Kirk Douglas: Before I Forget

Kirk Douglas: Before I Forget (2009)

*** (out of 4)

Kirk Douglas was at the age of 92 when he filmed this one-man show, which had him reflecting on his life. Not just the movies but also his family, his memories of childhood and the various struggles that he has faced over the years.

Douglas closes the show talking about how he's ready to "go home" and yet here it is seven years after he filmed this and he's still living. Douglas is certainly one of the legends of Hollywood but he's also had a pretty incredible life away from the screen and this show does a very good job highlighting various aspects of his life. Douglas, who looks to be in excellent form, talks about his memories of his mother, how he got into acting and various other things including his youngest son's death.

If you're a fan of Douglas then you'll certainly want to check this out. We start off with the Academy Awards clip of Steven Spielberg giving him his Lifetime Achievement Award just months after his stroke. There are so many good stories shared here including one segment where he talks about some of the famous people he knew like Jack Lemmon and Burt Lancaster.

I had the opportunity to view this filming of Kirk's one-man show on TCM on 7/24/2014. For a man who, at that time, was 92, he was spry and moved around a lot and shared his reflections of his life with the audience. At times very touching, with his own version of a walk of remembrance with a sidewalk of autographs of departed friends, and sitting and conversing by the grave of his son, Eric. But most of the time it was quite humorous. He talks about his depression after his stroke and he moved the audience to laughter when he punctuated it with a joke! He is a rare treasure....hopefully he will be with us for a long time...as he said, he can have another Bar Mitzvah when he is 153 years old!! All in all, a very enjoyable presentation, and if you get the chance, see it!

Kirk Douglas was always a man who charted his own career and now has apparently on his own terms decided on a coda of his own making in this one man show. As a kid I remember seeing him in such things as Last Train From Gun Hill, The Vikings, and Spartacus. I've gotten now to a point to appreciate his artistry in a range of parts beyond some of the western and action adventure stories that appealed to me as a juvenile. So with stroke and all he's capped his career with this one man show, Before I Forget. He even got his first wife to appear in it.

I had read his first book The Ragman's Son about his childhood in Amsterdam, New York the youngest and only boy with six female siblings of Jewish immigrants from Russia so a lot of the stories I knew already. Hearing him tell them brought a fresh poignancy to them. Stroke and all he hasn't lost his capacity to move an audience.

We get to see the personal side of Kirk Douglas not just the screen legend. The only time he really gets into his films is talking about Spartacus and how he broke down the blacklist by hiring Dalton Trumbo openly to write the screenplay. That certainly was an achievement that would top an Oscar which Kirk was nominated three times for and never won.

This man is as vital as they come. I'm not sure he wouldn't turn down a film deal if he thought he was right for the role. Maybe he could get Olivia deHavilland to come back as a leading lady. She's five months older than him as Kirk is heading for the big 99.

Wouldn't that be something?