A tribute to KIRK DOUGLAS (1916 – 2020)

In a departure from what I normally blog about, this blog is a tribute to one of my favourite actors, KIRK DOUGLAS.

Some of this information is taken from Kirk’s own autobiography, ‘The Ragman’s Son’ which I would recommend as being both thoughtful and entertaining. What follows is not an exhaustive, comprehensive dissection of Douglas’s long career but a brief summary, alighting on aspects that most interest me. So apologies if your favourite Douglas film doesn’t feature!

Kirk Douglas was born ISSUR DANIELOVITCH on December 9 1916 in Amsterdam in upstate New York, the son of Russian immigrants. He once said, ‘My kids never had the advantage I had. I was born poor.’ A hatred of the grinding poverty he was born into instilled in him a ferocious drive to escape it. He began his acting career by winning a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and then finding work as a stage actor, changing his name to Kirk Douglas in the process. War service intervened – he was an ensign in the U. S. Navy - and then he returned to stage acting. A drama school friend, LAUREN BACALL, suggested him for a Hollywood movie ‘The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.’ Douglas arrived in Hollywood in 1945 and got the part.

Douglas’s early film roles showed Hollywood didn’t quite know what to do with him, as he was cast as weaklings or slimy friends of the hero, as in ‘I Walk Alone’ (1947) siding BURT LANCASTER for the first time, (below)

or the ‘Film Noir’ classic ‘Out of the Past’ (aka ‘Build My Gallows High’) alongside ROBERT MITCHUM.

In what would be a move characteristic of his career he turned down a better paid job in another film to star in what was deemed to be an uncommercial prospect, ‘Champion,’ being produced by a team of relative unknowns. 

Film historian Ray Didinger commented: ‘He saw ‘Champion’ as a greater risk, but also a greater opportunity… Douglas took the part and absolutely nailed it.’ Douglas described the character he played, Midge Kelly, as ‘one of the first anti-heroes.’ An aspiring boxer, in his obsessive desire to succeed Kelly discards or tramples on former friends and lovers, ruthlessly fighting (literally) his way to the top. Douglas showed he was unafraid of portraying a character who is often unlikable, although tremendously charismatic. It was a performance of great force and energy, and influenced many actors and movies that followed, including ‘Raging Bull’ starring ROBERT DE NIRO.

‘Champion’ (1949) proved to be surprise critical and commercial hit, establishing Douglas as a star. His rags-to-riches journey was complete.

Throughout the 50s and 60s Douglas continued to be a major box office draw. In 1951 he made his first western, ‘Along the Great Divide’ – more on those later.

Of his notable, non-western roles:

In the early 50s he scored with a trio of roles where he again played the ‘anti-hero’:

In 1951’s bitter, caustic ‘Ace in the Hole,’ (below) directed by BILLY WILDER, Douglas gives an unflinching portrait of an unscrupulous newspaperman who seeks to profit from a tragic situation. One onlooker says of his character: ‘I’ve met some hard boiled eggs, but you – you’re twenty minutes!’

In ‘The Bad and the Beautiful’ (1952) he’s a film producer who’ll go to any lengths to succeed.

In ‘Detective Story’ (1952) he plays a police detective gradually becoming more and more unhinged in the course of the movie.

By 1956 Douglas was regarded as a prime example of the virile, ‘alpha-male’ leading man. Thus it was very brave of him to cast himself against type as VINCENT VAN GOGH in ‘Lust for Life.’ Douglas’s sensitive, intense performance as the tormented artist won him an Oscar nomination, as had his performance in ‘Champion.’ In both cases, IMHO, he should have won!

He was definitely back in ‘alpha-male’ mode for the roistering epic ‘The Vikings’ (1958.) Douglas was very comfortable as a Viking warrior in one of the few Hollywood epics to portrait the pre-industrial world realistically, e.g.  not disguising its brutality. He even holds his own playing scenes with ERNEST BORGNINE, who, in a tremendously enjoyable performance, pretty much steals the movie.

Incidentally, Borgnine, who played Douglas’s father, was actually two years younger than him!

By this time Douglas had emphasised his independent streak by setting up his own production company – named Bryna after his mother, so she could see her name up in lights. As he had with ‘Champion’ he decided to star in an uncommercial project to be directed by a young, relatively unknown film-maker, STANLEY KUBRICK. The project was ‘Paths of Glory’ (1957) a bleak and harrowing account of military folly in World War One, widely regarded as one of the greatest anti-war films ever made. The film has two particularly striking sequences – the one-tracking-shot battle scene; and the touching ending where a captured German girl sings to amuse her gloating enemies and, by her simple humanity, wins them over. In this film Douglas gives an uncharacteristically – but appropriately – subdued performance.

Douglas had a sometimes difficult relationship with Kubrick, (who he described as ‘brilliant but cold.’) However he used him again to direct what might be Douglas’s most famous movie, the outstanding epic ‘Spartacus’ (1960.) Douglas once described the characters he played as men – whether they be good men or bad men – who ‘wouldn’t bend.’ That’s certainly true of Spartacus, a slave and gladiator who leads a revolt of slaves and gladiators against the might of the Roman Empire.

Perhaps Douglas’s last top-notch film was the gripping 1964 political thriller ‘Seven Days in May.’

From the late 60s onwards his career seemed to lose direction, and his choice of roles was often unsatisfactory. Perhaps he should have followed the example of his friend and frequent collaborator Burt Lancaster, who moved away from leading men roles in his later years and became a distinguished character actor.

In 1991 Douglas finally gained the Oscar he should have picked up 40 years earlier, a Lifetimes Achievement Award.

Kirk Douglas passed on February 5^th 2020 at the grand old age of 103.

Not much time to mention his many other accomplishments, as philanthropist, activist, or novelist, or how he helped bring black-listed artists like DALTON TRUMBO back into the fold. Let’s just say it was a long life well lived!

Back to his westerns…

Douglas doesn’t seem quite comfortable in his first excursion into the genre, ‘Along the Great Divide’ in 1951, perhaps partly because he didn’t get on with the director, RAOUL WALSH. By the time he made ‘Man without a Star’ in 1955 however, he seems completely at home out west. The film may be routine, although enjoyable, but his dynamic performance, leavened with plenty of self-deprecating humour, elevates it.

In ‘Gunfight at the Ok Corral’ (1957) he was once again paired with Burt Lancaster. Douglas clearly has fun as tormented ‘anti-hero’ Doc Holliday and gives a superb performance. Lancaster has the harder task of making a ‘straight bat’ hero, Wyatt Earp, interesting.

In ‘The Last Sunset’ (1961) ROCK HUDSON gets top billing, but in reality Douglas has much more screen time, plays a much more interesting character (nearly tempted into incest) and dominates the movie. He often had strong chemistry with his leading ladies and here he works very well with DOROTHY MALONE.

1967’s ‘The War Wagon’ has Douglas pairing up with JOHN WAYNE in a light-hearted caper that owes as much to the then-current craze of ‘Spaghetti Westerns’ as to the traditional westerns Wayne was most famous for. Again the script may be unremarkable, but the playing of the leads – and the chemistry between them – elevates the film.

In an interview Douglas told a story about working with Wayne. He mentioned that in the movie they’d come up with the idea of Douglas always vaulting onto his horse when he mounted up. They achieved this effect by having Douglas spring on board his horse via a trampoline, (which gives you an idea of the seriousness of the movie.) When a journalist asked Wayne if Douglas would soon rival him as a western icon, Wayne snorted derisively and replied, 'He can’t even get on a horse without using a trampoline!' Of Wayne Douglas said, 'He was a character, but I liked him.'

Douglas turned his hand to directing late in his career and did a good job, IMHO, with his 1975 western ‘Posse.’ He showed his generosity in employing JAMES STACY, former star of the TV Western series ‘Lancer.’ Stacy had found getting work difficult after being cruelly disabled in a road accident. In 'Posse' Douglas helped create an unusual and intelligent western.

With JAMES STACY in 'Posse'

My favourite Douglas film was also his favourite. It fully merits the description ‘modern western.’ ‘Lonely are the Brave’ (1962) tells of the last of the cowboys, a drifter who wants to live as an individual, free of restraint – be they laws or fences – as he might have in the Nineteenth Century. But he soon falls foul of the law and he and his horse Whisky are pursued across stunningly photographed New Mexico landscapes by jeeps and helicopters, hemmed in by fences and freeways, under a sky barred with aeroplane trails.

‘Lonely are the Brave’ features an early score by the great JERRY GOLDSMITH that is one of the finest he ever composed. The supporting cast are first rate, from WALTER MATTHAU as the sheriff reluctantly leading the pursuit to WILLIAM SCHALLERT as his deputy and comic foil.

Again Douglas shows strong chemistry with his leading lady, GENA ROWLANDS, superb in the role. Their few scenes together are particularly rewarding. And Douglas gives a performance of quiet, tragic intensity. A beautiful film!

BEST OF THE BAD MEN #1

Like many of the western writers I’ve corresponded with, I didn’t get into westerns from reading the kind of novels I’d eventually write. I was initially hooked by what I watched, on the cinema and on TV, during my boyhood in the 1960s. And entering the world of the screen western was like joining a family, peopled by familiar faces. Actors re-occurred in the same roles – the same leading men, from A-listers like John Wayne and Gary Cooper to ‘lower-birth’ leads like Audie Murphy and Rory Calhoun. The same leading ladies – either the ‘good girls’ who the hero should marry or the ‘bad girls’ (who often worked in saloons) who he definitely shouldn’t! The same ‘sidekicks’ – one thinks of Noah Beery Jr. and Slim Pickens. A wonderful roster of character actors – Ward Bond, John McIntire, Walter Brennan, Ben Johnson and many more. Some even seemed to corner the market in particular supporting roles – if the town doctor or storekeeper wasn’t played by Frank Ferguson, it was usually Vaughn Taylor. All of whom deserve recognition and blogs of their own.

Vaughn Taylor the eternal store keeper

But perhaps most enjoyable of all were the villains.

Westerns are of course morality plays and if the hero represented the best in people, they needed a foil, an opponent, to represent the very worst; worthy opponents against whom the hero has to be tested. And there were plenty of very capable actors who regularly stepped up to the plate to do just that. They were often as enjoyable, and quite often more enjoyable, than the heroes.

One of the misconception about the western, held against it by its detractors, is that it’s too simplistic, 100% pure heroes up against villains without a single redeeming feature. Anyone who thinks that has obviously never watched many westerns! Western heroes are often flawed, vulnerable or conflicted – one thinks of James Stewart in ‘The Naked Spur,’ Van Heflin in the original ‘3.10 for Yuma’ or John Wayne in ‘The Searchers.’ As for the villains, sometimes they’re clearly good men gone bad, or bad men who have their saving graces – for example Glenn Ford as the outlaw leader in the original ‘3.10 for Yuma.’ Sometimes they’re just irredeemably villainous and loving it! Even then, however, they have their likable aspects.

Glenn Ford in the original ‘3.10 for Yuma.’

The best fictional villains – in westerns or anything – are, in my opinion, almost never petty or cowardly. They are often almost as competent, resourceful, charismatic and intelligent as the heroes they’re up against. Sometimes they could almost be the hero’s evil twin, the flip side of the same coin, and often possess dangerous charm and humour. The difference between them is, usually when the chips are down, when they have to choose between serving themselves or the interests of others, the hero chooses the greater good, the villain cynically chooses himself.

There are so many splendid western bad guys that I realised one blog could never do them justice. So I decided to do two. Next time I’ll discuss ‘the hateful eight’ – the eight very best western villains, in my opinion. Meanwhile here’s a brief canter through the ranks of wrong-doers who didn’t make my final ‘worst of the west’ cut, but gave excellent villain none the less. It’s selective and doesn’t claim to be exhaustive, or else this would be the longest blog in history!

I’m not discussing bad girls – that should be a blog all to itself. Nor would I include Native American chiefs. For a long time Native American leaders were routinely characterised as villains – Chief Scar in ‘The Searchers’ for one.  Attitudes changed however, and they began to be depicted as patriots and even heroes fighting to save their peoples, for example in the 50s biopics of Indian leaders from Cochise to Crazy Horse.

Nor would I include military opponents.  General Santa Anna became the ultimate hate figure on the Texas frontier after the slaughters he ordered in 1836 at The Alamo and Goliad. His defenders, however, would argue he was a patriot trying to preserve his nation against foreign aggression. I’m not going to go there!

Ruben Padilla as General Santa Anna in ‘THE ALAMO’ (1960.)

‘Outriders’ on my list of villains would be actors who more normally played good guys who made surprisingly successful forays into villainy. Audiences gasped at the sight of Henry Fonda, ruthlessly gunning down women and children in ‘Once Upon a Time in the West.’ The same man who’d played the stalwart and incorruptible Wyatt Earp in ‘My Darling Clementine!’

Burt Lancaster gave a tremendous turn as a ‘laughing villain’ in 'Vera Cruz', even dying with his trademark grin on his lips! Lancaster illustrates a characteristic of the bad guy that makes them fun to write – their unpredictability. They do what they like, therefore you never know what they’re going to do next. One minute Lancaster is siding Gary Cooper, the next he’s treacherously conspiring against him.

Slim Pickens, usually a likable side-kick, makes a highly effective slimy villain in ‘One Eyed Jacks.’

And Rory Calhoun seems to be enjoying his turn as a bad guy in ‘River of No Return.’ Like a number of western villains he has a girlfriend (in this case Marilyn Monroe) who believes he’s capable of reforming from his wicked ways. She persuades him to talk to his enemy (Robert Mitchum) the next time they meet, instead of trying to kill him. Rory agrees. “All right.” he says, “I’ll talk to him.” He then takes out his gun and checks if it’s loaded. Monroe asks “What do you need that for?” To which Rory replies: “In case he’s hard of hearing!”

Bad guys often got the best lines!

Rory Calhoun and Marilyn Monroe

Amongst the many memorable western villains on screen were: Walter Brennan as the evil Old Man Clanton in ‘My Darling Clementine’; Robert Duvall as the outlaw John Wayne hunts in ‘True Grit’; Gene Hackman as the corrupt lawman in ‘Unforgiven’; Karl Malden as another villainous lawman in ‘One Eyed Jacks’; Warren Oates and John Anderson as two homicidal brothers in ‘Ride the High Country’; Skip Homeier as the sly back-shooter in ‘The Gunfighter;’ Henry Silva as the cold-eyed and clearly unstable killer in ‘The Tall T’; and Jack Elam, Claude Akins, John Dehner, Gene Evans, Alex Montoya, Ernest Borgnine, Leo Gordon, Robert J. Wilke and Victor Jory in many film and TV appearances. And many more!

I always found the lean-faced James Anderson a particularly villainous-looking villain. He was effective as the brutal cavalryman in ‘Little Big Man’ although perhaps his best depiction of evil was in a non-western ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’

James Anderson in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’

Two actors who almost made it onto my ‘hateful eight’ list were Lee Marvin and Donald Pleasance.

British actor Donald Pleasance was an unusual choice to play a western villain but proved to be inspired casting. He’s Charlton Heston’s nemesis in ‘Will Penny,’ a fire-and- brimstone preacher with a brood of sons as psychopathic as he is. Pleasance manages the trick of playing an over-the-top character without (quite) going over the top.

Lee Marvin frequently played western bad guys but capped it all with his performance in ‘The Man who shot Liberty Valance.’ In a film which is an allegory for the passing of the frontier, his Valance is more than a villain; he represents the flamboyance, savagery and unrestrained violence of the Wild West. When he’s felled by a bullet, it marks the end of an era. He’s an equally enjoyable bad guy in ‘The Comancheros’ where he again shows great chemistry with John Wayne.

If your favourite western wrong-doer isn’t here, don’t worry. Come along to my next blog on the subject – BEST OF THE BAD MEN #2 - and you may find them among ‘the hateful eight’, my eight most favourite western villains! Link to BEST OF THE BAD MEN #2 here: https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2017/11/best-of-bad-men-2-hateful-eight.html