Though It Runs In the Family could have been Kirk Douglas's swan song, his signature on his career as The Shootist was for John Wayne, the man went out and did another after this. And at the age of 90 he may still try another.
It's not as bad as watching James Cagney in Terrible Joe Moran, that television film which had Cagney in a wheelchair and nearly all his lines dubbed in by impressionist Rich Little. Kirk is conceding to his limitations in the part, the stroke we all know he suffered is written in. Still remembering him in Spartacus or The Vikings or even in something as trite as My Dear Secretary, one remembers the tremendous energy he brought to all his parts. The energy unlike with Cagney, is still there, only his slurred speech is a reminder of what he sustained.
Personally I like to remember my movie idols as they were in their prime, going out the way Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, or William Powell did.
Kirk is the patriarch of the Gromberg family and son Michael and grandson Cameron play the same roles in the film. Even former wife Diana Douglas, Michael's real life mom, plays grandma. The problems of each generation is shown. In the end the family is all brought closer together.
Kirk did his own homage to one of his former starring roles, The Vikings, when he and Michael take his brother's body and give him a viking funeral on a lake. It's the most poignant scene in the film.
When he wrote his memoirs Kirk made much reference to his Russian Jewish heritage. In his prime I can only recall in Cast A Giant Shadow where that was part of the plot. In his old age, Kirk Douglas has gone back to his roots in a few projects. Another favorite scene of mine is the Passover Seder.
Still it's painful to watch him, but you got to admire the man's grit.
It's not as bad as watching James Cagney in Terrible Joe Moran, that television film which had Cagney in a wheelchair and nearly all his lines dubbed in by impressionist Rich Little. Kirk is conceding to his limitations in the part, the stroke we all know he suffered is written in. Still remembering him in Spartacus or The Vikings or even in something as trite as My Dear Secretary, one remembers the tremendous energy he brought to all his parts. The energy unlike with Cagney, is still there, only his slurred speech is a reminder of what he sustained.
Personally I like to remember my movie idols as they were in their prime, going out the way Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, or William Powell did.
Kirk is the patriarch of the Gromberg family and son Michael and grandson Cameron play the same roles in the film. Even former wife Diana Douglas, Michael's real life mom, plays grandma. The problems of each generation is shown. In the end the family is all brought closer together.
Kirk did his own homage to one of his former starring roles, The Vikings, when he and Michael take his brother's body and give him a viking funeral on a lake. It's the most poignant scene in the film.
When he wrote his memoirs Kirk made much reference to his Russian Jewish heritage. In his prime I can only recall in Cast A Giant Shadow where that was part of the plot. In his old age, Kirk Douglas has gone back to his roots in a few projects. Another favorite scene of mine is the Passover Seder.
Still it's painful to watch him, but you got to admire the man's grit.