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The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

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Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 14
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 1

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 1
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 0

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Movie Info

Kirk Douglas plays the corrupt and amoral head of a major film studio in this Hollywood drama, often regarded as one of the film's industry's most interesting glimpses at itself. Actress Gloria Lorrison (Lana Turner), director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan), and screenwriter James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell) are invited to a meeting at a Hollywood sound stage at the request of producer Harry Pebbel (Walter Pidgeon). Pebbel is working with studio chief Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas), whose studio is

Unrated, 1 hr. 58 min.

Drama, Romance, Classics

Directed By: Vincente Minnelli

Written By: George Bradshaw, Charles Schnee

In Theaters: Jan 15, 1953 Limited

On DVD: Feb 5, 2002

MGM Home Entertainment

The Bad and the Beautiful Trailer & Photos

Cast

Kirk Douglas
Jonathan Shields
Lana Turner
Georgia Lorrison
Walter Pidgeon
Harry Pebbel
Dick Powell
James Lee Bartlow
Barry Sullivan
Fred Amiel
Gloria Grahame
Rosemary Bartlow
Gilbert Roland
Victor "Gaucho" Ribera
Leo G Carroll
Henry Whitfield
Vanessa Brown
Kay Amiel
Paul Stewart
Syd Murphy
Ivan Triesault
Von Ellstein
Elaine Stewart
Lila
Sammy White
Gus
Kathleen Freeman
Miss March
Marietta Canty
Ida
Robert Burton
McDill
Jay Adler
Mr. Z
Stanley Andrews
Sheriff
A. Ben Astar
Joe
Barbara Billingsley
Lucien
Madge Blake
Mrs. Rosser
Francis X. Bushman
Eulogist
Louis Calhern
Voice on the Recording
Bob Carson
Casting Director
Jonathan Cott
Assistant Director
Sandy Descher
Little Girl
Bess Flowers
Joe's Friend at Party
Steve Forrest
Leading Man
Ned Glass
Wardrobe Man
William E. Green
Hugo Shields
Dabbs Greer
Peggy King
Singer
Lucy Knoch
Blonde
George J. Lewis
Lionel Donovan Actor in...
Harold Miller
Chris Olson
Amiel's Boy
Dorothy Patrick
Arlene
William 'Bill' Phillips
Assistant Director
Frank J. Scannell
Perry Sheehan
Secretary
Dee Turnell
Linda Ronley
Kaaren Verne
Rosa
William Tannen
Erin Selwyn
Sarah Spencer
Barbara Thatcher
Leo G. Carroll

Critic Reviews for The Bad and the Beautiful

All Critics (18) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (13) | Rotten (1) | DVD (10)

Under Minnelli's direction it becomes a fascinating study of a man destroyed by the 50s success ethic, left broke, alone, and slightly insane in the end.

February 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Three disjointed stories awkwardly connected by a frayed thread.

August 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Oscar Guy

| Comment

Wesley Lovell

Oscar Guy

If it's not quite Sunset Blvd., Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful stands on its own as a scathing portrait of Hollywood's cutthroat ways and means.

February 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Film and Felt

| Comment

Gabe Leibowitz

Film and Felt

Dramatically strange - but visually splendid - inside look at Hollywood film making.

August 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Classic Film and Television

| Comment

Michael E. Grost

Classic Film and Television

In Minnnelli's hands, the noirish melodram is less critical of Hollywood and more ambiguous in depicting the tawdry absurdities and operatic splendors of a bizzare industry, in which the players are more of frustrated dreamers than cold manipulators.

July 22, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Classic take on classic Hollywood.

June 26, 2003 Comment

Nell Minow

Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) is director Vincente Minnelli's (and producer John Houseman's) quintessential movie about Hollywood and moviemaking.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films

| Comment

Tim Dirks

Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films

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Audience Reviews for The Bad and the Beautiful

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A Kirk Douglas film, has to be based or meant to base a director that played a part in his career, just to factual to be a made up story. Its about a director that is pretty much ruthless, shows the story of three people who basically were made famous thru his ruthless actions. A good ole Black & White. 4 stars.

December 8, 2011

Bruce Bruce

Super Reviewer

"Will you help him get started again? Will you work with him just this once?"Three people: a Pulitzer Prize winning writer (Dick Powell), a beloved actress (Lana Turner), and an Oscar winning director (Bernard Sullivan) ; all connected by one man (Kirk Douglas). A charismatic, volatile, unknowable movie producer (with

August 31, 2010

Lewis C.

Super Reviewer

The Bad and the Beautiful Quotes

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1. Jonathan Shields: Georgia, love is for the very young.
– Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)

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