Top 10 - Kirk Douglas vs Michael Douglas

1. Gunfight at the Ok corral.......(K)
2. Wall Street ........................(M)
3. Spartacus...........................(K)
4. Basic Instinct......................(M)
5. Fatal Attraction...................(M)
6. Falling Down......................(M)
7. Champion..........................(K)
8. The Game.........................(M)
9. Paths of glory....................(K)
10. Tough guys......................(K)

K 5 v 5 M ..................Kirk's score 30........Michael's score...........25............

Michael sneaks it...............by 5 !!.......

"Basic Instinct"...get f*cked!!!!!!!!! May as well put "Romancing the Stone" or "Jewel of the Nile"

Kirk Douglas all day every day....legend!

Nice idea for an article Truss. Always glad to see The Game mentioned on any list as it's definitely a film that's been overlooked.

Kirk would probably romp home on my list as I'd shove a couple of Michael's efforts out (Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction most likely) in favour of The List of Adrian Messenger and Ace in the Hole.

I'd find room for Traffic on the list for Michael. Cracking film.

Rowley wrote:I'd find room for Traffic on the list for Michael. Cracking film.

Traffic is hardly a solely Michael Douglas "vehicle" though (great pun, f*ck the lot of ya!)

True enough Dave, he is very much in it though so it should qualify

A few other s that I always enjoyed:

Cactus Jack
The Star Chamber
Spartacus
Saturn 3 (pretty awful but it had boobs in it and I was young when it came out)
The Vikings
Lust for Life
Coma

DAVE667 wrote:"Basic Instinct"...get f*cked!!!!!!!!! May as well put "Romancing the Stone" or "Jewel of the Nile"

Kirk Douglas all day every day....legend!

I love Basic Instinct...............and Mike Douglas is my favorite actor............

Think his Dad though was the epitome of what a leading man should look like............None of this girly DiCaprio crap..

Cactus Jack ???? Man that was awful..

Thought you'd love it cos Arnie's in it.

I remember going to the pictures with my dad when I was a kid. The cinema was showing something or other and "Cactus Jack" was the first film shown of the two (got ya money's worth back then, kids). I love "Cactus Jack" despite knowing it's sh!t...however, "Tough Guys" is my guilty pleasure film along with "Blazing Saddles"

No Black Rain? Great film.

Coma is a much underrated film...............

Good call................

Bujold and Widmark were more the stars of it though..

DAVE667 wrote:Thought you'd love it cos Arnie's in it.

I remember going to the pictures with my dad when I was a kid. The cinema was showing something or other and "Cactus Jack" was the first film shown of the two (got ya money's worth back then, kids). I love "Cactus Jack" despite knowing it's sh!t...however, "Tough Guys" is my guilty pleasure film along with "Blazing Saddles"

I saw it on a double bill as well - I wanted to see Flash Gordon but the queue was around the block (remember those days?) so my dad took me to see Cactus Jack and Spiderman double (the late 70s/early 80s Spiderman).

Adam D wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:Thought you'd love it cos Arnie's in it.

I remember going to the pictures with my dad when I was a kid. The cinema was showing something or other and "Cactus Jack" was the first film shown of the two (got ya money's worth back then, kids). I love "Cactus Jack" despite knowing it's sh!t...however, "Tough Guys" is my guilty pleasure film along with "Blazing Saddles"

I saw it on a double bill as well - I wanted to see Flash Gordon but the queue was around the block (remember those days?) so my dad took me to see Cactus Jack and Spiderman double (the late 70s/early 80s Spiderman).

I nearly clicked on the 'Report an Abuse' link after reading that Adam. No wonder your favourite film is Moulin Rouge after being subjected to such horrors as a child.

Adam D wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:Thought you'd love it cos Arnie's in it.

I remember going to the pictures with my dad when I was a kid. The cinema was showing something or other and "Cactus Jack" was the first film shown of the two (got ya money's worth back then, kids). I love "Cactus Jack" despite knowing it's sh!t...however, "Tough Guys" is my guilty pleasure film along with "Blazing Saddles"

I saw it on a double bill as well - I wanted to see Flash Gordon but the queue was around the block (remember those days?) so my dad took me to see Cactus Jack and Spiderman double (the late 70s/early 80s Spiderman).

Nicky Hammond's spiderman............The Dragon's challenge.........Awful now but good back then.

No Vikings?

I missed out Saturn 3 too..."Put her down Hector!!"

That film was so crap it was good. The big question was how did they get Kirk and Keitel to do it !!.

If you ever get the chance to see it, I would highly recommend Ace in the Hole. Directed by Billy Wilder and starring Kirk Douglas, it was made in the early 1950s and is a gripping drama about how a down on his luck journalist seeks to exploit and exaggerate a news story for his own ends with alarming results.

I think Michael's tour de force was Falling Down.  That and probably Wall Street are the only movie of his where I'd personally say he touched on the quality of his father.  

As for Kirk................. where to begin!  He had everything - theatricality, uber-confidence in his screen presence, sensitivity, violence, pathos, comic timing, romantic brooding.  

His often quoted movies are already up above.  

I'd add my personal favourite Lonely are the Brave (his too) about a 1960s cowboy trying hopelessly to escape a modern world that fully encircled him.  Wonderful poignant performance but played with a great sense of boyish innocence and enthusiasm.  
Incidentally, the theme of being caged in and restless has quite a similar path to 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest' (of course produced by Michael) but a project Kirk originally planned to make himself, having starred in a stage version - and he'd have been fantastic McMurphy.

Detective Story (1951)
The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
The Way West (1967)