Who was a bigger star….Him or Michael?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Kirk Douglas
someartist — 9 years ago(December 09, 2016 04:28 AM)
I always thought Michael Douglas was the one star who actually eclipsed his father unlike most others who remain in the shadow or worse..never make it. Michael was one of the biggest stars of the late 80s the embodiment of the All American Hollywood star. Kirk I haven't seen many films of(Spartacus; Bad and the beautiful) but I was wondering who in their prime was a bigger box office star and popular
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ColinChapman — 9 years ago(December 09, 2016 08:10 AM)
Him. He was cast as the lead in two Kubrick films for starters making him essentially immortalized, and he played the main role in several other highly regarded classics. Most of the great productions Michael starred in he wasn't the lead in. His son did a good job producing great films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Wall Street and Fatal Attraction were minor hits in the 80's but neither blockbusters nor epics, and certainly not critic favorites.
Hiowever it's fair to say they're the father-son actors that did the best out of all acting families in Hollywood. We have the Fondas, Sheens, Bridges' , Sutherlands, Brolins, Carradines, Curtis's and the Coppolas. Kirk and Michael really have the edge on the other acting families. -
BlueAndPink — 9 years ago(December 09, 2016 09:32 AM)
Uhm you're mistaken man !
Most of Michael's roles in movies were lead parts and maybe you don't remember the past very well but "Wall Street" gave Michael an Oscar and "Fatal Attraction" was the highest grossing movie at the international box-office in 1987.
Greed is good ! -
ColinChapman — 9 years ago(December 10, 2016 10:02 AM)
"Most of Michael's roles in movies were lead parts " So were Sylvester Stallone's and he was the real high earner in the 80's. Naturally - which of his movies have stood the test of time? Rocky III was a huge hit in 1982. In 1985 both Rambo II and Rocky IV were in the top 3 earners. Good movies? Hardly, but nobody was a more bankable star than Sly Stallone in the m5b4id 80's. Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy, Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Mel Gibson all appeared in movies which were huge box office hits. Harrison Ford in particular seemed to be cast in everything.
The year Fatal Attraction was the highest grossing international movie, "Three Men and a Baby" was the top North American box office hit and Beverly Hills Cop II was the 2nd international movie. Not a stellar year was it? Glenn Close was worthy of an Oscar for the same film btw but lost it to Cher(!). Cher for crying out loud.
Wall Street gave him an Oscar. And Rain Man gave Dustin Hoffman his 2nd Oscar in the 80's and his 6th Oscar nomination overall. Rain Man was the highest grossing movie of 1988. And won the best picture Oscar. And had Dustin Hoffman AND Tom Cruise in it. Next year Harrison Ford was on top again with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Jack Nicholson was the one who really had the best contract for his role the Joker in Batman.
"Most of Michael's roles were lead parts." Not in Ant-Man and not in the China Syndrome. Are we just talking about the 80's? Well, see Sly Stallone above and let's not mention Harrison Ford, Eddie Murphy, and Tom Cruise - who btw drew young women to see utter crud like Cocktail but did a fine job with Born on the Fourth of July. Top Gun were one of the quintessential 80's movies for good and bad.
Again: Glenn Close was the real star of Fatal Attraction.
1c84
Who's mistaken? -
BlueAndPink — 9 years ago(December 12, 2016 09:13 AM)
The fact Sly, Hoffman or Murphy were big stars in the 80s and 90s does not mean Michael was not a star either.
Please, check out his box-office numbers (with inflation !). The man was among the biggest stars 20 years ago Ok not now but he is old now. Same for Sly or Hoffman.
Greed is good ! -
BlueAndPink — 9 years ago(December 12, 2016 09:21 AM)
Plus, he was the lead in :
Romancing the Stone
The Jewel of the Nile
Wall Street (arguable)
Fatal Attraction
Black Rain
Basic Instinct
Falling Down
Disclosure
The American President
The Game
A perfect Murder
Don't Say a word
And more
He was supporting only a few times in the 80s and 90s.
Recently he got less leading parts but this is due to his age
Greed is good ! -
BlueAndPink — 9 years ago(December 09, 2016 09:37 AM)
They were/are both big stars.
Kirk Douglas was mainly famous from the 40s to the 60s and then Michael became famous in the 70s with "The Streets of San Francisco" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nesb68t". In the 80s he won the Oscar for "Wall Street" and starred in the box-office hit "Romancing the Stone", as well as "Fatal Attraction" (movie number 1 at the international box-office in 1987).
In the 90s, Michael was one of the best paid actors in Hollywood (Basic Instinct, Falling Down, The Game).
Greed is good ! -
PrometheusTree64 — 9 years ago(December 12, 2016 05:39 AM)
Stardom in recent decades is just different. They make more money today, but as Dick Cavett once said about the golden age film stars, "they were like redwoods."
Maybe because of TV, home video, the Internet and an excessive amount of product, even the biggest of contemporary stars never really seem that "big". Merely
covered
.
But the stars who came along from the 1930s thru the '50s (and musically the '60s) sometimes achieved a level of b68iconic stature that just isn't comparable today where everything is so loud and celebrity is so cluttered.
But both Douglases became top stars of their time.
LBJ's mistress on JFK: -
puredieselbc — 9 years ago(December 12, 2016 08:40 PM)
Stardom in recent decades is just different. They make more money today, but as Dick Cavett once said about the golden age film stars, "they were like redwoods."
True.
I am big
It's the picture that got small
. - Norma Desmond
God bless Billy Wilder, wherever he is.
Happiness must be earned. -
telegonus — 6 years ago(January 31, 2020 06:41 AM)
Great assessment, PG, of what stardom was back in the last century, pretty much till the final two decades, after which it fell off, to be replaced, to a large degree, by celebrity. Kirk Douglas was far more star (and serious actor) than celebrity. I don't remember him much as a celebrity, the way many
Saturday Night Live
stars were in their heyday; or the major players on the prime time soaps of the Eighties and Nineties. Between them, Larry Hagman and John Forsythe were bigger star names, featured on the covers of more magazines, then Kirk, his friend Burt, Glenn Ford, William Holden and Richard Widmark. In the Hollywood golden age stars were often as not famous as much for what they did (act, or perform, on screen) as for who they were. Now the cult of celebrity has changed the rules of the game.