Spartacus

Spartacus
by Stanley Kubrick

Spartacus
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Charles Laughton, Jean Simmons, Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Brand: DOUGLAS,KIRK
Producer: Kirk Douglas
Writer: Peter Ustinov
Producer: Edward Lewis
Producer: James C. Katz
Writer: Calder Willingham
Writer: Dalton Trumbo
Writer: Howard Fast
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.20:1
Running Time: 196 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-03-31
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios

Movie Reviews of Spartacus

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

So Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) ends his rallying speech to his Gladiator Army just before the final engagement of the picture, when they will have to face the full force of Rome itself, led by Crassus, as played by Laurence Olivier.

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

The epic tale of the bold gladiator slave Spartacus (Douglas), the woman who believed in his cause, and the power-hungry Roman general who challenged his convictions.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 2-JAN-2002
Media Type: DVD
Stanley Kubrick was only 31 years old when Kirk Douglas (star of Kubrick's classic Paths of Glory) recruited the young director to pilot this epic saga, in which the rebellious slave Spartacus (played by Douglas) leads a freedom revolt against the decadent Roman Empire. Kubrick would later disown the film because it was not a personal project--he was merely a director-for-hire--but Spartacus remains one of the best of Hollywood's grand historical epics. With an intelligent screenplay by then-blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (from a novel by Howard Fast), its message of moral integrity and courageous conviction is still quite powerful, and the all-star cast (including Charles Laughton in full toga) is full of entertaining surprises. Fully restored in 1991 to include scenes deleted from the original 1960 release, the full-length Spartacus is a grand-scale cinematic marvel, offering some of the most awesome battles ever filmed and a central performance by Douglas that's as sensitively emotional as it is intensely heroic. Jean Simmons plays the slave woman who becomes Spartacus's wife, and Peter Ustinov steals the show with his frequently hilarious, Oscar-winning performance as a slave trader who shamelessly curries favor with his Roman superiors. The restored version also includes a formerly deleted bathhouse scene in which Laurence Olivier plays a bisexual Roman senator (with restored dialogue dubbed by Anthony Hopkins) who gets hot and bothered over a slave servant played by Tony Curtis. These and other restored scenes expand the film to just over three hours in length. Despite some forgivable lulls, this is a rousing and substantial drama that grabs and holds your attention. Breaking tradition with sophisticated themes and a downbeat (yet eminently noble) conclusion, Spartacus is a thinking person's epic, rising above mere spectacle with a story as impressive as its widescreen action and Oscar-winning sets. --Jeff Shannon
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