Man Without a Star (1955) 65/100 - Universal International was well known in the fifties for their western offerings, so I can't understand why Kirk Douglas, in his production company's first film, decided upon King Vidor to be the director. Last night, I watched an early Budd Boetticher film from two years earlier which had plenty of action and showed that Boetticher was a director on the rise. When the film started I was enthusiastic, because the opening theme song was sung by Frankie Laine, usually a good harbinger of things to come. But from the onset, it doesn't know what kind of film it wants to be. Bits of comedy, Douglas singing a song and in the end, a somewhat revenge vibe, that never really amounts to anything of merit. It was entertaining, hell, anything with Kirk Douglas is, but it never really satisfies. In the end, it comes across as nothing more than a B movie. Had Douglas chosen Boetticher, it may have been much, much better. It had the potential.