Notice: May contain Spoilers
If "The American President" (Michael Douglas) is politically correct, this mini with Kirk Douglas has to be the most socially correct I can imagine. It's a time capsule of social agendas for the 70's. According to this film, banks are run by bad guys until they start listening to their liberal activist lawyer girlfriends. Then they start to qualify as human beings.
A classic line: as Kirk Douglas and Susan Flannery walk through the bank-financed low-income housing project, she declares, "What we need are more of these... and bigger." Unbelievable.
Great acting all around. Patrick O'Neal is superb. His scene with Christopher Plummer where he cries, "It's gone!!" is riveting. And Lorne Greene as the billionaire Quartermain is diabolical.
Kirk Douglas plays Alex Vandervoort, the smart, thinks-on-his-feet bank Vice President...the guy we'd all like to be... a little wiser than his peers. And Christopher Plummer plays his role perfectly...denying the realization that his world is coming apart, until he cracks. His final walk down the hall followed by that silent jump from the roof was totally engaging. Don't think I've ever seen a scene like that one.
A little soapy at times, but all in all, a well-balanced and entertaining movie with several subplots.
If "The American President" (Michael Douglas) is politically correct, this mini with Kirk Douglas has to be the most socially correct I can imagine. It's a time capsule of social agendas for the 70's. According to this film, banks are run by bad guys until they start listening to their liberal activist lawyer girlfriends. Then they start to qualify as human beings.
A classic line: as Kirk Douglas and Susan Flannery walk through the bank-financed low-income housing project, she declares, "What we need are more of these... and bigger." Unbelievable.
Great acting all around. Patrick O'Neal is superb. His scene with Christopher Plummer where he cries, "It's gone!!" is riveting. And Lorne Greene as the billionaire Quartermain is diabolical.
Kirk Douglas plays Alex Vandervoort, the smart, thinks-on-his-feet bank Vice President...the guy we'd all like to be... a little wiser than his peers. And Christopher Plummer plays his role perfectly...denying the realization that his world is coming apart, until he cracks. His final walk down the hall followed by that silent jump from the roof was totally engaging. Don't think I've ever seen a scene like that one.
A little soapy at times, but all in all, a well-balanced and entertaining movie with several subplots.