The 12 Best Kirk Douglas Movies, Ranked

With a jaw chiseled from solid granite, an eagle-like, aquiline nose, a million-dollar smile, and a dime-sized dimple on his chin, he famously refused to remove despite studio pressure, Kirk Douglas looked like he was made in a lab to be a movie star. And what a movie star he was, with an astonishing 70-year career, most of it spent above the title. Heck, the dude even flirted with Anne Hathaway at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards in front of an international audience when he was 94 years old (I bet his blood type was testosterone). When Douglas passed away at 96 years old, he left behind a legacy as deep as the cleft in his chin, transcending the Golden Age of Hollywood into the New Hollywood and beyond.

Not bad considering he started life far from Hollywood as Issur Danielovitch, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants in eastern New York state, who briefly switched his name to Izzy Demsky before finally settling on Kirk Douglas. In his younger days, Douglas worked as an usher, bellhop, and even pro wrestler, but was drawn to Hollywood by the irresistible lure of the silver screen. Following a brief detour in the U.S. Navy and Broadway, Douglas headed for Hollywood and never looked back. Graced with an athleticism as robust as his acting talent, Douglas worked with some of the best directors of his day and starred in many magnificent movies. These are his best.

Every movie star cares about their screen image, and Kirk Douglas was no different. But one thing Douglas never seemed to care about was playing the bad guy. Sure, even James Stewart played a villain once, but that was in “After The Thin Man” from 1936, before he established his good-guy screen persona. Meanwhile, Douglas didn’t care whether he had established himself as a hero or not; if a juicy part to play the bad guy came up, he took it. Case in point: “There Was A Crooked Man” from 1970.

Douglas plays the prissy dandy of an Old West bandit named Paris Pitman, a crooked man indeed, who finds himself in a jail in the middle of the Arizona desert, hit with a lengthy sentence after a botched heist. Pitman first tries to buy off his captors, but upstanding Sheriff Lopman (Henry Fonda) is having none of it. So Pitman offers his cellmates a take of his hidden loot in exchange for helping stage a jailbreak. 

You can tell everybody was having a good time making this movie, nobody more so than Douglas, who wore the role of the cynical and unscrupulous Pitman like one of his characters’ tailored suits. “There Was A Crooked Man” was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz of “All About Eve” fame, who brought that classic film’s same urbane sophistication to the wild west, creating a genre-bending ride as funny as it is exciting.

“My Darling Clementine” and “Tombstone” are tied for the best movie about Wyatt Earp (and the best movie set in Arizona), but landing next on the “Earp Scale” (not a real thing; I just made that up) is “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.” Burt Lancaster plays the legendary lawman while Kirk Douglas plays his equally mythic pal, the drunken dentist turned virtuoso gunslinger John “Doc” Holliday. You know how it goes: the duo find themselves cleaning up the town in Tombstone, Arizona, from the Clayton gang, leading to the famous confrontation at the O.K. Corral. 

Douglas technically takes second billing behind Lancaster in “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,” but this is every bit as much a Doc Holliday movie as a Wyatt Earp one. The 1957 film takes a deliberately paced approach to the story, really letting us get to know these characters before the fateful shootout. Lancaster played Earp as stoic and steady, as only he could, while Douglas brought the appropriate joie de vivre to the hard-drinking, skirt-chasing, fun-loving Doc. It would be unfair to compare Douglas’ performance to Val Kilmer’s iconic turn in “Tombstone” 36 years later, but I will say it’s hard to watch any actor do Doc after watching Kilmer’s “Tombstone” triumph. Still, Douglas does a darn good job, giving the second-best Doc performance in the third-best Earp movie.

“20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” is the best movie based on a Jules Verne book, and also one of star Kirk Douglas’ best films. Douglas plays Ned Land in the 1954 Disney adaptation, who joins an expedition to the Pacific Ocean to hunt down a giant sea monster reported to be sinking ships. When Land and the crew are thrown overboard by the “monster,” they discover it is actually a submarine piloted by Captain Nemo (James Mason), a mysterious man as brilliant as he is dangerous.

As a grand cinematic adventure from the 1950s, “20,000 Leagues” has no equal, as one can imagine audiences of all ages having an absolute blast watching this in the theater back in the day. Sure, it is a bit dated today, but that only adds to the film’s timeless charm. As Ned Land, Douglas had a thankless task: He had to play second fiddle to Mason, who gave one of his most defining career performances as Captain Nemo, a far more colorful and compelling character in even a lesser actor’s hands. The fact that Douglas wasn’t swallowed whole, but created a compelling protagonist in his own right, speaks to his talent. Also impressive is his singing of “A Whale of A Tale,” and for managing to make us believe that he is actually fighting a giant squid.

“Lonely Are The Brave” finds Kirk Douglas giving one of his favorite performances of his career, and you have to admit, the man had good taste. Douglas plays Jack Burns, a modern-day rugged ranch hand whose heart and soul belong to the Old West. When Burns’ best friend (Michael Kane) gets himself arrested, Burns does what any friend would do and gets into a barroom brawl so that he can be imprisoned with his pal and help him escape. Trouble is, his family man friend has too much at stake to escape, so Burns finds himself at odds with a sadistic deputy (George Kennedy) and a dogged sheriff (Walter Matthau).

“Lonely Are The Brave” falls into the sub-genre of “independent individualist who squares off against the modern world.” It packs a lot of story into its tight 107-minute runtime, and is also heavily laden with symbolism, but still manages never to feel overstuffed or heavy-handed, mostly thanks to Douglas’ movie star performance. Douglas is more subdued than we’re used to seeing him, but still manages to capture the screen with his commanding charisma. Jack Burns is a “New West” hero who is easy to root for, which is probably why he was Douglas’ favorite to play.

“Seven Days In May” has Kirk Douglas reuniting with his “Gunfight At The O.K. Corral” co-star Burt Lancaster, starring as very different characters in a very different movie. Released in 1964, “Seven Days In May” finds Douglas playing Colonel Martin “Jiggs” Casey, the dutiful aide to the hawkish General James Scott (Lancaster). When the president (Fredric March) announces his intent to end the Cold War by signing a nuclear disarmament agreement with the Soviets, Scott plots a coup to overthrow him in seven days. Jiggs finds out about the general’s plot, forcing him to protect his country by being pitted between his commanding officer and his commander-in-chief.

“Seven Days In May” was the fifth of Douglas and Lancaster’s seven collaborations, and it’s definitely their best. Ironically, it’s a movie that finds the two typically tough guys playing against type, both portraying paranoid, neurotic men possessed by their dueling interpretations of doing the right thing. Lancaster makes for a terrific villain who believes he’s doing the right thing, while Douglas is easy to empathize with as a genial man who finds his loyalty being tested. Under John Frankenheimer’s direction, with a script by “Twilight Zone” scribe Rod Serling, “Seven Days In May” is a top-rate political thriller every bit as exciting today as it was in 1964.

Kirk Douglas was still an up-and-comer in 1949 when he got the chance to star in the career-making role of Michael “Midge” Kelly in “Champion.” Douglas’ Midge is a man of contradictions. He runs away from his wife, but takes up work as a boxer to support his disabled brother (Arthur Kennedy). His never-say-die defiance makes Midge a big hit on the circuit, and he gets a dream bout fighting for the championship. But when a pack of unsavory characters tell Midge to lose the bout, or else, his stubbornness may cost him more than the championship is worth.

Boxing is perhaps the most cinematic of all sports, with characters finding themselves at the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, oftentimes in the same movie. This 1949 noir film falls firmly in the latter camp. Similar to Robert De Niro’s portrayal of real-life boxing champion Jake LaMotta in “Raging Bull” 31 years later, Midge is a man who can win matches, but is losing the fight against his own internal demons. Douglas’ fierce and feral performance earned him the first of his three Academy Award nominations and set the scene-stealing supporting actor on the road to above-the-title Hollywood movie stardom.

Sorry to shock you, but Hollywood tends to be a self-aggrandizing place, and thus has a slobbering love affair with movies about making movies. But the best films about Hollywood are unafraid to take off the gloves and show the world what showbiz is really like. “The Bad and the Beautiful” from 1952 is one such project. 

Kirk Douglas plays Jonathan Shields, a shady movie producer just shy of total slimeball who slithered his way to the top of the studio system, shamelessly leaving behind a movie star (Lana Turner), director (Barry Sullivan), and screenwriter (Dick Powell) in his trail when they no longer served his needs. Shields made them, so he believes he can destroy them, which, in some perverse, Stockholm Syndrome-style way, each of them begrudgingly believes. But the maxim “forgive but don’t forget” comes into play when Shields offers them the opportunity to collaborate on a new project. 

“The Bad and the Beautiful” is a quality 1950s Hollywood melodrama from the man who knew it better than anyone, director Vincente Minnelli. Douglas understood the assignment, and he chewed the scenery the way Shields chews up and spits out the people in his way, giving one of his finest performances in the process.

If I were directing a biopic of tortured Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh in 1956, there’s only a 7% chance I would have hired Kirk Douglas to play the part. Which is why I’m glad Vincente Minnelli directed “Lust For Life” and not me. Based on the 1934 biographical novel by Irving Stone, the cinematic adaptation “Lust For Life” follows van Gogh as he struggles to balance both his unimaginable talent and his crippling anxiety and mental health battles. While van Gogh’s life was short, his cultural contributions were many, and “Lust For Life” follows him from his journey from Holland to France, where his encounter with the equally enigmatic painter Paul Gauguin (Anthony Quinn) ultimately leads to his tragic suicide at just 37 years old.

Douglas is a revelation as the tortured artist in this film, playing the troubled painter with power and poise in a film that was ahead of its time in its portrayal of mental health struggles. Some may no doubt complain that the film was constrained by the conventions of the time, and Douglas’ portrayal of van Gogh’s mental health borders dangerously close to melodramatic. Still, there’s no denying Douglas nailed it, and that he deserved the last of his three Oscar nominations.

“Out of the Past” is film noir at its finest, perfectly exemplifying the genre’s traditional tropes before there was even a term for it. You have the Average Joe (Robert Mitchum) who’s in over his head. The femme fatale (Jane Greer), who’s as gorgeous as she is dangerous. And of course, the bad guy (Kirk Douglas), a morally unscrupulous man whose only loyalty is to the almighty dollar. Oh, and a complicated, borderline convoluted plot that will leave you at the edge of your seat and scratching your head at the same time.

Douglas plays crooked gambler Whit Sterling, who hires a small-town gas station owner named Jeff Bailey (Mitchum) to track down his ex-girlfriend (Greer), who shot him and stole his 40 grand. And you thought your ex was trouble. Things get dicey when Bailey does the one thing you don’t do in a film noir and falls for the dame, setting him and her on a collision course with Sterling and his cronies.

“Out of the Past” would arguably rank higher on this list, but I think of it more as a “Robert Mitchum movie” than a “Kirk Douglas movie.” Still, it’s so good, and as one of the greatest film noirs of all time, I couldn’t not include it. While Douglas would do better work down the line, he was rarely in better films, and “Out of the Past” is worth a watch for Douglas fans interested in his earlier work.

Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 epic “Spartacus” proves he was as good at ancient epics as he was at dystopian satire and sci-fi. But to make a movie like “Spartacus” work, you need a movie star as big as the movie he is in. For that, you might think Kubrick hired Kirk Douglas for the title role. But actually, it was the other way around. You see, Douglas was disappointed his “Detective Story” director, William Wyler, hired Charlton Heston instead of him for 1959’s “Ben-Hur,” so he decided to take his swords and sandals elsewhere to pursue his own ancient epic adventure. David Lean turned Douglas and company down, while Anthony Mann was canned, so they finally hired Douglas’ “Paths of Glory” director Kubrick, who was just 30 years old at the time. 

Douglas plays Thracian Spartacus, a Roman slave turned rebel leader who uses his training as a gladiator to turn on his owners, leading an uprising of his fellow escaped slaves. Their numbers grow as more escaped slaves join the cause, leading to a titanic showdown with the Roman Empire. Spartacus’ story has inspired both a silent movie and a modern TV series, but the story was never told better than in the 1960 film. Sadly, Douglas and Kubrick clashed over creative differences and never worked again, but at least the two films they left us are all-time greats. “Spartacus” may have been a difficult movie to make, but it is a breeze to watch, and joins the hallowed ranks of the greatest ancient war movies ever made.

Billy Wilder’s fantastic filmography boasts such indisputable masterpieces as “Double Indemnity,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “The Apartment,” and more than I can mention here, so it’s perhaps no shock that even a gem like “Ace In The Hole” can get lost in the cracks. That’s too bad, as it belongs amongst both Wilder and Kirk Douglas’ best.

Alternatively known as “The Big Carnival,” the 1951 cynical satire with shades of noir finds Douglas playing career ne’er-do-well Chuck Tatum, who takes a job as a local newspaper reporter in a New Mexico town where there is no news. Chuck’s luck turns around when a treasure hunter becomes trapped in a mineshaft, and Tatum uses the man as his “ace in the hole,” exploiting his suffering to create a media circus, with himself as ringmaster. 

Imagine one of Douglas’ contemporaries playing such an unscrupulous man, and you’ll see what made him special as a movie star. Douglas was fearless when it came to playing immoral men, seeing it not as a risk, but as an opportunity to sink his teeth into a juicy role. And sink his teeth he did, turning Tatum into a true scoundrel, albeit one whose moments of moral compunction interrupt his own corruption. Douglas worked so well in Wilder’s world that it’s a shame they didn’t work together again. If you have never seen it, or heck, even if you have, “Ace In The Hole” is a diamond in the rough worth discovering.

“Paths of Glory” is a brave film, not only because it reminds moviegoers that war is hell, but that the people fighting it are often demons. Yes, even the good guys. Set during World War I, Kirk Douglas plays French officer Colonel Dax, who’s told to attack a German trench position by his commanding officer, Gen. Mireau (George Macready), who was told to launch the attack by his commanding officer, Gen. Broulard (Adolphe Menjou). When the operation inevitably ends in disaster, blame trickles down as Dax must defend three random soldiers who are brought before a court-martial to protect the corrupt military bureaucracy.

Released in 1957, “Paths of Glory” was an anti-war movie before that became de rigueur in the 1960s. As producer, Douglas did well by hiring the budding young auteur Stanley Kubrick to helm this thematically and technically challenging production. As the star, Douglas delivered a bravura performance packed with pathos, showing he was as skilled at playing a movie’s moral compass as he was at being the bad guy. The murky morality of the movie makes “Paths of Glory” a difficult watch, no matter how many times you have seen it, as you can’t help but feel awful at the wretched injustice on display. There is no glory in “Paths of Glory,” which speaks to the harsh truths of war. Among the greatest anti-war movies ever made, “Paths of Glory” stands tall as the best Kirk Douglas movie of all time.