Man of his Century

"I apologize...  I apologize for not being entirely honest with you.  I apologize for not revealing my true feelings.  I apologize 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!"
—Paths Of Glory (1958)



"I'd rather be here, a free man among brothers, facing a long march and a hard fight, than to be the richest citizen of Rome.  Fat with food he didn't work for and surrounded by slaves.

We've traveled a long ways together.  We've fought many battles and won great victories.  Now, instead of taking ship for our homes across the sea, we must fight again.  Maybe there's no peace in this world, for us or for anyone else.  I don't know.  But I do know that as long as we live, we must stay true to ourselves.  I do know that we're brothers, and I know that we're free!"
—Spartacus (1960)

Kirk Douglas is 100 years old this day, December 9, 2016.  One of the most extraordinary and dynamic actors ever to grace the silver screen and an icon of everything Hollywood once was.  Douglas could transform from genial sophisticate to vengeful brute in less than a second, and he spoke with a voice which commanded your attention even when he talked softly.  Such was the strength of his personality.

The passages quoted above are from just two of the many significant films in this man's long career.  But I believe that if you had to pick one movie which encapsulates every quality which makes Kirk Douglas such an outstanding figure, it would have to be 1956's Lust For Life.  Not only does Kirk Douglas bear a quite reasonable resemblance to Vincent Van Gogh, the master impressionist artist of any time, but he brings to the part an intensity and passion which transcends the screen.  You actually feel, through Douglas, Vincent's struggle to touch the Infinite, to capture on canvas the beauty of the world he drinks in with his every sense, and the agony arising from that flood of perception and his own sense of unworthiness and failure to fully transcribe it to the canvas.  More than a mere acting performance, it is almost as if Kirk Douglas actually becomes Vincent Van Gogh.  He is completely compelling in the role, even down to the moment after Vincent cuts off his own ear.  Son Michael once said in an interview that, as a child watching the premier showing of the film, he cried out because he believed his father had actually cut off his ear for real, and no doubt there were more than a few adults in the audience who had that same impression.

That is Kirk Douglas.  A man of his century and an actor for all time.  Truly one of a kind.