In wake of the recent tragic news of his illness, and with the upcoming release of the highly anticipated Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, it is time to pay tribute to one of the all time great leading men.
Michael Douglas has been a leading man, a real man, in every sense of the word.
Vulnerability, swagger, machismo, sexuality, ambition, greed, lust, revenge, hope, tragedy, and even empathetic psychosis; he has been able to portray it all on the screen. But more than that, he has shown an innate ability to create characters that allow us inside, to experience everything with him as both the characters he creates, and Michael Douglas the man himself, channel their inner demons.
What makes a great actor truly special is not the technical skills of hitting the right pitch, or getting into the right method of character creation. Greatness that is projected out on the big screen must come from deep inside the actor. There must be something inside to tap into, something real, something captivating, something that draws the audience in and keeps us coming back for more.
From 1987 – 1997, Michael Douglas went on a cinematic winning streak. He was in a zone where he was tearing it up in one film after another, achieving critical praise and box office glory along the way.
And he took risks, huge risks. In the decade where Tom Hanks was two winning Oscars and Denzel Washington was establishing himself as the best American actor since Al Pacino, Michael Douglas was living on the edge of darkness in films like Fatal Attraction, War of the Roses, Black Rain, Basic Instinct, and Falling Down.
It was his willingness to expose his vulnerability that made Fatal Attaction work and created the modern genre of the erotic thriller. Remember, the massive success of that milestone motion picture was due to a female driven audience (often accompanied by an uncomfortably squirming husband or boyfriend).
Michael Douglas was the sexual attraction of Fatal Attraction (1987), not Glen Close and her frightening (and brilliant) performance.
And aside from perhaps Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris, no other major Amercan actor and A-list star has ever had the courage to present such a raw and primal portrayal of lust and obsession as Michael Douglas did in Basic Instict (1992).
Michael Douglas’s performance in Wall Street (1987) was so staggeringly effective that a generation of young stockbrokers (including the writer this article) left the movie not only idolizing the film’s villain, but wanting to be him.
For the next decade every broker in the world wanted nothing more than to be Gordon Gekko; or at least be able to have him as a client.
From Black Rain (1989) to Falling Down (1993) to The Game (1997), Michael Douglas has always been able to create complex anti-heroes whose flaws and edges of darkness make them all the more fascinating to us, and all the more real.
Comments
I think Michael Douglas is going to find a new audience, and appeal to his old one, with "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps". I'm a fan of Gordon Gecko, of course, and his other definitive roles – "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instinct" being other movies that have worked themselves into the American psyche. I do believe that for the casual movie-goer, Douglas' work in those films tend to be overshadowed by the femme fatales. But really, watch him. Brilliant.
Those who haven't see "Falling Down" should immediately put it into their Netflix queue. Truly a zeitgeist film that remains eerily relevant.
Well done, Jim!
Thanks Debra!
I watch Falling Down like once a week. It and 24 were a big influence on Action Figure and Gunner star to a point. And I literally used to watch Wall Street daily nonstop when I was in the business. We kept a copy of the VHS tape in the conference room at all times lol!
Basic Instinct ( along with the John Dahl's Kill Me Again, Red Rock West, and the Last Seduction) is my favorite neo-noir.
He has done some underrated work after his "prime" esp Wonder Boys, The Sentinel with Kiefer, and I am finally about to watch Solitary Man on DVD since we got hosed on the release down here.
The trailer for WS2 does look great, but I am nervous. Oliver Stone has not made a great a movie since JFK. And he has not made a watchable one since....JFK lol! At one time (1986-1992) he was in my top 3 directors!
This movie looks pretty great. I love Michael Douglas in roles like this. I'll be headed to the movies to see this one.
I am pumped. Really want to see Michael Douglas wind down his career on a high note!
Michael Douglas does have quite the edge to some of his character portrayals (wonder where he inherited that from?). Wish him the very best!
I agree that anyone who hasn't seen Falling Down must rent/buy it now, especially since it is now on Blu-ray with a wonderful collectible book chock full of pages filled with lots of interesting information. Michael Douglas is a pleasure to watch even in his most hateful character portrayals. Love Wall Street and Falling Down as my favorites.
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