HotToastyRag While watching Diamonds, you'll probably feel a bittersweet combination of sadness and pride, but you won't be alone. Everyone will feel that way when watching an 83-year-old Kirk Douglas play in a movie where he used to be active and agile and now takes speech therapy lessons to stay sharp after a stroke. Now that we've gotten the sadness out of the way, let's get to the movie.Using footage from an earlier Kirk Douglas movie, Champion, the audience is shown that Kirk's character used to be a successful boxer. He tells his son that after winning a fight years ago, he was paid in diamonds, and the jewels are still hidden in Las Vegas. Together, Kirk, his son Dan Aykroyd, and his grandson Corbin Allred, go on a road trip to find the diamonds. Rather than just a strict buddy-comedy, the film has an additional dramatic element to the story: Kirk and Dan have a bad father-son relationship, and despite his best efforts, history has repeated itself with Dan and Corbin. So, in between the jokes, there's some family drama to be worked out in the movie.All in all, this is actually a pretty cute film, and if you feel you're up to watching a very old Kirk Douglas, I recommend you rent it and watch it with your dad, or whichever male family member you're on the outs with. And to the ladies out there, old Kirk's still got it! Just ask Lauren Bacall, who reunites with her costar after they acted together in 1950!

Michael_Elliott Diamonds (1999) *** (out of 4) Thin but touching drama about an ex-fighter (Kirk Douglas) who was worthless to his son (Dan Aykroyd) but after the fighter's stroke they are brought together again. Along with his grandson (Corhin Allred), the three head to Nevada to collect some diamonds owed the old man after throwing a fight fifty years earlier. This road picture really doesn't contain anything we haven't seen countless times before but this film is very special in the fact that it was made a few years after Douglas suffered his stroke in real life. I was expecting a rather bland performance made memorable by the bravery of the actor trying to act again but I was really floored because Douglas still contains all that energy and fight that we saw from him throughout his career. Clips from his film Champion are shown here to show Douglas as the young fighter and it's rather amazing that his performance here perfectly captures that mood and spirit of that young man. He's given a couple very big emotional scenes and he pulls them off remarkably well and that intense energy is still there after all these years. Both Aykroyd and Allred also deliver fine performances as does Jenny McCarthy as a prostitute. Lauren Bacall has a small role as a whorehouse owner but her scenes with Douglas is priceless. I'm really shocked to see some major critics rip this film to shreds because it's a damn good little film that seems to have a small little following behind it. It's certainly worth watching for Douglas fans. Towards the end of the film there's a twenty-minute sequence in the whorehouse, which got me worried where the film was trying to go but it perfectly captures everything we've been led up to.

bkoganbing I'm willing to bet that Kirk Douglas liked this project so much he decided to do it again with his own son and grandson. Diamonds is a story that finds Kirk in pursuit of some diamonds he hid away in the house of an old hoodlum friend in Reno, Nevada. Back in the day Douglas was a boxer by trade and this was a payoff for throwing a big fight back in the Fifties. To make his pursuit more interesting he takes along one of his two sons Dan Ackroyd and Ackroyd's son, Corbin Allred. So three generations of the Agensky family go in pursuit of some diamonds.Of course the trip is a bonding experience for all concerned. Ackroyd just went through a bitter divorce with Allred's mother and he's been estranged from Douglas for several years.I found Diamonds to be a pleasant film, entertaining and in a few instances quite touching. The Agensky family outing also included a visit to a bordello run by Madam Lauren Bacall.Before she married Humphrey Bogart, Bacall was an acting student in New York with Kirk Douglas and she persuaded him to come to Hollywood. Back in 1951 they co-starred in Young Man With a Horn so 48 years later they're back together on the screen. They're scenes are precious.With Diamonds I think Kirk was trying to send a message that all stroke victims aren't helpless. His scene with fellow former boxer Val Bisoglio as the two old ring enemies meet are a delight and later how he obtains his quest proves that while his speech is impaired he hasn't lost one single marble.Later on Kirk Douglas did It Runs In the Family with son Michael and grandson Cameron. But I kind of like this one better.

Evita-5 I had the chance of seeing this at an advance screening my friend was invited to & I thought it was a very beautiufl, warm and funny film. Seeing Kirk Douglas is amazing & its absolutley wonderful to see him acting at his age. I know this is unusual but I really enjoy seeing older people on screen and we hardly ever get the chance to. Anyway, I'm not sure when this opens but go see it.Oh! Also, Corbin Allred -the young kid- is very hot & a great actor. I'm not just fixated on older people!