Kirk Douglas

Spartacus

November 8, 2006 // 0 Comments

Stanley Kubrick's story of a slave uprising in ancient Rome won four Academy Awards in 1960 and is still a marvelous sweeping epic that remains absolutely timeless. And yet, the film has been treated like an ugly duckling by Universal so far, never [...]

Last Train From Gun Hill

October 29, 2004 // 0 Comments

Though not a real Western fan, every once in a while I do enjoy films from this genre and then they remind me just how much I liked these films when I was younger. They really do have something and John Sturges’ "Last Train From Gun Hill" is [...]

Out Of The Past

June 24, 2004 // 0 Comments

Warner Home Video has prepared a series of classic film-noir movies, one of which is ’Out Of The Past, ’ a film by Jacques Tourneur starring Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas. Boasting Tourneur’s wonderful cinematic style, the film tells the engaging [...]

The Final Countdown

March 11, 2004 // 0 Comments

When I originally saw "The Final Countdown" in theaters in 1980 I never realized it was such a "small" movie. Small in terms of its budget, of course, and not in terms of the achievement, because as this DVD just reminded me, "The [...]

Gunfight At The O.K. Corral

April 11, 2003 // 0 Comments

’Gunfight At The O.K. Corral’ is John Sturges’ classic retelling of the legendary shootout between Wyatt Earp and his men and Clanton gang in the city of Tombstone. It is one of those legendary events of the Wild West that is being retold over and [...]

The Vikings

April 30, 2002 // 0 Comments

1958’s ’The Viking’ was a pet project of star and producer Kirk Douglas and, while it may seem a bit cheesy and over-the-top to some, the film is a rousing adventure packed with action and excitement. When Viking chief Ragnar (Ernest Borgnine) rapes [...]

The Fury

September 12, 2001 // 0 Comments

I’ve watched many DVDs this year – some great, some good, some not so good – and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s release of Brian DePalma’s ’The Fury’ is, sadly, the worst DVD I’ve seen yet. It’s sad because, although this picture [...]

Seven Days In May

May 24, 2000 // 0 Comments

Sandwiched between the paranoia classic ’The Manchurian Candidate’ and the Faustian shocker ’Seconds, ’ John Frankenheimer’s gripping political thriller ’Seven Days In May’ debuts on DVD with a spiffy looking transfer and a thoroughly [...]

Paths Of Glory

July 25, 1999 // 0 Comments

The bitter, numbing mindlessness of war and the exploitation of military ranks has been material for a number of films, both good and bad. If there has ever been a film that made it brazenly obvious, tangible for everyone, it has to be late director [...]