Kirk Douglas, one of the last remnants of Old Hollywood (and the way Old Hollywooders used to do things), has died, aged 103. The next few days could be interesting. I imagine Natalie Wood’s sister is currently dusting off the statement she’s been hanging on to for a very long time, as she has been looking forward to this day.
So, farewell Spartacus!
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If I remember correctly, about 1,000 men are crucified -including Spartacus – by the Romans because they all claimed to be Spartacus.
The writing is on the wall – the slaves are utterly broken and defeated. So surely the real Spartacus – if he was any kind of leader – could have commanded all the others to NOT claim they’re Spartacus so they can live to fight another day ?
He could not convince them, which is why he said on the cross “what a bunch of thickos, honestly!”.
I think you’ll find that what he actually said was:
“Well, if I’d exercised some leadership skills they would still have nailed us all up, but I’d be upside down as well. So always look on the bright side of life!”
He won the argument, that’s the main thing.
Not forgetting this, of course:
I don’t understand why the people with grievances against him would wait until he dies to air them. The allegations have been around for sixty years! Why give him the satisfaction of dying before his reputation gets shedded? If the stories are true, they should have published and let him sue.
Male power in Hollywood, perhaps? Celebrity power anywhere, to be honest. See also: Savile.
The Savile one was slightly different. He knew too much and had pretty much made himself untouchable, as a lot more prominent people, including senior policemen (and maybe members of the royal family if rumours are to be believed – I wonder who that could be referring to?) would be going down with him. He says as much in his book, which I believe was published decades before his death.
Perhaps Kirk was in the same position of knowing what all the others had been up to?
Me: Kirk Douglas is dead, think I’ll log onto Twitter and read some tributes.
Me: *logs onto Twitter*
Me: Uh oh.
Instead, just watch Paths of Glory, a magnificent film and Douglas’ crowning achievement .
Also on the plus side, he was a key figure in finally breaking the McCarthy era Hollywood Blacklist by hiring blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo for Spartacus.
Yeah was going to mention this. Been thinking about it a lot after seeing 1917. A true masterpiece, could even be Kubrick’s best film.
I only watched it for the first time recently, and yes it’s terrific. I’ve no idea why I waited so long to watch it.
Why would you log on to Twitter? Isn’t it easier to just put your head in the toilet?
It’s way easier to log onto Twitter than put my head in the toilet.
Anyway, I was scurrilously referring to the fact that the top trending topic was ;Natalie Wood’, which as somebody pointed out, is symptomatic of the way we react to celebrity death these days.
For me Douglas’s best film was Lonely Are The Brave from 1962. It’s a modern western in that its set in the present day. Shot in black and white and co-starring the wonderful Walter Matthau its a very poignant piece about a man out of touch with the world. Highly recommended.
My favourite film that Douglas is in is Out Of The Past, although he’s only a supporting player in this, with Robert Mitchum taking the lead. It’s up there with Double Indemnity for me, as the quintessential film noir.
When I was about 10 or 11 I took myself off to the pictures to watch a Spider-Man film. Being that this was sometime from 79 to 81, when I got to the cinema we got a supporting film. It was Cactus Jack, a western starring Kirk Douglas and a then unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger. If you haven’t seen it, it was basically like a live action Wile E Coyote and Road Runner cartoon, with a lot of the set pieces in the film lifted directly from the cartoon. I loved it, but never managed to see it again after that one time, until a few years ago when it popped up on Lovefilm. So I rented it and sat down with the kids, ready for them to adopt it as a favourite film like I did…but it was rubbish! It joined stuff like the old Doctor Who and The Young Ones, as things are far better in your memory than they are if you actually re-watch them.
Another vote for Out Of The Past, aka Build My Gallows High if memory serves. A great film, although many of the others mentioned here aren’t too shabby either.
IIRC, dialogue from this was sampled on The Wall.
Aside from Paths of Glory, which is a flat-out masterpiece, my favourites come from his later years: Catch Me A Spy, The Light at the Edge of the World and The Fury.
Just watch Ace in the Hole. The most cynical film Hollywood ever made. KD is brilliant in it..
It may be a cliche movie, but his Doc Holliday in ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’, with Burt Lancaster was just wonderful. Not the hero, but a cynical good guy.
I have that movie on DVD and play it regularly.
I watched Spartacus the other night, for the first time in decades. The supporting cast is terrific – Olivier as the power hungry Roman leader and then Charles Laughton and Peter Ustinov have the time of their lives and bring some genuine humour to what would otherwise have been an ultra-serious production. I’d forgotten too that Kubrick directed. Seven years after Spartacus he’d come up with 2001. Extraordinary.