Young Man with a Horn (1950).

Young Man with a Horn (1950). Drama. Based on a biographical novel of the same name about the life of Bix Beiderbecke. Cast: Doris Day, Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall.

The story begins, Musician Smoke Willoughby, thinks back to when he first meet his friend legendary trumpet player Rick Martin.:

After his mother dies, Rick moves in with his sister in California. Rick sees a trumpet in a pawn shop window and gets a job in a bowling alley to pay for it. Next to the bowling alley is a Jazz club, where Rick hears jazz for the first time.

He quickly makes friends with the trumpet player Art Hazzard, who teaches his young friend how to play the trumpet. As Rick gets older, he finds odd jobs playing for carnivals and dance marathons.

Rick decides to follow Art to New York and lands a job playing trumpet for big band leader Jack Chandler, where he meets Smoke and singer Jo.

Chandler insists that Rick play the music exactly as written. Chandler fires Rick after he plays a jazzy number. Despite Jo's efforts, Rick refuses to go back when Chandler offers to rehire him. Rick learns that his friend Art has been sick and he returns to New York. Jo gets him a job with another orchestra.

Some evenings Rick goes over to help out Art at Louis Galba's nightclub. Jo brings her friend Amy to hear Rick play. Amy, who is studying to be a psychiatrist, blames her father for her mother's death and believes that she is not capable of love.

 

 They fall in love and are married, soon after Rick and Amy start to have problems because of his dedication to music. Will Rick be torn away from playing the trumpet to save his marriage?

For anyone who loves jazz, this is a wonderful movie. The soundtrack to this movie is awesome.(trumpet played by Harry James). Kirk Douglas is perfect for Rick's character. Lauren Bacall performance as a manipulative heiress was perfect.

Fun Facts:

Kirk Douglas's trumpet licks were performed by Harry James.

 The Columbia 10-inch studio LP featuring Doris Day and Harry James hit the top spot on "Billboard"'s popular albums chart.

Doris Day wrote that she was unhappy making this film, which brought back stressful memories of her early career as a band singer, and also because Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall (having dated at one time in real life) seemed to intentionally shut her out, making her feel unwelcome.

At least three times, you will see trumpeters in the movie using mutes different from those on the sound track. For example, in the Christmas Eve scene, Rick is shown using a Harmon mute and Harry James' dub of the tune is with a cup mute.

Features one of the earliest references to homosexuality. The character of Amy played by Lauren Bacall is suppose to be a lesbian, which is why Rick, played by Kirk Douglas, walks out on her telling her that she is "a very sick girl".

Mary Beth Hughes (November 13, 1919 – August 27, 1995)  While acting in a school play in the early 1930s, her performance caught the attention of Clifford Brown, a repertory theater company owner, who offered her a part in a touring production of Alice in Wonderland.

 While touring with another production in Brown's company, she was offered a contract from a talent scout with Gaumont-British Studios but declined the offer to finish high school. After graduating from high school in 1937, she returned to Brown's theater company, where she continued to appear in various stage productions until the summer of 1938, when she relocated to Los Angeles with her mother to pursue a film career.

 After six months of failing to land movie roles, Hughes and her mother made plans to return to Washington, D.C., until Hughes met an agent, Wally Ross. Ross introduced Hughes to powerful William Morris agent Johnny Hyde. Hyde landed Hughes a contract with MGM, and she soon landed a small, uncredited role in the 1939 film Broadway Serenade.

 After Broadway Serenade, Hughes appeared in other bit parts in films including The Women with Norma Shearer, Dancing Co-Ed with Lana Turner, and the Busby Berkeley film Fast and Furious. In 1940 Hughes was offered a contract with 20th Century-Fox.

Later that year she landed a role opposite John Barrymore in The Great Profile, a part she later noted as one of her favorites. Fox did not renew her contract when it expired in 1943, and the following year she began appearing in a nightclub act and soon signed a three-picture deal with Universal Pictures.

Throughout the mid-40s and early '50s, Hughes appeared in film and television roles, including the cult classic I Accuse My Parents (which was later parodied on Mystery Science Theater 3000), Waterfront at Midnight, Wanted: Dead or Alive (episode "Secret Ballot"),The Devil's Henchman, The Abbott and Costello Show, Dragnet and Studio One.

 In 1961, Hughes decided to retire from acting and began working as a receptionist in a plastic surgeon's office, although she continued her appearances in nightclubs. The following year she directed and starred in a Los Angeles production of Pajama Top.

For the rest of the '60s she would go on to appear in television shows like Rawhide and Dennis the Menace. In 1970 she landed a regular role on The Red Skelton Show, appearing in 11 episodes before the show ended later that year.

 In 1976 she again retired from show business, explaining that she was "tired of auditioning for sexy grandma roles."Hughes' last onscreen appearance was in the 1976 film Tanya. In the late 1970s Hughes opened a beauty parlor in Canoga Park, California. She closed the shop in the late 1980s and began working as a telemarketer until 1991, when she was laid off.

 As a starlet under contract with MGM, Hughes went on studio-appointed dates with several actors, including Lew Ayres, Franchot Tone, Mickey Rooney, and James Stewart. While under contract to Fox, she also went on prearranged dates with Milton Berle and George Montgomery.

 In 1940, against Fox's wishes, Hughes began a relationship with actor Robert Stack. The romance lasted a year. After her romance with Stack ended, Hughes married actor Ted North in 1943. The couple had one son, Donald, before divorcing in 1947. In 1948, she married singer/actor David Street. The marriage ended in 1956. In 1973 Hughes married her manager, Nicky Stewart, but that marriage also ended in divorce four years later.

Act of Love(1953).

Act of Love(1953). Romantic drama directed by Anatole Litvak. Cast: Kirk Douglas, Dany Robin and a very young Brigitte Bardot. It is based on the novel, The Girl on the Via Flaminia by Alfred Hayes.

After Robert Teller, arrives in a small town on the French Riviera, he reaches the Hotel Belle Rive, where he requests a specific room. Soon, a woman, who happens by, joins him at an outdoor cafe table, where Bob, tells her about the first time he visited France during the U.S. Army liberation of Paris:

After fighting in the war, Bob returns to Paris, working as a clerk, in an Army office. Bob locates his friend Nina, who trades his German camera on the black market so he can pay for private room. When Nina, makes plans to move to Cannes, with an American captain, she tells Bob he can rent her apartment, as long as he will share it with her friend, Lise, a woman who has lost her family in the war. Lise, is not too happy that they must pretend to be married so that the owners, will allow them to stay there.

Lise, can not find employment and is about to pawn her necklace when she is caught up in a police round-up, but.. she is quickly released. Bob, has been pacing the floor in hopes that Lise will return home. Now, a couple, they visit the palace at Versailles and later attend a USO square dance.

While traveling home by subway, Lise tells him that the happiest time of her life, was during a family vacation at the Hotel Belle Rive and dreamed some day she would return.

Bob, is forced to return to the barracks, leaving Lise alone on the dark streets where she is rescued by Claude, who gives her a gift of a German bullet hanging on a chain.

The next day, military police come to the cafe and Lise, is ordered to show her documents with a magistrate. When Lise does not return, Fernand goes to see Bob at his office and tells him what must have happened to her. Meanwhile, Lise is documented and released. When, Lise returns home in a daze, she is attacked by Claude, who grabs her by the hair and threatens to cut it off. Bob, comes to Lise's rescue and promises to marry her.



When Bob, goes to get permission from his commanding officer Henderson, he refuses, thinking that Bob is making a mistake and has him transferred immediately. Bob, jumps off the transport truck, but.. is caught and is unable to meet Lise. A military police officer agrees to call Lise, to tell her what happened but.. Claude interferes and tells her she has been used. Broken hearted, Lise, walks to a bridge by the river and is gone. Kirk Douglas, gives a unforgettable performance and the ending was very sad and moving.

Fun Fact:

Kirk Douglas met his German wife-to-be, Anne Buydens, when she applied for a job as his assistant on the French location shoot for this film.

Dany Robin (14 April 1927 – 25 May 1995) was a French actress of the 1950s and the early 1960s who was married to actor, Georges Marchal.

She performed in the films: The Waltz of the Toreadors, Act of Love(1953), Follow the Boys (1963), and in Alfred Hitchcock's, Topaz (1969).

Dawn's favorite Movie actors and their films of the "60's".

Clint Eastwood:
1964 A Fistful of Dollars
1965 For a Few Dollars More
1966 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
1967 Le streghe
1968 Hang 'Em High
Coogan's Bluff
Where Eagles Dare

In 1963 Eastwood's co-star on Rawhide, Eric Fleming, rejected an offer to star in an Italian-made western, A Fistful of Dollars. Knowing that he could play a cowboy Harrison suggested Eastwood, who saw the film as a wonderful opportunity.

Eastwood later spoke about the transition from a television western to A Fistful of Dollars: "In Rawhide I did get awfully tired of playing the conventional white hat. The hero who kisses old ladies and dogs and was kind to everybody. I decided it was time to be an anti-hero." Eastwood, created the Man with No Name character, who smoked cigars.

The film was the beginning of spaghetti westerns and Eastwood became a major star in Italy and he also performed in, For a Few Dollars More (1965). Two months later Eastwood began work on the third Dollars film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in which he again played the, Man with No Name.

The Dollars trilogy was not shown in the United States until 1967 when A Fistful of Dollars opened in January, For a Few Dollars More in May, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in December. All the films were successful and turned Eastwood into a major film star. Stardom brought more "tough guy" roles for Eastwood. Next, he signed up to perform in the western, Hang 'Em High (1968). Across between Rawhide and Leone's westerns. Using money earned from the Dollars trilogy Leonard helped establish Eastwood's production company, Malpaso Productions, named after the Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California.

While Eastwood was working on his next film, Coogan's Bluff, Jennings Lang arranged for Eastwood to meet Don Siegel, a Universal contract director who later became one of Eastwood's close friends, that would last for more than ten years. Coogan's Bluff also became the first of many collaborations with Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, who would later score the jazzy themes to Eastwood's films. Eastwood created the prototype for his role as a cop of the Dirty Harry films.

Next he went on to perform in, Where Eagles Dare(1968), about a World War II squad parachuting into the mountains.

Eastwood then performed in his only musical of his career, Paint Your Wagon (1969). Eastwood and fellow non-singer Lee Marvin play gold miners who share the same wife. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Rock Hudson:
Seconds (1966)
Lover Come Back (1961)
Ice Station Zebra (1968)
Send Me No Flowers (1964)

In the 60s Hudson, performed in many romantic comedies such as: Pillow Talk, the first of several co-starring with Doris Day. This was followed by Lover Come Back, Come September, Send Me No Flowers, Man's Favorite Sport?, The Spiral Road, and Strange Bedfellows. Along with Cary Grant was regarded as one of the best-dressed male stars in Hollywood. He also performed in the science-fiction thriller, Seconds (1966). The film flopped but it later gained cult status, and Hudson's performance is often regarded as one of his best. He also tried his hand in the action genre with Tobruk (1967), the lead in 1968's spy thriller Ice Station Zebra, a role which he said was his personal favorite, and the western, The Undefeated (1969).

Kirk Douglas:
Spartacus (1960)
Seven Days in May (1964)
War Wagon, The (1967)
Lonely Are the Brave (1962)

Douglas, was a major box office star in the 60s, performing in many westerns such as, In Lonely Are the Brave (1962), his own favorite of his performances, Douglas plays a cowboy trying to live by his own code, much as he did in real life.

Douglas played many military men like in the films: Town Without Pity (1961), The Hook (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), Heroes of Telemark (1965), In Harm's Way (1965), Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), Is Paris Burning (1966). Douglas played the lead with an all-star cast in, Spartacus (1960). He was also the executive producer. Douglas also performed in comedies, such as in the film, For Love or Money (1963).

Douglas made a couple of films in the 60s with Burt Lancaster: The List of Adrian Messenger(1963)and Seven Days in May (1964).



Douglas stated that the keys to acting success are determination and application, "You must know how to function and how to maintain yourself, and you must have a love of what you do. But an actor also needs great good luck. I have had that luck."Douglas had great vitality, "It takes a lot out of you to work in this business. Many people fall by the wayside because they don’t have the energy to sustain their talent.".

Cary Grant:
Charade (1963)
Father Goose (1964)
Walk Don't Run (1966)
That Touch of Mink (1962)

In the mid-1950s, Grant formed his own production company, Granart Productions, and produced a number of movies in the 60s such as: That Touch of Mink and Father Goose (1964).




In 1963, he also performed opposite Audrey Hepburn in the film, Charade (1963). His last feature film was Walk, Don't Run.

Grant was the first actor to "go independent" by not renewing his studio contract.  Because of this he decided which movies he was going to perform in, he also had the choice of the directors and his co-stars and at times even negotiated a share of the gross, something uncommon at the time.

Fred MacMurray :
Apartment, The (1960)
Absent Minded Professor, The (1961)
Son of Flubber (1963)
Follow Me, Boys! (1966)

In the 1960s, he starred in My Three Sons, which ran for 12 seasons, making it one of America's longest-running TV show. MacMurray, stared in 1961 as Professor Ned Brainerd in Disney's, The Absent-Minded Professor and in its sequel, Son of Flubber, in 1964.



MacMurray, had a provision in his "Sons" contract that all his scenes be shot first. This freed him to pursue his film work and golf . It's also interesting to note that two character names on "My Three Sons" were named after his real life children, Rob (as in Rob Douglas) and Katherine (Kate); he often referred to his TV son Robbie as 'Rob' and later TV daughter-in-law Katie Douglas as 'Kate.'

He was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party. He joined Bob Hope and James Stewart to campaign for Richard Nixon in 1968.

He was one of the wealthiest actors of the 60s and MacMurray usually brought a brown bag lunch to work. Friends and business associates referred to him as "the thrifty multimillionaire."

Jack Lemmon :
Apartment, The (1960)
Odd Couple, The (1968)
Great Race, The (1965)
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

Lemmon, was a favorite actor of director Billy Wilder, who felt Lemmon had a natural tendency toward overacting. In the Wilder biography Nobody's Perfect quotes the director as saying, "Lemmon, I would describe him as a ham, a fine ham, and with ham you have to trim a little fat". The biography also quotes Jack Lemmon as saying, "I am particularly susceptible to the parts I play... If my character was having a nervous breakdown, I started to have one".

He also had a longtime working relationship with director Blake Edwards, starring in in the 60s films: Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The Great Race (1965) and That's Life! (1986).

Days of Wine and Roses (1962) was one of his favorite roles. He portrayed Joe Clay, a young, fun-loving alcoholic businessman. In that film, Lemmon delivered the line, "My name is Joe Clay ... I'm an alcoholic." Three and a half decades later, he admitted on the television program, Inside the Actors Studio, that he was not acting when he delivered that line, that he really was a recovering alcoholic at the end of his life.


Lemmon's production company JML produced Cool Hand Luke in 1967. Paul Newman was grateful to Lemmon for his support and offered him the role later made famous by Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but Lemmon turned it down. He did not like riding horses and he also felt he'd already played too many aspects of the Sundance Kid's character before.

Lemmon often performed in films with Walter Matthau. Among their pairings was 1968's The Odd Couple, as Felix Ungar (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Matthau).

William Holden:
Wild Bunch, The (1969)
Paris - When It Sizzles (1964)
Casino Royale (1967)
Devil's Brigade, The (1968)

Holden was forced by studio contracts to perform in films such as, Paris When It Sizzles (1964), also co-starring Audrey Hepburn. By the mid-1960s, his career was beginning to fade.

Robert Redford:
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
This Property Is Condemned (1966)
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)

Redford, made his screen debut in the film, War Hunt (1962). Later he was cast in larger roles in movies such as, In Inside Daisy Clover (1965) with Natalie Wood, they also performed together in the film, This Property Is Condemned (1966). The same year saw his first teaming with Jane Fonda in, The Chase. Fonda and Redford were paired again in the film, Barefoot in the Park (1967) also the film, The Electric Horseman (1979).

Redford was cast in the film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), scripted by William Goldman, in which he was paired for the first time with Paul Newman. The film cemented his screen image as an intelligent, reliable, good guy.




Redford did have a few box office flops, Downhill Racer (1969) and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969).

Anthony Quinn:
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Guns of Navarone, The (1961)
Barabbas (1962)
Alexis Zorbas (1964)

By the 60s Quinn, was beginning to show his age and began his transformation into a major character actor. He played a Greek resistance fighter in the film, The Guns of Navarone (1961), a ex-boxer in the film, Requiem for a Heavyweight, and Auda abu Tayi in the film, Lawrence of Arabia (both 1962). He also played the title role in Barabbas. The success of the film, Zorba the Greek (1964) which won him another Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Other films include: The 25th Hour (1967), The Magus (1968), Guns for San Sebastian with Charles Bronson and The Shoes of the Fisherman, where he played a Ukrainian pope. In 1969, he starred in the film, The Secret of Santa Vittoria .

Henry Fonda:
Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
Longest Day, The (1962)
Battle of the Bulge (1965)
Boston Strangler, The (1968)

In the 60s Fonda, was still performing in the western television series The Deputy (1959–1961), in which he starred as Marshal Simon Fry. The 1960s also saw Fonda perform in many war and western epics, including 1962's The Longest Day and How the West Was Won, 1965's In Harm's Way and Battle of the Bulge. In the Cold War suspense film Fail-Safe (1964), Fonda played the President of the United States who tries to prevent a nuclear holocaust through tense negotiations with the Soviets after American bombers are mistakenly ordered to attack the USSR. He also performed in the light-hearted film, Spencer's Mountain (1963), which was the inspiration for the TV series, The Waltons.

Fonda , performed against type as the villain 'Frank' in, 1968's Once Upon a Time in the West.

Fonda's was good friends with Jimmy Stewart and they teamed up to work on the film, Firecreek(1968), where Fonda once again played the bad guy.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers(1946).

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers(1946). Film noir. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott and Kirk Douglas in his film debut. The movie is based on the short story "Love Lies Bleeding" by playwright John Patrick.

The story begins, One rainy night, when Martha Ivers, a young girl wanting to get out from under her rich, domineering aunt's thumb, is caught trying to run away with her friend, Sam Masterson.

Later that night, Sam comes back looking for her, but hides when he hears her aunt hitting the cat with her cane. When Martha comes to the rescue of her cat, she accidentally kills her aunt. Walter O'Neil, the son of Martha's tutor, sees the whole thing. Martha lies about the accident to Mr. O'Neil, and Walter backs her up. Although, Mr. O'Neil, believes he knows what really happened, tells the police, that some one must have broken in to the house. He then moves into the mansion.

Years later, he blackmails her into marrying his son by forcing her to testify against an innocent man.

Eighteen years later, Walter has become the district attorney. Walter loves her, but she doesn't love him. Sam, now a drifter and gambler, stops in the small town by chance when he has a car accident and has to wait for it to be repaired.

While waiting he meets Toni, who has just been released from jail. She is later picked up for violating her probation. Sam goes to see Walter, to see if he can get her released. Walter believes that Sam has returned with blackmail in mind. Instead.. Walter and Marta, pull Sam into a tangled web of lies.

I enjoyed the film for two reasons, the performance of Barbara Stanwyck, doing what she does best, playing a ruthless woman, who will do anything to get what she wants and the debut of Kirk Douglas.

Lizabeth Scott (born September 29, 1922). Scott movie debut was in the film, You Came Along (1945).

Paramount called Scott "The Threat," in order to create an onscreen persona for her similar to Lauren Bacall or Veronica Lake. Scott's smoky sensuality and husky voice was perfect for film noir genre beginning with, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946).

Film historian Eddie Muller has said that no other actress has appeared in so many noir movies.

The dark blond actress was initially compared to Bacall because of a slight resemblance and a similar voice, even more so after she starred with Humphrey Bogart in the noir, Dead Reckoning (1947).

She also starred in, Desert Fury(1947) and later was paired with Lancaster, Corey and Kirk Douglas in, I Walk Alone (1948).

She also starred in the film, Too Late for Tears(1949).

After completing the film, Loving You (1957), Elvis Presley's second movie, Scott retired from the screen.

Happy Birthday: Kirk Douglas!

Kirk Douglas (December 9, 1916), always believed that to become a star, he needed to choose strong roles. Early in his career, he broke his studio contracts so he would have more control over his projects, forming his own movie company "Bryna Productions", named after his mother.

Douglas was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his work in the films: Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful and Lust for Life. He was especially disappointed for not winning for the latter film. Douglas did not win any competitive Oscars, but received a Honorary Academy Award in 1996 for "50 years as a moral and creative force in the motion picture community.

Champion(1949). Film Noir drama based on a short story by Ring Lardnr.  It is about the struggles of boxer  "Midge" Kelly fighting his own demons while working to achieve success in the boxing ring. The drama was directed by Mark Robson, with cinematography by Franz Planer. Cast: Kirk Douglas and Marilyn Maxwell.

In The Bad and the Beautiful(1952). A melodramatic film that tells the story of a film producer who alienates all around him. It was directed by Vincente Minelli. Cast: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan and Gloria Grahame.

One of my favorite Kirk Douglas movies is, Young Man with a Horn(1950). A biographical film considered to be the first big-budget jazz film, a genre that became common not soon after the release of the movie. Cast: Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas, and Doris Day, and was directed by Michael Curtiz. It was produced by Jerry Wald, and Carl Foreman and Edmund H. North wrote the screenplay. Douglas portrays the rise and fall of a jazz musician, based on real-life horn player Bix Beiderbecke. Composer-pianist Hoagy Carmichael, added realism to the film and gave Douglas insight into the role, being a friend of the real Beiderbecke.

His role as Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956), filmed mostly on location in France, was noted not only for looking like him but also for how he showed the painter’s internal turmoil. He won a Golden Globe award for his role. Director Vincente Minnelli stated, "Kirk Douglas achieved a moving and memorable portrait of the artist."

Douglas made seven films with Burt Lancaster, I Walk Alone (1948), Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), The Devil's Disciple (1959), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), Victory at Entebbe (1976) and Tough Guys (1986). Douglas was always second-billed under Lancaster in these films but, with the exception of, I Walk Alone, in which Douglas played a villain, and The List of Adrian Messenger, in which Lancaster played a brief part in disguise. Both actors arrived in Hollywood at the same time, and first appeared together in the fourth film for each.

In March 2009, Douglas starred in an autobiographical one man show titled Before I Forget at the Center Theater Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, California. The four performances were filmed and turned into a documentary that was first screened in January 2010.

Other Kirk Douglas movies I have seen:
Please Click here to view past Kirk Douglas movie reviews.

Out of the Past (1947)
A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Young Man with a Horn (1950)Please click here to read movie review.
The Glass Menagerie (1950)
Along the Great Divide (1951)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Lust for Life (1956)
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
Spartacus (1960)
The War Wagon (1967)

Kirk Douglas "Looks Like" Matthew McConaughey .

Matthew McConaughey(born November 4, 1969), breakout role was in the film Dazed and Confused (1993). He then performed in films, A Time to Kill, Contact, U-571, Sahara, and We Are Marshall. McConaughey is best known for his performances in the romantic comedies The Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Fool's Gold.



Kirk Douglas (born December 9, 1916) is an actor and film producer recognized for his cleft chin, his gravelly voice. He is the father of Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas and is #17 on the American Film Institutes's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time.

Ace in the Hole(1951)

Ace in the Hole(1951). Cast: Kirk Douglas. This film marked a series of firsts for Billy Wilder: it was the first time he was involved in a project as a writer, producer, and director. His first film following his breakup with writing partner Charles Brackett, with whom he had worked on The Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard.

As reporter Chuck's car is being towed through Albuquerque, New Mexico he passes by the Sun Bulletin newspaper office, he decides to apply for a job. Boot offers him a job on condition he stay clean and sober. Chuck accepts Boot's terms, believing his next big break will soon come.

A year later, Chuck is still working at the Bulletin when Boot assigns him and Herbie Cook to cover a rattlesnake hunt. Herbie and Chuck stop for gas at a trading post and learn that Leo Minosa while looking for Indian artifacts, is trapped in a cave in a nearby Indian cliff dwelling. Chuck thinks that this maybe the BIG story he is looking for.

When he arrives Chuck goes into the cave and finds Leo, trapped under a heavy plank. While Chuck tries to comfort Leo he also takes a picture of him. He returns to the trading post and calls Boot and says that he has a front page story. Chuck then arranges an interview with Leo's wife Lorraine. He finds out she is planning on leaving Leo, Chuck, thinking that her leaving will hurt his story, he talks her into staying.

The next day, after Chuck's first story appears in the Bulletin , the trading post is over run by visitors. After hearing from Dr. Hilton, that Leo can survive a week in the cave, Chuck convinces the Sheriff to use his position to prolong the rescue.

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 As the rescue team begins drilling the next day, the area is flooded with reporters and tourists. Chuck tells Herbie that he is quitting the Bulletin . When other reporters complain about Chuck's position, the sheriff tells them that he has deputized Chuck and will not allow anyone else inside the cave for safety reasons.

The hardest part of the movie for me is when Chuck goes in to reassure Leo and he calls him his best friend. At the trading post, Chuck runs into Boot, who says that he is on to him.. Will Chuck do the right thing before it is too late?

A wonderful performance by Kirk Douglas manipulating events at the expense of the victim seems inhuman, but Douglas' performance makes it believable.

Fun Facts:

The studio constructed a replica cliff dwelling at a cost of $30,000. The set was located behind the Lookout Point Trading Post on U.S. Route 66, west of Gallup, New Mexico. After filming was completed, the set was left intact and the owner of the trading post used it to draw tourists to his store.

Residents of Gallup, New Mexico were hired as extras. They were paid 75 cents an hour for a ten-hour day. Extras earned an additional three dollars if they could bring an automobile to the set.

Jan Sterling, she made her film: Tycoon, billed as Jane Darian. Ruth Gordon insisted she change her stage name to Jan Sterling.

Her next film was Johnny Belinda (1948). Alternating between films and television, Sterling performed in television series during the 1950's and played film roles in Caged (1950), Mystery Street (1950), The Mating Season (1951), Ace in the Hole (1951), Flesh and Fury (1952), The Human Jungle (1954), and Female on the Beach (1955).

Often cast as harden characters, she played a more sympathetic character in the film, Sky Full of Moon (1952).

In 1950, she was cast as Ruth in the western series The Marshal of Gunsight Pass.

In 1954 Sterling was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty.

Later that year, she traveled to England to play the role of Julia in the first film version of George Orwell's 1984.

During the following years, she performed in movies, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Kathy O, and The Female Animal.

In 1963, she guest starred as Nurse Murdoch in the episode "Millions of Faces", Breaking Point. In 1967, she and Tisha Sterling performed in the episode "Eleven Miles to Eden" a western series, The Road West.

In late 1968, she began portraying the role of 'Miss Foss' in the soap opera, The Guiding Light.

She retired from films for the stage in 1969 and returned to television in 1979 in the miniseries Backstairs at the White House.

Detective Story (1951)

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One day in a New York City police precinct where all kinds of people intersect. Kirk Douglas is the tough detective who is dealing with a case involving an abortionist. It also has a shoplifter, two dangerous burglars, and an embezzler. A taut in your face crime drama that features a strong performance by Mr. Douglas and another good one by Eleanor Parker who plays his wife. One of the best of the detective movies from the 1950's. Wonderfully directed by William Wyler.


Detective McLeod: "Take a couple of drop dead pills".

TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN (1962).

Two Weeks in Another Town (1962). Drama based on a novel by Irwin Shaw Director: Vincente Minnelli. Cast: Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Cyd Charisse, Claire Trevor, Daliah Lavi, George Hamilton, and Rosanna Schiaffino. The film depicts the shooting of a sword and sandal movie in Rome by a group of Hollywood stars. It contains several references to another Minnelli movie, The Bad and the Beautiful, also starring Douglas. The story was seen by some as the past relationship between actors Tyrone Power and Linda Christian.

Hollywood star Jack Andrus, whose decline in films has led him to a nervous breakdown and he spends 3 years in a sanatorium. His doctors now think that he maybe ready to accept a comeback role.

When Andrus arrives in Rome he learns that the part is no longer available, but.. is offered the job to supervise the dubbing of the picture.

In the evenings he spends his time with Italian girl named Veronica, who, unknown to Andrus, is in love with Davie Drew. After a huge fight with his witch of a wife Clara, Kruger has a heart attack and is hospitalized. Andrus offers to finish the film. Kruger, jealous, attacks Andrus and accuses him of trying to steal the picture out from under him. Heartbroken, Andrus turns to his ex-wife, Carlotta, and goes on an wild binge. Will Jack ever get control of his emotions?

TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN. MOVIE TRAILER.

This is the first time I have seen TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN. Cyd Charisse, was amazing in this film. I have never seen her perform in a drama. Kirk Douglas, was also amazing in the wild car ride that shocks him into the realization that he can not let others control his life. It was fun to see a young George Hamilton. Even though I did not care for his character.

Daliah Lavi (born October 12, 1942), was born in Shavei Zion, British Mandate of Palestine, to Jewish parents from Germany and Russia.

She studied ballet in Stockholm, Sweden, where she appeared in her first film Hemsoborna (1955). Returning to Israel, her career took off in 1960, when she started appearing in a large number of European and American productions.

Fluent in several languages, she has also been in German, French, Italian, Spanish and English-language films.

Lavi's film appearances include: Two Weeks in Another Town (1962), La Frusta e il corpo, aka The Whip and the Body (1963), Lord Jim and the first Matt Helm film, The Silencers (1966).

Her most famous role was 'The Detainer/007' in Casino Royale (1967). With the decline of her film career, Lavi began a successful schlager singing career in Germany, with hits such as "Oh, wann kommst du?", "Willst du mit mir gehn?" and "C'est ça, la vie (So ist das Leben)". She recorded a German-language cover of Melanie Safka's Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma.

OUT OF THE PAST (1947)

Out of the Past(1947). Noir. Director: Jacques Tourneur. This movie is loosely based on the novel written by Daniel Mainwaring Build My Gallows High. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming.

In a small town in California, gas station owner Jeff Bailey, who is now living a quiet life, is tracked down by Joe Stefanos, a former business partner.Joe Stefanos, tells him that his boss Whit Sterling, wants to meet him in, Lake Tahoe. Before he goes, Jeff shares with his new girl friend, Ann, the story about his past:

Three years ago, while working as a private detective in New York, Jeff, whose real name is Markham and his partner, Jack Fisher, are hired by gambler Whit to find his girl friend, Kathie. Whit tells him, that Kathie shot him and then disappeared with $40,000 of his money. Whit, promises Jeff that Kathie will not be harmed, if he brings her back to him.



 Jeff finds her vacationing in Acapulco. Kathie insists that she did not steal Whit's money, but was only trying to get away from Whit.

Jeff and Kathie, soon become lovers and are about to leave Acapulco, when Whit and Joe, show up at the hotel. Jeff, tells Whit, that he was unable to find Kathie and wants to quit, but Whit insists that he continue the search for her.

That night, Jeff and Kathie, board a ship to begin a new life in, San Francisco. The couple are found at a remote cabin and the two detectives begin to fight. Kathie, shoots and kills Fisher and Jeff, buries his body. Jeff, is shocked and heartbroken, when he learns that Kathie really did steal Whit's $40,000.

After, Jeff finishes his story about his past, Ann says she still loves him and promises to wait for him when he returns.

At Whit's Tahoe vacation home, Jeff discovers that the double-crossing Kathie has returned to Whit and has told him about their affair. Will Jeff ever be able to get "Out of the Past" and back to his girlfriend and his new life?

Fun Fact:

Humphrey Bogart read the script and, seeing the similarities between this and The Maltese Falcon (1941), wanted to play Jeff. However, Warner Bros. didn't buy the material and RKO produced this movie.

I really enjoyed, for lack of a better word, humorous at times dialog and the twists and turns of this wonderful film noir. I thought Robert Mitchum's mixed up character very intriguing. Jane Greer, is very good as the "bad girl".

Virginia Huston (April 24, 1925 - February 28, 1981), performed in many 1940's and 1950's films noir and adventure films. Signing with RKO in 1945, her first film was with George Raft in, Nocturne.

Huston, was the ninth actress to play Jane, in Tarzan's Peril (1951).

Her other films include: Out of the Past(1947), The Racket (1951), Sudden Fear (1952).

Huston suffered a broken back in an automobile accident, which disrupted her career at its peak. when she returned, she performed minor roles and "B" films.