Best Kirk Douglas Movie

by Paok-Kilkis | created - 06 Feb 2020 | updated - 06 Feb 2020 | Public

The legendary actor Kirk Douglas has passed away at the age of 103. Which of his movies do you consider the best?

Discuss the list here!

 Refine See titles to watch instantly, titles you haven't rated, etc
  • Instant Watch Options
  • Genres
  • Movies or TV
  • IMDb Rating
  • In Theaters
  • Release Year
  • Keywords




IMDb user rating (average) to
Number of votes to »




Reset
Release year or range to »




































































































1. Out of the Past (1947)

Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

85 Metascore

A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses, and duplicitous dames.

Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming

Votes: 40,898

2. I Walk Alone (1947)

Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

55 Metascore

Frankie Madison leaves prison expecting a share from his ex-partner. But Prohibition bootlegging didn't prepare Frankie for Big Business.

Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey

Votes: 3,287

3. A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

Passed | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Kirk Douglas

Votes: 10,798

4. Champion (1949)

Passed | 99 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Sport

Boxer Midge Kelly rises to fame...mainly by stepping on other people.

Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, Marilyn Maxwell, Paul Stewart

Votes: 4,757

5. Young Man with a Horn (1950)

Passed | 112 min | Biography, Drama, Music

69 Metascore

A young trumpet player is torn between an honest singer and a manipulative heiress.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Hoagy Carmichael

Votes: 3,886

6. Ace in the Hole (1951)

Approved | 111 min | Drama, Film-Noir

72 Metascore

A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to rekindle his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control circus.

Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Porter Hall

Votes: 39,101 | Gross: $3.97M

7. Detective Story (1951)

Approved | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

78 Metascore

On one day in the 21st Precinct squad room, assorted characters form a backdrop for the troubles of hard-nosed Detective Jim McLeod.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell

Votes: 9,482

8. The Big Sky (1952)

Approved | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

The success of the journey focuses on keeping the Indian girl alive as well as themselves to complete trade with the Blackfeet.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Elizabeth Threatt, Arthur Hunnicutt

Votes: 4,746

9. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Passed | 118 min | Drama, Romance

86 Metascore

An unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.

Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell

Votes: 16,449

10. Ulysses (1954)

Not Rated | 94 min | Adventure, Fantasy

A movie adaptation of Homer's second epic, that depicts Ulysses' efforts to return to his home after the end of ten years of war.

Director: Mario Camerini | Stars: Silvana Mangano, Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Rossana Podestà

Votes: 4,647

11. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

G | 127 min | Adventure, Drama, Family

83 Metascore

A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo.

Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre

Votes: 37,155 | Gross: $28.20M

12. Man Without a Star (1955)

Approved | 89 min | Western

Sharpshooting drifter Dempsey Rae comes back to Wyoming to work for beautiful rancher Reed Bowman. But Reed's plan to fence in her land's wide open spaces angers other ranchers and soon embroils Dempsey in a bloody range war.

Director: King Vidor | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Jeanne Crain, Claire Trevor, William Campbell

Votes: 3,938

13. Lust for Life (1956)

Approved | 122 min | Biography, Drama

68 Metascore

The life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh.

Directors: Vincente Minnelli, George Cukor | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown

Votes: 12,505 | Gross: $3.48M

14. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Passed | 122 min | Biography, Drama, Western

56 Metascore

Lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Director: John Sturges | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Jo Van Fleet

Votes: 17,420 | Gross: $11.75M

15. Paths of Glory (1957)

Approved | 88 min | Drama, War

90 Metascore

After a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready

Votes: 212,192

16. The Vikings (1958)

Not Rated | 116 min | Action, Adventure, History

A slave and a Viking prince fight for the love of a captive princess.

Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Janet Leigh

Votes: 15,686 | Gross: $7.00M

17. Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)

Passed | 95 min | Western

A marshal tries to bring the son of an old friend, an autocratic cattle baron, to justice for his role in the rape and murder of the marshal's Native American wife.

Director: John Sturges | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones, Earl Holliman

Votes: 8,805 | Gross: $2.50M

18. Strangers When We Meet (1960)

Approved | 117 min | Drama, Romance

A suburban architect loves his wife but is bored with his marriage and with his work, so he takes up with the neglected, married beauty who lives down the street.

Director: Richard Quine | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Kim Novak, Ernie Kovacs, Barbara Rush

Votes: 2,635

19. Spartacus (1960)

PG-13 | 197 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

87 Metascore

The slave Spartacus survives brutal training as a gladiator and leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic, as the ambitious Crassus seeks to gain power by crushing the uprising.

Directors: Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Mann | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton

Votes: 143,138 | Gross: $30.00M

20. Town Without Pity (1961)

Approved | 105 min | Crime, Drama

Four American soldiers stationed near a German village face death in the rape of a local girl, and are defended by outside counsel Major Steve Garrett.

Director: Gottfried Reinhardt | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Barbara Rütting, Christine Kaufmann, E.G. Marshall

Votes: 1,981

21. The Last Sunset (1961)

Approved | 112 min | Drama, Romance, Western

At a Mexican ranch, fugitive O'Malley and pursuing Sheriff Stribling agree to help rancher Breckenridge drive his herd into Texas where Stribling could legally arrest O'Malley, but Breckenridge's wife complicates things.

Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, Dorothy Malone, Joseph Cotten

Votes: 3,725 | Gross: $6.54M

22. Lonely Are the Brave (1962)

Approved | 107 min | Drama, Western

A fiercely independent cowboy gets himself locked up in prison to escape with an old friend.

Director: David Miller | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau, Michael Kane

Votes: 9,946

23. Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

Approved | 107 min | Drama

After spending three years in an asylum, a washed-up actor views a minor assignment from his old director in Rome as a chance for personal and professional redemption.

Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Cyd Charisse, George Hamilton

Votes: 2,960

24. The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)

Approved | 98 min | Mystery, Thriller

A former intelligence officer is tasked by the heir to the Gleneyre estate to investigate the unusual deaths of a disparate group of eleven men on a list.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster

Votes: 5,751

25. Seven Days in May (1964)

Approved | 118 min | Drama, Thriller

73 Metascore

United States military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack.

Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner

Votes: 17,326 | Gross: $7.96M

26. In Harm's Way (1965)

Approved | 165 min | Drama, Romance, War

A Naval officer, reprimanded after Pearl Harbor, is later promoted to Rear Admiral and gets a second chance to prove himself against the Japanese.

Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon

Votes: 10,315 | Gross: $4.20M

27. The Heroes of Telemark (1965)

Approved | 131 min | Action, Drama, History

Norwegian resistance tries to stop German efforts to produce an atomic bomb component during World War II.

Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Ulla Jacobsson, Michael Redgrave

Votes: 8,061

28. Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)

Approved | 146 min | Adventure, Drama, History

In 1947, following the U.N. decision to split British Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, a former U.S. Army officer is recruited by the Jews to reorganize the Haganah.

Director: Melville Shavelson | Stars: Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Senta Berger

Votes: 3,822

29. The War Wagon (1967)

Unrated | 101 min | Drama, Western

The story of a man who was shot, robbed and imprisoned who returns to steal a large gold shipment from the man who wronged him. The gold is transported in an armored stage coach, the War Wagon.

Director: Burt Kennedy | Stars: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr.

Votes: 10,800

30. There Was a Crooked Man... (1970)

R | 126 min | Comedy, Western

72 Metascore

A charming but totally ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison. He enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn, Warren Oates

Votes: 5,232 | Gross: $0.64M

31. The Fury (1978)

R | 118 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

64 Metascore

A former CIA agent uses the talents of a young psychic to help retrieve his telekinetic son from a shadowy secret government agency.

Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Carrie Snodgress, Charles Durning

Votes: 17,320

32. The Final Countdown (1980)

PG | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

51 Metascore

A modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Director: Don Taylor | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Katharine Ross, James Farentino

Votes: 26,909 | Gross: $16.65M

33. The Man from Snowy River (1982)

PG | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance

63 Metascore

In 1880s Australia, after young Jim Craig's father dies, he takes a job at the Harrison cattle ranch, where he is forced to become a man.

Director: George Miller | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Tom Burlinson, Terence Donovan, Tommy Dysart

Votes: 10,026 | Gross: $20.66M

34. Tough Guys (1986)

PG | 104 min | Comedy, Crime

54 Metascore

Two elderly gangsters are released from prison only to find they have trouble fitting in as old men who still take no guff from anyone.

Director: Jeff Kanew | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charles Durning, Alexis Smith

Votes: 7,853 | Gross: $21.46M

35. Greedy (1994)

PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy

Rich, old uncle Joe is surrounded by relatives waiting/hoping for him to die while trying to look good and backstabbing the competition. What should he do?

Director: Jonathan Lynn | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Kirk Douglas, Nancy Travis, Olivia d'Abo

Votes: 15,967 | Gross: $13.15M



Recently Viewed