THE MICHAEL DOUGLAS FAN PAGE:
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Overview Reviews of Michael Douglas' Films
By BOB ROSS
Tampa Tribune
10-9-96


When Oscar time rolls around, he's best known as the co-producer of multiple prize-winner ``One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.'' When we watch old TV shows, he's Karl Malden's eager sidekick on ``The Streets of San Francisco.'' And a few old-timers probably still see him as the look-alike son of Kirk.

But usually one thinks of Michael Douglas as a movie star. After struggling through the early '70s in minor-league fare such as ``Adam at 6 A.M.'' (1970), ``Shattered Silence'' and ``Summertree'' (both '71), he broke into the big-screen big time with his role in the 1978 thriller ``Coma.''

Since then, Douglas has had a respectable track record, probably because his producing expertise gives him the clout required to avoid getting stuck in major turkeys. Aside from the flaccid sequel ``Jewel of the Nile'' and the widely ignored film version of ``A Chorus Line'' (both from 1985), Douglas has chosen high-profile material that suits his skills. He's not the rangiest, most emotive type of actor, but he's believable and likable even when playing badly flawed characters such as the morally misguided cop in ``Basic Instinct.''

Our favorites include:

-- THE CHINA SYNDROME (1979) - The action centers on Jane Fonda's TV reporter character, who discovers an accident at a nuclear power plant and an ensuing cover-up. Douglas is an intrepid cameraman who tries to help her get the story. Jack Lemmon gives a devastating performance in this disturbing thriller.

-- FATAL ATTRACTION (1987) - Is there anyone out there who hasn't seen this adultery thriller yet? Douglas is the lawyer whose one-night stand turns into a domestic nightmare. Glenn Close puts the ``fatal'' in ``femme fatale.'' And don't forget the newly released ``director's cut,'' in which Adrian Lyne shows us the alternative ending that never made it into American theaters.

-- IT'S MY TURN (1980) - Douglas is the romantic interest for star Jill Clayburgh in this funny, surprisingly sensitive story of a math professor who doesn't know what she wants. We haven't seen this one since it was new, so we aren't sure if its dialogue seems dated now.

-- ROMANCING THE STONE (1984) - Kathleen Turner is the ditzy romance novelist. Douglas is the dashing explorer who helps rescue her sister from South American guerrillas. Director Robert Zemeckis (``Back to the Future'') loads a ton of humor into this zippy little adventure. Great music, too.

-- WALL STREET (1987) - Charlie Sheen is the naive young broker whose coming of age is the story's center. Oliver Stone directed. Douglas won an Oscar. And a nation heard a crafty manipulator proclaim that ``greed is good.''

-- WAR OF THE ROSES (1989) - Douglas and Turner reunite for a different kind of romance in this savagely bitter comedy about divorce and cruelty. Danny DeVito directed.






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