Book Review: Michael Douglas’ ONE HELLUVA RIDE Is One Heck Of A Memoir!
Michael Douglas has always been one of the most dependable movie stars of the last 50 years. His films have always been top tier and very few big league stars have managed to maintain the consistent quality that Douglas has across his decades as a leading man. This is made all the more fascinating because Douglas never really played it safe. From Fatal Attraction to Wall Street and Falling Down and Basic Instinct, his films have always had a certain amount of edge – not simple, generic cookie cutter commercial fare. Then there’s the fact that Douglas is the son of the mighty Kirk Douglas – one of the defining (and most successful) leading men of the Golden Age Of Hollywood. They say that lightening never strikes in the same place twice – but it did for Kirk and Michael Douglas. Then you throw in a marriage to fellow star (and Oscar winner), Catherine Zeta-Jones and it looks like Douglas Jr. has lead a monumentally charmed life.
This is all perfect material for Michael Douglas’ autobiography – One Helluva Ride. It’s a book that manages to be everything you want it to be – from growing up as the son of a Hollywood star, forging his own way as an actor in The Streets Of San Francisco to winning an Oscar for producing One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (and another for acting in Wall Street) and then becoming one Hollywood’s most well-regarded stars. This has detail on all of that – but Douglas’ book also lets us see the flawed and somewhat damaged man behind this.
There’s plenty of Hollywood gossip (and the book looks at certain key movies), but the through line of One Helluva Ride is Douglas’ often fractious relationship with his father. He talks about the issues his parents had before they divorced, living in his father’s shadow and the constant comparisons that were made between them. You’d think that this may have dissipated as Michael’s success grew, but it was always lurking at the back of his mind and the pair never really got close until Kirk nearly died in a helicopter crash in the early 1990s. The long shadow of a successful father and unsuccessful fatherhood was ultimately something that he then passed down to his first son Cameron – who ended up incarcerated for drug dealing. It’s a very open confession from a man who on the outside appears to have achieved everything – but we see behind his external confidence – these things got on top him as much it might get to any of us.
The book also details his failed first marriage and multiple affairs (with co-stars Kathleen Turner, Jeanne Tripplehorn and others), his time in rehab for drug addition (not sex addiction as everyone likes to say) and his near life ending battle with tongue cancer. He deals with some heavy topics, but it’s all done with a relaxed and casual tone – you can almost hear Douglas’ voice as you read it.
The perfect balance between personal confession, name dropping Hollywood memoir and a reflection during life’s last act, One Helluva Ride is the perfect autobiography. People often talk about not being able to put a book down, or a book that’s a real page turner. Well, this is a page turner that you can’t put down. Every single page is loaded with a fascinating tidbit, a piece of Hollywood gossip or a personal revelation that makes you marvel at Michael Douglas’ personal and professional life. The cover says that it’s One Helluva Ride – and it truly was.
