Kirk Douglas: America's Cowboy Days Are Over

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Under the flooring of my dressing room is a safe. In it are two guns that I used to shoot the bad guys in movies and a silver plated revolver with my name engraved on it which was given to me by some crazy fan. People take their movie heroes very seriously. I often played the good cowboy on screen, riding in to save the day. Now, everybody thinks he is a cowboy too. That frightens me. We have become a cowboy country with too many guns.

I put my guns in the floor safe very long ago so that my children would not be able to find them. I was reminded of that safe when I read in the papers that a five-year-old boy shot and killed his two-year-old sister. How did he get the gun?

I remember many, many years ago when I was a little boy. Somehow, I was climbing around in the house and I found a revolver on top of a cabinet. I took the gun, ran into the kitchen waving my find. My father grabbed the gun from me and gave me a spanking. It was really his fault because I learned later that he had been in a fight at the saloon with a guy who had a gun. My father was a tough guy in those days and he subdued the guy and took his gun. I guess he thought he had placed it in a safe spot. There is no safe spot for kids.

I cannot understand the people who are against some form of gun control. They should be the first to welcome a message on making it more difficult to get a gun. Many of them seem to propose more guns being available to everybody. Why? Are they interested in making more money for the gun manufacturers? Are they politicians who just want to oppose the president in anything he endorses? It's incomprehensible to me.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kirk-douglas/americas-cowboy-days-are-_b_3392413.html

[BootinUp]

1. One of our more intelligent celebrities. nt

[juajen]

2. Thank you, Mr. Douglas, for your wisdom and hours of pleasure

watching your movies.

[Hulk]

3. Wow.....96 years old. Amazing!

I wasn't aware he was still alive. My mother is 99 years old, closing in on a hundred. I certainly hope his health is good. Not sure I want to live that long; but I know a lady 101, who lives alone, has really quite good health, but quite fragile. It's amazing that people can live that long today.

God bless Kirk. I grew up enjoying his westerns (Rifleman) and he was always a good character as far as I can remember. Had to Google him to see if he was still around. Guess he is.

[premium]

6. Just a small correction,

Chuck Conners was the Rifleman, not Kirk Douglas, other than that, he's a hell of an actor with many excellent movies to his credit.
My favority is The Final Countdown.

[GTurck]

7. I have several Douglas favorites...

including Spartacus and Seven Days in May. He started playing a weak husband in the Loves of Martha Ivers and moved on to killers and westerns. On the way he was a Jewish Soldier, a newsman, and a film producer.
Can anyone remember the names of the last 3 films?

[premium]

8. If you include a TV movie,

it would be
Empire State Building Murders
Illusion
It Runs In The Family

Seven Days In May is a classic, never tire of watching it.

[GTurck]

17. Actually I was...

thinking of : "Ace In The Hole" where he lets a trapped man die in order to build a better story; "The Bad & The Beautiful" with Lana Turner; and "Cast a Giant Shadow" where he played Col. Mickey Marcus (a real person).
Add some other favorites in the past 60 years.

[premium]

18. Haven't seen any of those yet.

I may utilize Graboid this weekend and download them and watch them this weekend.
Another one I really liked was A Gunfight with Johnny Cash and also The War Wagon.
I do like the Westerns.
2 of my all time favorite westerns were Silverado and 3:10 to Yuma.

[Hulk]

14. Ooops....my bad

I never was good with naming actors and actresses in movies. Guess I'm holding true to nature.

[Jim Lane]

15. Just a smaller correction

The star of The Rifleman wasn't Chuck Conners, it was Chuck Connors.

[premium]

16. You're right.

I really need to check my spelling of names. Thanks for the correction.

[MrScorpio]

4. Kirk Douglas had always been one of the coolest muthafuckas walking around

I'm so glad he's still with us and hasn't lost his touch one bit.

[Maraya1969]

5. If you are going to have a gun a safe underneath some hidden floor boards seems the way to

do it. I never even heard of safes being under floor boards but what a great idea.

I was at my uncle's funeral a couple years ago and when my aunt's boyfriend opened his car door I saw a pistol laying right next to the seat. It scared the crap out of me because my aunt's granddaughter and 2 year old great grandson live with her. I could not sleep when I got home until I called her and told her what I saw and how dangerous I thought it was. It's not even like we were in a bad area. There was no reason for that gun to be out.

That is how tragedies happen. Stupidity.

[stevenleser]

9. Love this. I only feel sorry for him in the backlash he is going to face from jerks.

The gun nuts are extremely sensitive to having their rights to their "preciouses" affected in any way.

[malthaussen]

10. Bah, Kirk Douglas is a Russian.

Probably a Commie. He just wants to take our guns away from us so the crypto-fascist-commie-tyrant-islamist gummint can oppress us all.

And furthermore, BENGHAZI!!!!!

-- Mal

[KennedyBrothers]

11. Gotta love Kirk Douglas

Thanks for posting this. Good stuff.

[Major Hogwash]

12. Coming from this guy, this really means something.

Kirk was always smarter than most of the other actors he worked with in Hollywood.
He was my favorite actor.
A great actor, a great man.

[Wounded Bear]

13. "There is no safe spot for kids."

Truth.

True when you are considering "hiding" a gun around the house, and sadly, true for the world outside the home when there are so many guns out there.

There is no safe spot for kids.