstanding movies that no Kirk Douglas fan should ever miss. I am Spartacus! – and a whole lot more…

Spartacus (Universal, 1960)

Kirk Douglas has the title role, playing the gladiator/slave who leads a revolt against the mighty Roman Empire. Douglas is both brawny and brave in this sweeping $12 million historical saga, locking horns with Woody Strode’s deadly trident and net in the coliseum, taking on the hated Charles McGraw’s Marcellus at gladiator school and battling Rome’s legions with his mammoth slave army. Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Tony Curtis, Peter Ustinov, John Gavin, Nina Foch, John Ireland and a cast of thousands make Spartacus one of the decade’s most memorable pictures.

• Great Douglas line: “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.”
• Director: Stanley Kubrick
• On DVD: Spartacus (Universal, 1998)

The Vikings (United Artists, 1958)

Kirk Douglas plays Einar, the wild son of Ernest Borgnine’s Ragnar who leads the Viking hordes to plunder and riches in their raids on England. There’s plenty of action in this one as Douglas and his bad boy Norsemen drink themselves into oblivion, toss axes at pigtailed maidens, perform a ritual dance on a ship’s oars, kidnap Princess Morgana (Janet Leigh) and engage in bloody, mortal combat with their enemies. The big scene pits Douglas’ Einar against Tony Curtis’ Eric in a battle to the death, with Einar unaware that Eric is his half-brother. The Viking funeral scene, with flaming arrows piercing the black sails of a ship, is nothing short of spectacular. On to Valhalla!

• Great Douglas line (to Tony Curtis, whose falcon has just ripped out Einar’s eye): “I want this slave alive. The sun will cross the sky a thousand times before he dies. And you’ll wish a thousand times that you were dead.”
• Director: Richard Fleischer
• On DVD: The Vikings (MGM, 2002)

Detective Story (Paramount, 1951)

Kirk Douglas stars as Lt. Jim McLeod, a hard-boiled New York City police detective who deals with various riffraff at the 21st Precinct squad room. The tough, callous McLeod is an unforgiving sort, even when it comes to his own wife (Eleanor Parker), whom he learns was less than “pure” before their marriage. Lee Grant, William Bendix, Cathy O’Donnell and Joseph Wiseman all lend a hand in this tense drama based on the Sidney Kingsley stage production.

• Great Douglas line (to Eleanor Parker’s Mary McLeod): “Because I’d give my soul to take out my brain, hold it under a faucet and wash away the dirty pictures you put there tonight.”
• Director: William Wyler
• On DVD: Detective Story (Paramount, 2005)

Champion (United Artists, 1949)

Kirk Douglas plays Michael “Midge” Kelly, a middleweight boxer who battles his way to the top of the fight game. Douglas’ Kelly is a coarse, amoral bruiser who abandons his own brother (Arthur Kennedy) and misuses a trio of women (Marilyn Maxwell, Ruth Roman, Lola Albright) in his quest for sporting fame and riches. Champion may well be the most athletic role of Douglas’ career, as he ably skips rope, works the speed bag and delivers some of the best fight scenes ever staged in Hollywood.

• Academy Award nomination for Best Actor
• Great Douglas line: “I can beat ‘em, the fat bellies and their stinkin’ cigars!”
• Director: Mark Robson
• On DVD: Champion (Republic, 2001)

The Bad and the Beautiful (MGM, 1952)

Kirk Douglas stars as Jonathan Shields, the son of a disgraced filmmaker who was blacklisted by the industry. The younger Shields wants to make his comeback in Hollywood, with director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan), writer James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell) and actress Georgia Lorrison (Lana Turner) all recruited by sympathetic movie producer Harry Pebbel (Walter Pidgeon) to help him accomplish that goal. But Shields’ past dealings with all three are less than stellar, with the trio refusing to come to their old nemesis’ aid.

• Academy Award nomination for Best Actor
• Great Douglas line (to Barry Sullivan’s Fred Amiel, who just asked if Jonathan Shields was going to change his name because of the sullied reputation of his father): “Change it? I’m gonna ram the name of Shields down their throats!”
• Director: Vincente Minnelli
• On DVD: The Bad and the Beautiful (Warner, 2002)

Lust for Life (MGM, 1956)

Kirk Douglas plays Vincent Van Gogh, the brilliant, self-destructive Dutch artist whose paintings found fame and fortune after his death in 1890. Douglas delivers an outstanding performance, portraying Van Gogh as an intense, depressed, lonely man whose friendship with fellow artist Paul Gauguin (Anthony Quinn) ends badly following a stalking incident with a straight razor. The tortured Van Gogh famously later turns the razor on himself, cutting off a portion of his ear.

• Academy Award nomination for Best Actor
• Great Douglas line (to Anthony Quinn’s Gauguin): “Because Paul, when you look back, so much of life is wasted on loneliness. There’s not one of us who doesn’t need friends, companionship, attachments.”
• Director: Vincente Minnelli
• On DVD: Lust for Life (Warner, 2006)

Lust for Life title lobby card image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Lonely Are the Brave (Universal, 1962)

Kirk Douglas plays John W. “Jack” Burns, a loner ranch hand who rejects the modern ways of the new West. Douglas’ Burns is a throwback to yesteryear, still riding a horse and lamenting the fact that society has placed so many restrictions on the individual. One of the movie’s highlights is Douglas’ barroom brawl with a one-armed man (Bill Raisch), where he too uses only one arm. George Kennedy is on hand as a badass deputy, Gena Rowlands as one of Douglas’ past flames and Walter Matthau as the sheriff. 

• Great Douglas line: “Well, about every six months, I figure I owe myself a good drunk. It rinses your insides out, sweetens your breath and tones up your skin.”
• Director: David Miller
• On DVD: Lonely Are the Brave (Universal, 2009)

Seven Days in May (Paramount, 1964)

Kirk Douglas plays Colonel Martin “Jiggs” Casey, a Marine officer who suspects that an Army general (Burt Lancaster) and his cohorts are planning to overthrow the United States government. Douglas is riveting in this political/military thriller, with Burt Lancaster, Fredric March, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien and Martin Balsam all outstanding in their respective roles. When denied access to the Pentagon for filming, Kirk Douglas, dressed up in his Marine colonel’s uniform, merely strolled up the steps and entered the building while the director got the needed shot from a camera hidden in a nearby station wagon.

• Great Douglas line: “I’m suggesting, Mr. President, there’s a military plot to take over the government. This may occur some time this coming Sunday.”
• Director: John Frankenheimer
• On DVD: Seven Days in May Special Edition (Warner, 2000)

Kirk Douglas and Ava Gardner in Seven Days in May (1964), lobby card image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

In Harm’s Way (Paramount, 1965)

Kirk Douglas plays Commander Paul Eddington Jr., a restless naval officer who is given a chance to right his career by Captain Rockwell “Rock” Torrey (John Wayne). The action begins in 1941 with the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, later encompassing many of the big battles in the Pacific. Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Dana Andrews and Brandon De Wilde lend excellent support in this sprawling World War II saga. Kirk Douglas hardly needed coaching in his role as Commander Eddington, for he had actually served as a naval officer in the Pacific in Big Two.

• Great Douglas line: “Old Rock of Ages, we’ve got ourselves another war. A gut bustin’, mother-lovin’ Navy war.”
• Director: Otto Preminger
• On DVD: In Harm’s Way (Paramount, 2001)

Paths of Glory (United Artists, 1957)

Kirk Douglas portrays Colonel Dax, a French officer in World War I who leads a suicidal attack against a fortified enemy position known as the Anthill. When the charge invariably fails, the top leadership round up a batch of scapegoats and put them on trial for cowardice. Douglas’ Colonel Dax defends the men at court marital, where they are found guilty and later executed despite his spirited defense. Great performances by Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, Wayne Morris and George Macready make Paths of Glory one of the truly great war films.

• Great Douglas line (to Adolph Menjou’s General Broulard): “I apologize, sir, for not telling you sooner that you’re a degenerate, sadistic old man. And you can go to hell before I apologize to you now or ever again!” 
• Director: Stanley Kubrick
• On DVD: Paths of Glory (MGM, 1999)

Ten More Kirk Douglas Movie Gems

• Young Man with a Horn (1950)
• Along the Great Divide (1951)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
• Man Without a Star (1955)
• Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
• Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)
• Town Without Pity (1961)
• The War Wagon (1967)
• The Final Countdown (1980)
• Tough Guys (1986)