The Bad and The Beautiful The Bad and The Beautiful

The story of a blonde who wanted to go places, and a brute who got her there - the hard way

An unscrupulous movie producer uses everyone around him in his climb to the top.

Lana Turner Kirk Douglas Walter Pidgeon Dick Powell Barry Sullivan Gloria Grahame Gilbert Roland Leo G. Carroll Vanessa Brown Paul Stewart Sammy White Elaine Stewart Ivan Triesault Barbara Billingsley Francis X. Bushman Louis Calhern

drama

118 mins   More details at IMDb / TMDb

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  • Eiganerd

    Review by Eiganerd ★★★★

    Loved, loved, loved this picture. Kirk Douglas is an incredible combination of earnest and smarmy man. Elaine Stewart is also smoking in a secondary role. "I thought you were, swell." Hah!

  • Olanda

    Review by Olanda ★★★★½

    Vincente Minelli's lush melodrama about the backstage of Hollywood is always fascinating. A must for film-fans all over the world, it features a staggering performance by Kirk Douglas and a fine cast of supporting players, especially Dick Powell as the weary screenwriter Bartlow. The pacing's slightly off, mainly because Minelli's decision of using framing device to tell this story doesn't work as it's supposed to. Still, the film does wonders in exploring every aspect of Hollywood's process of filmmaking. Holds the record for most Oscars (5) won by a film not nominated for Best Picture- which makes that snub even more glaring.

  • Elliott F

    Review by Elliott F ★★★★½

    A powerful story of a louse in Hollywood, headlined by a brilliant Kirk Douglas. Lana Turner turns in an equally powerful and devastating performance. Vincente Minnelli proves he can operate successfully outside of musicals.

  • Nuno Costa

    Review by Nuno Costa ★★★★

    Viewed on DVD

    A Hollywood picture about making Hollywood pictures.
    Kirk Douglas is really good in this.

  • Michael Elias

    Review by Michael Elias ★★½

    Why It’s Essential — One of the earliest and most cynical send-ups of the film industry.

    Why You’ll Want to Skip It — Too much a product of its time to resonate today.

  • Tony Huang

    Review by Tony Huang ★★★½

    71.

  • Roberts

    Review by Roberts ★★★★½

    Absolutely captivating and impeccably directed portrait of (ahem) the bad and the beautiful side of Hollywood machine. Why this movie is not regarded as a timeless classic is beyond me.

  • 48ONIRAM

    Review by 48ONIRAM ★★★★

    Interesting flick. I dug how it was arranged. Three almost short stories about Kirk Douglas' cad of a producer who cares only about that. We see three people who he dicked over, but whose careers are now also soaring because of him, as they do decline helping him out and making a new picture with him, they then each narrate what he did to them.

    Douglas is great of course and I love old Hollywood movies as well as movies ABOUT Hollywood so there ya go.

  • Adam Moody

    Review by Adam Moody ★★★★½

    The Bad and the Beautiful captures Hollywood to its very core; the passion, the ambition, the glamour, the fame, and, most of all, the greed. Composer David Raksin's song "The Bad and the Beautiful" has since gained its own legacy in the jazz world. Vincente Minnelli was known mainly for his richly done musicals - Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and An American in Paris (1951) - and he uses that passionate and immersing filmmaking style to take us on a journey deep into the heart of movie business. The story of arrogant and boisterous film producer Jonathan Shields' rise and fall is told from three series of flashbacks narrated by three of his bitter former partners who are…