Spartacus

Spartacus
by Stanley Kubrick

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Movie Reviews of Spartacus

Movie Review: "And End This Thing the Only Way It Could Have Ended!"
Summary: 5 Stars

Where can I start to praise this magnificent movie? Funny how your appreciation matures as you grow older. When I was a kid, "Spartacus" lasted all week on "The 4:30 Movie" and often got featured on Bible Week even though it has nothing to do with those events--it's a ROMAN epic, not a BIBLICAL one. Then I really sat down and watched it on video years later, and my earlier impressions passed away. The ultimate test of its greatness was then in 1991 when the restored version played at NYC's Ziegfeld Theatre and I saw it with my friend Lisa, who had never seen it before. She was totally blown away--couldn't even believe how old the picture was then, because it looked great and the actors were all top notch.

Credit for "Spartacus" must rightfully be given to Kirk Douglas himself, who produced it and assembled the fine cast. Not only that, he dared to do what no one at that time would--he hired blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (who had been writing, but under an assumed name since he was considered dead meat) for the script and put his name firmly in the credits--Trumbo thanked Douglas later "for giving me my name back," thus striking the major blow that broke the blacklist. Totally appropriate for a movie that concerns itself, after all, with man's fight for freedom from oppressors.

But "Spartacus" is not only a vehicle to oppose the blacklist. No, it's simply one of the best epics ever produced. How does it compare, for instance, with "Ben-Hur"? "Ben-Hur" is an excellent movie, but there is no character in the film--none--who is as complex as the ones in "Spartacus". "Spartacus" boasts a bevy of tour de force performances: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jeanne Simmons, Peter Ustinov, Charles Laughton. It's the sort of piece where you're never sure which actor you like to watch most. Ustinov is awfully good as the owner of the Gladiator school where all the trouble starts when Laurence Olivier's decadent entourage arrives and nonchalantly demands a fight to the death from the gladiators. Ustinov delivers an Academy Award-winning performance as he panders to whatever Roman higher up he's presented with. Charles Laughton is a wily old Roman senator who is self-appointed to stop the advances Olivier's Crassus is making towards dictatorship. For me, it's a sheer joy to watch Laughton's self satisfied work, whether he's living it up in his home among all his women slaves with Ustinov or attacking Olivier on the floor of the Roman Senate. I'd have recommended him for the Supporting Actor Award Ustinov copped. Olivier gives the most multilayered performance, as you'd expect he would. Watch him closely; he's different with every other character, the way some complex people show different facets of their personality at different times. His Crassus is a man searching for something, something even he can't identify. Is it an affair with Slave Boy Tony Curtis? Is it an affair with Spartacus' wife Jeanne Simmons? Is it control of Rome itself? Whatever it is, he feels it is somehow connected with tracking down the slave known as Spartacus, whom he was informed he saw once in the arena, but can't for the life of him remember.

The three performances up top are the best in the movie, but Jeanne Simmons imbues her character with dignity and of course Kirk Douglas has more than his share of charisma as Spartacus himself. Tony Curtis is oddly enough treated as a boy in the movie, which is somewhat far-fetched, but not offensive. Looking for a feast for the eyes? Then cast a glance at John Gavin as Laughton's protege Julius Caesar, especially in the bath scene when his powerful chest can distract you from the acting of Olivier and Laughton combined.

"Spartacus" is a long movie, but believe me, one that flows so beautifully that you're unaware of the time. Really one of the finest ever put out--gather up your toga and hunt it down for yourself.

Summary of Spartacus