kirk douglas is one of those rare american actors who can say more with a simple glance than most can say with pages of dialogue .
all he has to do is look at someone with a raised eyebrow , and you instantly know what he 's thinking .
" detective story " features one of kirk douglas 's finest performances .
he stars as a new york detective that has his whole world fall apart in one night .
the film is based on a play , and this is quite evident , as most of the movie takes place in the one - room flat that the detective 's work in .
the film opens with the douglas character getting ready to go home to his wife , but through a series of events , he never quite makes it there .
the bulk of the movie follows the case of a man named schneider , a surgeon who routinely performs abortions with a high fatality rate .
however , this schneider character has a connection in the past of douglas 's wife ; a connection douglas himself is not aware of .
many secrets are revealed in the last half hour of this film .
secrets i would not dream of giving away .
with a name like " detective story " , one would assume the film would resemble an episode of " nypd blue " , but it does n't quite work out that way .
however , we do see douglas at work on a few other cases throughout the running time .
lee grant ( virtually unrecognizable ) plays a meek jewish woman arrested for shoplifting .
her scenes with bendix , another detective , provide the movie with a few laughs .
the performances all around are fantastic .
douglas may be the leader of this ensemble , but he 's not the center of attention all the time .
we get to catch a glimpse into other cases and other detectives working on those cases .
which brings me back to douglas .
he has a really emotional scene towards the end of the picture that really makes you feel for him .
we can see that this is a man who has spent his whole life trying to eliminate crime , but has finally realized that what he 's really done is gotten back at his criminal father .
how he handles coming to terms with this is something really worth seeing .
kirk douglas is the kind of actor we do n't seem to see to much of these days : he 's a tough guy , but the human elements are never hidden too deeply underneath that gruff exterior .
the performances all around are fantastic features one of kirk douglas 's finest performances provide the movie with a few laughs something really worth seeing