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Caligula (R-rated Version)

Caligula (R-rated Version)

List Price: $24.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Unique experience
Review: Parts of this movie look like patches of Porn. Other parts are extremely violent. Don't buy it if your stomach won't bear it or if you live by moral values. Other than that, this is a great movie, with teriffic acting of Mr. McDowell and the rest of the cast. It has some amazing sets and a disturbing story. It will defenitely keep you at the edge of your seat.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: POWERFUL MOVIE
Review: I LOVE THIS MOVIE STORY WAS GOOD CIMEATORGHY VERY WELL DONE RODDY MCDOWELL CAST AS TYRANT DID A MOVING PERFORMANCE AS(LITTLE BOOTS).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Well...
Review: Peter O'Toole was reportedly drunk when he made this movie. I wish I was too when I saw it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Disturbing Historical Epic
Review: "Caliglia" is, to sum it up as simply as possible, the disgusting smell after a lengthy flatulent episode. It's so over-the-top sexually pornographic, so melodramatically and excessively violent, so vile and repulsive, that it distinguishes itself from all other films. This tastless masterpiece is not only Malcom Macdowell's finest work besides "Clockwork Orange" but it's his most startling....anything in "Clockwork Orange" compared to this seems like it was taken out of an Olsen twin movie. And yes, all the major stars of the silver screen emerge here: Peter O' Toole, Helen Mirren and others, fondling and carressing, seducing and being seduced; it's repulsive, it's candid, it's beautiful. Only a film such as this could let you vomit and marvel at the art direction at the same time; only a film such as this could make you cringe in awe and disgust; only a film such as "Caliglia" could dominate the offbeatness of historical Rome, dwelling in it's own sexed-up style. Original, thought-provoking, "Caliglia" is for no one but those would wish their stomachs emptied, and their minds amazed.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Ben-Hur of Porn: Gratuitous Sex, Violence, & Weirdness
Review: Some describe CALIGULIA as "the" most controversial film of its era. While this is debatable, it is certainly one of the most embarassing: virtually every big name associated with the film made an effort to distance themselves from it. Author Gore Vidal actually sued (with mixed results) to have his name removed from the film, and when the stars saw the film their reactions varied from loudly voiced disgust to strategic silence. What they wanted, of course, was for it to go away.

For a while it looked like it might. CALIGULA was a major box-office and critical flop (producer Guccione had to rent theatres in order to get it screened at all), and although the film was released on VHS to the home market so many censorship issues were raised that it was re-edited, and the edited version was the only one widely available for more than a decade. But now CALIGULIA is on DVD, available in both edited "R" and original "Unrated" versions. And no doubt Gielgud is glad he didn't live to see it happen.

The only way to describe CALIGULIA is to say it is something like DEEP THROAT meets David Lynch's DUNE by way of Fellini having an off day. Vidal's script fell into the hands of Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione, who used Vidal's reputation to bankroll the project and lure the big name stars--and then threw out most of Vidal's script and brought in soft-porn director Tinto Brass. Then, when Guccione felt Brass' work wasn't explicit enough, he and Giancarlo Lui photographed hardcore material on the sly.

Viewers watching the edited version may wonder what all the fuss is about, but those viewing the original cut will quickly realize that it leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. There is a tremendous amount of nudity, and that remains in the edited version, but the original comes complete with XXX scenes: there is very explicit gay, lesbian, and straight sex, kinky sex, and a grand orgy complete with dancing Roman guards thrown in for good measure. The film is also incredibly violent and bloody, with rape, torture, and mutilation the order of the day. In one particularly disturbing scene, a man is slowly stabbed to death, a woman urinates on his corpse, and his genitals are cut off and thrown to the dogs.

In the accompanying documentary, Guccione states he wanted the film to reflect the reality of pagan Rome. If so, he missed the mark. We know very little about Caligula--and what little we know is questionable at best. That aside, orgies and casual sex were not a commonplace of Roman society, where adultry was an offense punishable by death. And certainly ancient Rome NEVER looked like the strange, slightly Oriental, oddly space-age sets and costumes offered by the designers.

On the plus side, those sets and costumes are fantastically beautiful, and although the cinematography is commonplace it at least does them justice; the score is also very, very good. The most successful member of the cast is Helen Mirren, who manages to engage our interests and sympathies as the Empress Caesonia; Gielgud and O'Toole also escape in reasonably good form. The same cannot be said for McDowell, but in justice to him he doesn't have much to work with. As for the DVD itself, the film is presented in its original ratio, but the term "restored" applies to previously censored scenes, not to the film itself, and the quality is so-so. An unintentionally hilarious documentary is also included on the disk.

My final thoughts: the movie does possess a dark fascination, but ultimately it is an oddity, more interesting for its design and flat-out weirdness than for content. Some of the bodies on display (including McDowell's)are extremely beautiful, and some of the sex scenes work very well as pornography... but then again, some of them are so distasteful they might drive you to abstenance, and the bloody and grotesque nature of the film undercuts its eroticism. If you're up to it, it is worth seeing once, but once is likely to be enough. I suggest you rent it first.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Caligula
Review: This film has quite a reputation behind it. judgeing from all the rewiews on this sight i was exspecting 2 1/2 hours or hard core porn and Violence. but its not as exstreme as it has been made out to be.

In fact its quite a good film - it has a story, and some great OTT acting from some great British hams.

The camera work and Score are a bit heavy handed with its crash zooms and over dramtic high cords, but its all in the spirt of the picture.

Over all I enjoyed this film. Even though its not the best Movie I've ever seen its no way the worst.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Interesting, Rivoting and Dynamic!
Review: CALIGULA is an adult film with adult subjects. This is NOT for everyone to see - especially children and even adults who may be offended by this REAL historical persons existence. This movie is Malcolm McDowell. He shines in this feature from beginning to bloody end. The film came out in 1979 to very mixed reviews. The original release was later cut to achieve a strong "R" and most of the sequences that were cut were shelved and now released in their entirety. It was originally an "X" - for graphic violence and free sex - not pornography.

Directed by the Italian director - screen named Tinto Brass, the film takes you on a journey through the life of a very sick man. The film has quite a cast starting off with Malcolm McDowell in the lead role. In this production you can find the masterful talents of Peter O'Toole, Helen Mirren and John Geilgood.

The production value is very high and the costumes and set design are extraordinaire. TO think a man like this existed is sick. The film is not for the week stomach.

I liked this film for the performances and the production design overall, but the story is amazing and the details very clear. This is one you might want to rent before you buy. I bought it because I love the film moiré. (8-27-02)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Porno, Porno, Let Me Count the Ways
Review: First, this is not a docudrama. The comic-book-depth story of the Roman Emperor Caligula (which may, or may not, even be accurate) is used merely as an excuse for the grandest scale pornography of which I'm aware. The point is not to show the perversions which were supposedly Caligula's, it's to ensure we have our own sense of sensual depravity stretched and indulged at the same time. You could never imagine some of the things in this film; trust me on this. In the guise of conveying to us how depraved Caligula was, we learn how depraved we and our society is. Now, don't get me wrong: the women are magnificent; the sex is stupendous; the eroticism is overpowering. (But also be clear: there is no consistent pattern here; there is one instance of everything that might offend someone; explicit female and male homosexuality, bestiality, male and female rape, castration, murder, public humiliation that boggles the mind, and other stuff I won't put in a public review.) If that sort of stuff rocks your world, then by all means get the movie, and watch it over and over. I imagine it would take a long time to become inured to it. On the other hand, ask yourself, why did such big stars appear in this film? Why was there a lawsuit against the producer for making one of the stars perform against her will? The truth is, this film is no more about Rome than it is about us. And any porno loop is as much about why Rome fell, as it is about why WE might fall. But we apparently will have an orgy of a good time doing it!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Stay far away.
Review: Some movies are deliberately bad. Some are so deliberately bad that they are funny. This movie is most emphatically not one of them. This movie is execrable, but not deliberately so, and that is the most depressing thing of all. Someone actually thought it was good enough to warrant expending a lot of effort and money. Why else would they go to the trouble of hiring such actors as O'Toole and McDowell? I used to have some respect for Malcolm McDowell before I saw him in this crock of toxic waste. That's safely gone now, of course, but still I wonder why he accepted this role. Was he hard up for cash, or does he simply have no dignity? Or are both true? Either way, it was money ill spent. The acting is a mess, the plot is incomprehensible, the composer is a ... , whoever adapted the screenplay is an incompetent, and there are actually two directors, but all that does is give me one extra person to loathe. The fact that this movie is available on DVD is a testament to something so bad, the word to describe it has yet to be invented.

Why was this movie made? There are actually people who bother coming up with intellectual rationalizations for it - id est, "Yeah, but this is the way things REALLY WERE!" Nonsense. Softcore pornographer Tinto Brass and hardcore pornographer Bob Guccione did not come together one day and decide to direct a realistic historical epic. No, the right answer is the most obvious one and the most difficult one to face - they actually thought this horrible, horrible movie would titillate someone. Let me repeat that to let the horror sink in - they actually thought people would be titillated by a movie which contains a scene in which a man's genitals are severed and thrown to a pair of hounds (and if you think I'm making this up, I only wish I was as naive as yourself). They actually thought people would find eroticism in a movie in which there is not only none of it, but also no pleasure, no joy, in fact not a single human emotion whatsoever aside from a sort of smug self-satisfaction at one's own disgusting vileness. Not only did they fail as directors, artists and creators, but they failed as human beings. Their movie will be forever appreciated by those who are too creatively, mentally and emotionally bankrupt to find any amusement or pleasure in anything higher than smug, bloated maliciousness, but that still does not justify its having been made.

Tragically, their assumption wasn't too far off the mark. For me, the absolute worst came from having to watch this movie with other people. I'm not making any of this up: people around me actually _cheered loudly_ during the rectal fisting scene. Even wilder was their merriment during the scene in which two whores urinate on the corpse of a man who was just tortured to death (which you will also please believe that I am not making up). "Cretinous" is too weak a word to describe such reactions. Having to watch someone I love be genuinely entertained by this catalogue of disease was one of the most saddening and enraging events that I have ever had the misfortune of experiencing.

I can forgive audiences who paid to see this in 1980. Back then, no one yet knew what an atrocity this movie is. But twenty-odd years have passed since then. Now no one has any shred of an excuse to see this movie. As you read this, it is entirely within your power to exercise a very small amount of effort and purchase _any_ other movie. If you pass up the chance to do this, and use your money to buy Caligula instead, I hope I never meet you.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I would enter 0 stars if I could.
Review: The movie is disgusting. Please don't see it.


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