The 300 Spartans

Rating:
Summary: Worst DVD I have ever bought
Review: I am an avid reader of history, own hundreds of dvds of all sorts and am a general movie lover. This is truly the worst film I have ever seen other than made for tv movies. Please! do not waste your time on this. I sold it to a used dvd store for 2 dollars and felt like I ripped them off. I have never sold a dvd before (and I have hundreds), but this one made the cut.

Rating:
Summary: ONLY ONE REASON NEED FOR SEEING THE 300 SPARTANS!
Review: "The 300 Spartans" is the story of an impossible, yet inspiring, stand by 300 Greek soldiers against the greatest army in the ancient world. Richard Egan, a buff, second string matinee idol, is King Leonidas of Sparta. His attempts to back the full scope of his military in defence of Thermopylae is hampered by political squabbling. Undaunted, Leonidas sets out to destroy Persian king, Xerxes - all the while realizing just how futile his journey is and how tragic his destiny shall be. The usual prerequisites of half naked women and massively overdone battle sequences - that all Hollywood epics circa the mid 50s to late 60s had - are reinstated for this film. Visually, it's stunning. Dramatically: below par and very long on spectacle over substance.
TRANSFER: Fox gives us a very clean, very nice looking anamorphic transfer of this would be classic. Colors are rich, vibrant and bold. Contrast and black levels are dead on. There is some fading present during several night sequences. Film grain is noticeable but not distracting. Age related artifacts are kept to a minimum. Digital anomalies (edge enhancement, pixelization) are present but do not distract. The audio is 5.1 and nicely brings back the stereophonic appeal of classic Cinemascope movies. There's a sonic breadth to the musical score that does not extend to dialogue sequences.
EXTRAS: Theatrical trailers and a few TV spots. Big deal!
BOTTOM LINE: This is a movie for people who truly love and admire Hollywood epics. But it does not represent the height or even the best that the genre can offer. If you're starved for this sort of entertainment, I would recommend either "Ben-Hur" or "Cleopatra" over this film.

Rating:
Summary: ONLY ONE REASON NEED FOR SEEING THE 300 SPARTANS!
Review: "The 300 Spartans" is the story of an impossible, yet inspiring, stand by 300 Greek soldiers against the greatest army in the ancient world. Richard Egan, a buff, second string matinee idol, is King Leonidas of Sparta. His attempts to back the full scope of his military in defence of Thermopylae is hampered by political squabbling. Undaunted, Leonidas sets out to destroy Persian king, Xerxes - all the while realizing just how futile his journey is and how tragic his destiny shall be. The usual prerequisites of half naked women and massively overdone battle sequences - that all Hollywood epics circa the mid 50s to late 60s had - are reinstated for this film. Visually, it's stunning. Dramatically: below par and very long on spectacle over substance.
TRANSFER: Fox gives us a very clean, very nice looking anamorphic transfer of this would be classic. Colors are rich, vibrant and bold. Contrast and black levels are dead on. There is some fading present during several night sequences. Film grain is noticeable but not distracting. Age related artifacts are kept to a minimum. Digital anomalies (edge enhancement, pixelization) are present but do not distract. The audio is 5.1 and nicely brings back the stereophonic appeal of classic Cinemascope movies. There's a sonic breadth to the musical score that does not extend to dialogue sequences.
EXTRAS: Theatrical trailers and a few TV spots. Big deal!
BOTTOM LINE: This is a movie for people who truly love and admire Hollywood epics. But it does not represent the height or even the best that the genre can offer. If you're starved for this sort of entertainment, I would recommend either "Ben-Hur" or "Cleopatra" over this film.

Rating:
Summary: B Movie -- A Story
Review: '300 Spartans' is nothing if not a B movie. Production values were mediocre for the 60's and downright archaic for today. Acting was on a par with the old Steve Reeves 'Hercules' movies, that is to say wooden. But '300 Spartans,' as poorly made as it was, tells a marvelous story.

I first read the story of Leonidas at Thermopylae over 45 years ago in volume 8 of Collier's 'The New Junior Classics: Stories from History,' and that became the germ of a lifelong interest in ancient history and pregunpowder military history. I next met Leonidas in the pages of J.B. Bury's 'A History of Greece,' and A.R. Burns' 'Persia and the Greeks,' and I've recently renewed my acquaintance in Peter Greene's 'The Greco-Persian Wars' and Ernle Bradford's 'Thermopylae.' All of those books save the first can be purchased from Amazon.com. A public domain reprint of the first may be available from Amazon.com under the title 'Stories from Greece and Rome, Junior Classics Part 3.'

In brief, the story of Leonidas:

As Xerxes (aka Ahasueras), the Great King of the greatest empire the world had ever seen, prepared the greatest invasion force ever mustered, the Greeks sought advice from the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle pronounced that wooden walls would save Athens, but only the death of a Spartan king would save that unwalled city from ruin.

As the Persian juggernaut crossed over a two mile long pontoon bridge into Europe and began its relentless march into Greece, the Greeks temporized, argued, and dithered. Finally, Sparta sent King Leonidas with three hundred Spartiates to hold the pass at Thermopylae against the Persian hordes. Leonidas stiffened his contingent with Helots (Spartan serfs) and volunteers from several other Greek city-states. Phocis, Thebes, Thespia, and a few others swelled Leonidas' ranks to a few thousand.

Upon being told that when the Persians loosed their arrows the sky went black, the Spartiate Dienekes rejoined "Then we shall fight in the shade." At a point in the pass no more than 20 yards wide Leonidas met the Persians and stopped them dead in their tracks. For three days he and his men held the mightiest empire's mightiest army at bay, slaughtering the flower of the Persian army by the hundreds, if not thousands. He might have held, but a traitorous Greek showed the Persians a mountain pass by which they could turn Leonidas' position.

Leonidas had guarded the pass with 1,000 Phocians, but the Persian 'Immortals,' Xerxes' best unit, brushed them aside. Upon learning of this treachery, Leonidas sent the other city-states' contingents home and prepared for his last stand. The Thebans and Thespians volunteered to stay, and Leonidas chose for his battleground a wider section of the pass. He wanted as wide a front as possible so he could kill as many Persians as possible.

The Spartans joined battle with the Persians for the last time, and the slaughter was horrific. When, as anticipated, the Immortals took them in the rear, the Spartans retreated to a hillock, formed what the Middle Ages would call a 'Swiss Hedgehog,' and died to the last man.

As prophecy foretold, the Spartans lost their king, but saved their city, and the rest of Greece with it. The invasion continued apace, and Athens was sacked, with her entire population fleeing to the island of Salamis. There in the straits between Salamis and Athens, the Greeks lured the Persian navy to its doom. Later, on the plains of Plataea, Sparta avenged the death of their king by slaughtering the Persian army and ending once and for all the Persian threat.

'300 Spartans' follows this plot remarkably well, failing only in authenticity of detail. In the light of modern depictions of pregunpowder battle in movies like 'Ran,' 'Braveheart,' and 'Gladiator,' the battle scenes were near laughable, but we must remember the budgetary and special effects limitations of a 60's era B movie.

The movie got more right than it did wrong: The dithering of the Greeks, the insanity of Leonidas' march, the gritty determination and martial excellence of the Spartiate soldiers, the hubris of Xerxes, the death by archery of the Spartiates as they formed a Swiss Hedghog for their final stand, but most of all the heroic person of Leonidas the king who willingly laid down his life to save his city-state and all of Greece with it.

Richard Egan is probably best known for his portrayal of the villianous gladiator who was Victor Mature's foe in 'Demetrius and the Gladiators.' He makes a better villian than he does a hero, but there was still something very engaging in his portrayal of the heroic but doomed Spartan King.

Rating:
Summary: Classic, Fairly Accurate
Review: 'The 300 Spartans' holds a special significance for me. I first saw this film as a young boy (I'm now 46), and it sparked an interest in ancient history that remains with me to this day. It would be interesting if someone saw fit to remake the film, with modern visual effects enhancements-but I wonder if it would have the same impact as the original.

Much of the movie is very close to the actual events, which took place in 480 B.C. A huge Persian army, led by the Great King Xerxes, had crossed the Hellespont from Asia to conquer the impudent Hellenes. The disparate, quarreling city-states of Greece had banded together to repel the invader, but could not agree on just what strategy to take. It was decided that a force of Spartans and Allied Greeks would undertake a holding action at what was then a narrow pass between the mountains and the sea. It was known as 'Thermopylae', or 'Hot Gates'. The firmly religious Spartans were unable to send their full contingent of soldiers due to a holy festival (they were curiously tardy throughout their history in such situations). However, Spartan King Leonidas' 300-strong personal bodyguard was not subject to this restriction, so he marched with them to the pass. Along the way, he was joined by an estimated 7,000 or so Allied Greeks. This tiny force went to confront a Persian host estimated by modern historians at around 100,000.

The battle itself is the stuff of legend. Superior weaponry, armor, and tactics (the famed Greek Hoplite phalanx), combined with the narrow pass that favored defense, enabled the Greeks to repel several frontal Persian assaults with tremendous loss. It appeared that the Greeks would be able to hold Thermopylae for a considerable time-until a traitor showed the Persians a goat path through the adjoining mountains which they could use to turn the Greek position. Once this was accomplished, the Greeks were doomed. Leonidas sent most of the Allied contingent to safety, and made plans for his last stand. He along with his entire bodyguard and about 1,700 allied Greek troops were slaughtered to the last man. Even though the Battle of Thermopylae was a Greek defeat, it punctured the myth of Persian invincibility, and served as a powerful inspiration in the future defense of Greece. A simultaneous naval engagement at nearby Artemisium produced similar results: the Persian fleet suffered serious loss due to storm damage and effective Greek action.

Eventually, the Greek navy all but destroyed the Persian fleet near the island of Salamis (near Athens). In 479, an Allied Greek army annihilated the last remnants of the vast Persian land host at Plataea (the greater proportion having crossed back to Asia with Xerxes after the loss of their supporting navy at Salamis), forcing the enemy from Europe for good.

The film adheres pretty closely to this narrative-with some 'Hollywood'. The love story is pure fiction (surprised?); there is some evidence that a Greek contingent may have attacked the Persian camp (possibly an attempt at killing Xerxes, thus circumventing the whole Persian expedition). The Greek army was larger than portrayed in the film-but I'm sure this was due to budgetary constraints. Mardonius, Hydarnes, and the Immortals-10,000 strong-really did exist (Mardonius commanded the Persian forces at the battle of Plataea, and was killed there). Themistocles (played in the film by Ralph Richardson) was the driving force behind the creation of the Athenian navy-and commanded the Greek fleet in the crucial action at Salamis. Unfortunately, the major role he played in the victory over Persia is largely absent in this film.

The actual Sparta was a far cry from the liberal land portrayed in the film; weak or sickly Spartan children were thrown from a cliff at birth, or left to die from exposure. Sparta was a harsh oligarchy, a military society where males were trained to be soldiers from birth. The entire population of Messenia, a nearby city-state, was enslaved so the Spartans could devote their all to military training. Sparta greatly feared a revolt of these 'helots', and many historians quote this as a main reason the whole of the Spartan army was reluctant to leave the homeland when their assistance was requested.

In spite of these inaccuracies, this is indeed a great film to watch-and no one can dispute just what the stand of Leonidas and his 300 mean to democracy in the modern world. See it-you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Due on DVD in 2004
Review: According to Peter Staddon (Sr. VP Marketing for Fox Video), during a chat at The Home Theatre Forum, this is due to be released this year. Possibly around the time "Troy" is released, late spring. He says the transfer looks great. "Zorba the Greek" is also due out and both releases are due to the interest of a higher-up at Fox who is of Greek descent.

Rating:
Summary: Wooden? Yes! Glorious? yes ... yes .. yes!
Review: As many reviewers have pointed out, the acting in this semi-epic is wooden to the extreme ... with one major exception.

It's almost like Ralph Richardson is acting in another movie. His Themosticles is eloquent and truely moving. But his scenes with Richard Egan are almost painful to watch ...

As for the rest ... well, this is a movie I saw when I was like 13 years old and it was perfect for me then. Now? I look back with affection, despite its flaws. It's not a great movie by any means, but it's still a wonderful film. I'm very happy to get the widescreen edition at last on DVD (allowing me to retire the old PS version I taped off TV).

For a slightly more sophisticated look at the battle of Thermopalye, let me recommend Stephen Pressfield's novel "Gates of Fire." It's available in paperback and is a first-rate fictional re-telling of the stand of the 300 Spartans.

Rating:
Summary: Well-Worn Classic of Antiquity
Review: Finally after many years this old sword and sandal classic has been re-issued. Like many viewers here I fist saw this film when I was a kid. I liked it then, and I still enjoy it today. For a movie it stays pretty close to the historical events. Sure there is some B-class acting and a silly romance, but the portryal of the Spartans is pretty accurate. The costumes and sets are very good. The film looks like it was shot in Greece, or some locale very similar in appearence. Once we get past the slow beginng the action picks up as the Spartans make their immortal stand at the pass. Both Xerxes and Leonidas are well portrayed in my opinion. This is one movie that does not have to resort to bizarre heroics in order to get the message across that the Spartans were brave. The combat scenes are exciting and well done. The Cold War probably inspired the making of this film, with its obvious overtones to current events at that time. This is one old classic that holds up well over the years. Glad the studios finally got over the legal battle to release this one again.

Rating:
Summary: Your spear is for yourself. Your shield is for the line.
Review: Here is a credible portrayal of the heroic stand that the 300 Spartans made at the pass of Thermopylae in 480BCE. Trying to make their way through the pass was a Persian army that likely numbered around 200,000. It was led by king Xerxes, son of Darius.

The Persians were set on conquering Greece, and Xerxes was out for revenge. 10 years earlier, in 490BCE Darius had launched an ill-fated invasion force that was turned back at Marathon. This time, Xerxes believed he had a large enough army that the outcome of the war between Greece and Persia would not be in doubt.

Unfortunately for Xerxes, he had never faced a fighting force of the like fielded by the Spartans. The valiant Lacedamons along with a handful of Greek coalition forces held the pass for the better part of 3 days.

On the third day, the Spartan king Leonidas dismissed the rest of the Greek forces so that they would live to fight another day. The Thespians declined to leave and they stayed and fought to a last man alongside the Spartans.

It is this obstinate and awe-inspiring battle that is depicted in the film. All-in-all, it is quite well done and does a reputable job of introducing most of the major characters in the period such as Themosticles, Leonidas, Xerxes, Mardonious, Aspasia and Ephialtes.

The best part of the film lies in its authenticity regarding Spartan battle dress and weaponry. In the film the Spartan shields have an upside down "V," which was the symbol of the Homoioi (full citizens). This was, in fact, what their shield depicted.

The Laconians had a long (roughly 8 foot) spear + a short-sword, and this is what the actors wielded. The Spartans also wore red to (supposedly) hide their blood, and this is accurately brought out in the film as well.

On the downside, there are a few weak parts of the script. The most egregious is an anachronism; Mardonious informs Xerxes that the Spartans "fight like machines."

There are also some directorial lapses and a few spots where armies are supposed to be in close combat and yet the extras move so slowly that you think they don't have a care in the world. I rather doubt the tension at Thermopylae 2,500 years ago would allow for such insouciance.

The acting is fairly good. Richard Egan gives a solid performance as the venerable Leonidas. The Xerxes in the film is not, I would think, too far removed from the actual pompous king who invaded Greece all those centuries ago.

Aside from all that, the primary reason one should buy this DVD is that it is real history. While some of it is fabricated and fudged, it is nevertheless an excellent representation of what really happened. To this day, to commemorate those three days in August of 480BCE there is an epigraph at Thermopylae. Translated into English, it reads thus:

GO TELL THE SPARTANS, STRANGER PASSING BY
THAT HERE OBEDIENT TO THEIR LAWS WE LIE.

Rating:
Summary: Thank you
Review: I am so happy after years of waitng they are releaseing this great old film thank you Fox.If you love classics this is one of them, a very under rated film indeed great cast as well buy it the kids will love it as its true.