Rating: 
Summary: ...
Review: Well, this is a hard one to review. On an exploitation-flick scale, it's five stars, no doubt; this is about as trashy a major-distribution film as I can think of.As far as actual quality, well...O'Toole is a lot of fun to watch (although personally I get more B-film thrills watching him in THE STUNT MAN), McDowall is also pretty good as Caligula, and there's some OK hardcore footage (well-shot at the very least). It's worth checking out as long as you don't get yourself all hyped up for "The most controversial film of all time"...just watch it with the same mindframe you'd use to watch, say, ILSA: SHE-DEVIL OF THE S.S., or a low-budget slasher flick, and you'll have a heck (can I say that here?) of a time.
Rating: 
Summary: A graphic depiction of a decadent time and a ruler gone mad
Review: Caligula is a non-stop parade of perversions, gore, and stunning sets. Mix all that with a decent job of acting from some brilliant actors and you find that while you may be repulsed by some of what you see, you'll also want to see it again. The movie graphically depicts of the rise and fall of Caligula (Malcolm McDowell), one of the most notorious of all Roman emperors. It's rather straight forward in it's portrayal of the man and his exploits. Throughout the movie you definitely get a feel for how demented Caligula became and in the end you are almost relieved when his life is ended. The major draw back to the story line is that they never really develop any of the other characters and it leaves them as shallow figures. Keep in mind that this movie was brought to us by Penthouse so to say that there is a fair amount of nudity and sex is an understatement. There are also some rather gruesome scenes as well. I've read many reviewers use these points to put the movie down, but what they fail to realize is that Rome did have it's dark days of mass perversion. Yes, the movie did go over the top a bit, but it's not too far off from the decadence of the time. If you keep this in mind you will love the movie. As for the DVD itself. The sound quality is much better the the original VHS version, but still leaves a bit to be desired. The picture is a bit grainy and that does tend to draw away from the breathtaking sets. I recommend the unrated version for the sole fact that the R-rated version cuts out a large chunk of the movie. It also has a nice documentary on the making of the film.
Rating: 
Summary: Maltin pretty much nails it...
Review: The "Spotlight Review" is dead wrong; not only is Caligula's history pretty ridiculously bloody, violent, and sexual, the man himself went a whole heck of a lot further than this sad little flick does. The key problem with "Caligula" isn't the violence, gore, or scanty hardcore porn footage anyway (if you're looking for those kind of jollies, look elsewhere), it's that these things were combined in a coldly cynical manner. This is basically an attempt to cynically rack up the bucks. Considering Guccione had to rent theaters to screen it, it makes you wonder just what the man was trying to prove. Regardless, this movie really stinks. The cast does a great job, no denying that, but they just can't win against the mindlessness of the script (poor Gore Vidal, I can't blame him for fighting to get his name taken off) or the shoddy direction. This isn't even a fun exploitation flick; there's no joy or sense of fun here. You're better off with "Killer Condom", or most of the Troma flicks. Or any hardcore porn disc if you're looking for that kind of stuff. Don't waste your time on this; for once, Maltin nailed it.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: "You cannot possibly absorb all that there is in this film with one viewing," says Bob Guccione of his magnum opus, CALIGULA. A pity, then, that the film is such a chore to sit through even once. Despite its clear aim to shock and offend, CALIGULA manages only to be an interminable bore. It is, in a way, the Andrew "Dice" Clay of film. Helen Mirren (one of several what-the-hell-are-YOU-doing-here members of the cast) once commented on the film's "irresistible mixture of art and genitals." The genitals are there, all right, but there is very little art on display, save perhaps a few nicely designed sets. As for irresistible... The acting ranges from passable to atrocious, the script has no idea where it is going or what it is trying to say, and virtually nothing in the film has any dramatic impact whatsoever. It is impossible, furthermore, to give a damn about any of the characters, apart from Caligula's sister, Drusilla. In this role, Teresa Ann Savoy actually acquits herself fairly well, and manages to escape with more of her dignity intact than anyone else in the cast. If you're reading this review, however, I'm guessing these aspects of the film are not what interests you. Know, then, that even as a "guilty pleasure," the film is astonishingly unentertaining. In their quest for notoriety, the filmmakers have crammed nearly every frame full of depravity of one sort or another. It is difficult to imagine a non-porn film with more nudity and sex in it, but nearly all of this footage is unpleasant. Apart from the "not-bad hardcore footage" to which Leonard Maltin refers, there's nothing even remotely titillating, let alone erotic, in the entire film. As for the notorious graphic violence, this has not aged well. It's still unpleasant enough, but rather than shock, it tends simply to embarrass. And then, just when you think the film has hit rock bottom, Malcom McDowell crams his fist up somebody's (butt)... Waiter? Check please. The DVD features the sorriest excuse for a 'restored version' I have ever seen. The image is grainy and occasionally ill-focused, and the sound ranges from good to lousy. The one bright spot (and, really, the only reason to check out this DVD at all) is a perversely fascinating documentary entitled THE MAKING OF "GORE VIDAL'S CALIGULA". This hour-long, poorly-filmed feature gives ample insight into the laughable pretensions of Guccione et al., and includes most of the film's naughtiest bits besides (God only knows what audience it was intended for). CALIGULA is a failure on every level. See it if you must, but don't say I didn't warn you. If you want porn, get porn; if you want graphic violence, get ROBOCOP. If you want a hammy historical epic, get CLEOPATRA; if you want a good one - well, I'm afraid I can't really help you there. On other hand, if you're still curious, get the DVD, but skip the movie itself and watch the documentary instead. Trust me, you won't be missing anything.
Rating: 
Summary: This is an amazing film
Review: Years ago, I had heard about this movie, longing to purchase it. And I did. It's so fantastic!
First of all, I dare to say it is not an adult movie.
But it is a movie for adult.
Quality of screen feature is not good.
Inspite of its well-known story, very interesting.
Don't hesitate to buy this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Must see
Review: What a great movie. Anyone who sees this film will say "dang, he put his fist in the guys what?" and, "watch the wine burst from the guys stomach how?" or, "that girl's his what? Can't be. No way... Dang... They'd have kids with 2 heads or 3 arms or something. Dang..."
Rating: 
Summary: From the historical point of view, not as bad as many think
Review: I will concentrate on the movie's historical accuracy (or its lack of it), since the previous reviews seem to either have overlooked it, or claimed that it is "historically accurate", or on the opposite extreme, that it totally ignored history. "Caligula" does have some merit from the historical point of view, surely already present in Gore Vidal's original script. It's also very weak in many points. The bare events of Caligula's life and reign are actually quite accurate. It may surprise many viewers that most of the secondary characters - Emperor Tiberius, Senator Nerva, the praetorian prefect Macro, Tiberius's grandson and Caligula's rival for the succession Gemellus, Caesonia, Chaerea (who murdered Caligula), his sister Drusilla - were all historical and, as far as the facts have come down to us, their portrayal in "Caligula" was fairly accurate, at least according to some ancient authors. Tiberius did retire to the island of Capri in his last years and did invite the elderly Nerva to join him there, and ancient authors do claim that he indulged in sexual perversions there. Nerva really committed suicide as shown in the movie. The conversations between Caligula, Nerva and Tiberius, probably by Vidal, really reflect contemporary views and issues - for instance, the deification of Julius Caesar and Augustus, Tiberius's predecessors: Tiberius was totally cynical about the whole thing, whereas Caligula firmly believed it. Throughout the movie, many of Caligula's lines come straight from ancient authors. On the other hand, Nerva's comment on Caligula's "gift for logic" seems to owe more to Camus than to ancient sources - still, a nice touch, I thought. Tiberius's murder by Caligula and Macro, Caligula's removal of Macro and Gemellus, his incestuous relationship with Drusilla, her death, his marriage to Caesonia, her giving him a daughter, his increasing tyranny, his farcical invasion of Germany and attempted invasion of Britain, and his murder by his own guard - are all historical facts, and on the whole not too inaccurately shown in the movie. On the other hand, the movie's biggest weaknesses from the historical point of view are (1) the way it *looks* and (2) the suggestion that Caligula's and Tiberius's depravity were somehow "normal", part of Rome's "decadence". The sets and clothes all look more like something from a Fellini film than from ancient Rome. Tiberius's palace on Capri is perhaps the most unrealistic, along with that ship, and the execution machine - and countless details. The clothes aren't very realistic, either. Romans were more casual about nudity than we are today, and I suppose that their clothes might reveal much some times. But I doubt that Roman ladies would be as casual about parading half-naked as portrayed in the movie (I mean in normal situations, not the sex scenes). Moreover, it's simply not true that "orgies" such as that portrayed in the movie were common among the Roman upper classes. Actually adultery - also on the part of males - was an offense punishable by death, at least for the upper classes (this didn't cover prostitution). The vast majority of the Roman senatorial class would, and did, find behavior such as that of Tiberius and Caligula scandalous. However, Caligula's in cognito wanderings through Rome after Drusilla's death give perhaps for the first time in a movie a good impression of what ancient Rome actually was at night - dangerous, dark, chaotic, where no person of means would venture without an armed escort. I also enjoyed the glimpse of what an emperor's routine largely consisted of, with Tiberius and Caligula stamping their seal onto endless piles of official documents. "Caligula" was obviously intended to be mainly a pornographic movie - Bob Guccione made sure of that. But it also, at some point, was intended to have a core of historical accuracy, which is why Gore Vidal was asked to write the script. This core is still present in the movie, and it's not true that you don't learn anything of Roman history by watching it. But of course, I know that that's not what most people will watch it for. So perhaps Guccione was right.
Rating:
Summary: It's got a little of everything
Review: I do own this, and although I find the sex and particularly the violence realistically graphic to the time and manner of Rome at this juncture in her time, I find alot of the acting just plain sucks. The great O'Toole, Gielgud and even Mirren are all around for alittle time only. We see much more of Malcolm of course, and though he plays "mad" well enough, it gets alittle boring and over-the-top. And when he mourns his sister's death, I simply fastforward away from THAT. Otherwise, to quote a (female) friend, "There are images in it that are burned in my brain forever..."
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre, disturbing, and extravagant
Review: Screenplay butcherings and unnecessary sex aside, this movie proves entertaining for those who find the enormously morbid amusing. While a man's rise to and corruption by absolute power is an old idea, both historically and artistically, "Caligula's" chronicling of one of the older and more well-known cases is rather fascinating, if only for the freakishness and outlandishly atrociousness of it. Having not read Vidal's original screenplay, I can only hope that it contained more than merely a generous helping of Suetonius' tabloid-style biography of the man backed by excessively provacative scenes of cruelty and public humiliation and death. Still, if you find the hyper-disturbing appealing (which I do, though not enough to watch this over and over), you may enjoy this. Of course, there are the porno scenes, which add little, if anything, to story; for instance, the lesbian scene in Scene 19 of the DVD is completely unnecessary, while the portion involving Caligula's "Imperial Bordello" goes on far too long. Only one, I found, could not be almost completely skipped over: that of Tiberius' (Peter O'Toole) orgy room, which interlaces images too frantically with Tiberius' character development to miss entirely,though I do consent that his character--a mad, perverted tyrant--is quickly established. If unnecessary sex scenes--almost certainly tacked on by Guccione when Brass and the cast weren't looking; it's right there in the credits: "additionally footage directed by Bob Guccione...edited by Penthouse Productions"--do not appeal to you (though that may be your intention: purchasing porn cleverly disguised as sensational biopic), then you probably will want to rent or purchase the R-rated version. A word on the quality: horrible. The footage is grainy, some lines are out of synch with lips, and I know I saw a hair in the film towards the end (on a DVD!). Still, the movie is watchable (in terms of visibility, anyway), although I felt the porn scenes had been touched up noticeably more than any others. Acting, now. The performances by the principle actors (McDowell, van Savoy, and Mirren) make up for a piecemeal story of increasing morbidity. As said before, most of "Caligula" seems drawn more out of Suetonius' shock-value history than any screenplay, but this is rendered almost unnoticable by McDowell's laudable, nearly over-the top performance as the sociopathic mad dictator, which perhaps matches nicely the original ambition of the project, if not the outcome. At times (read, "frequently"), however, that performance comes dangerously close to McDowell's character Alex DeLarge in "A Clockwork Orange" (another, better bit of disturbing cinema, though not as grotesque). Final review: Quality of film--weird and overly ambitious. Porn scenes--annoying, and mostly unnecessary. DVD quality--[not-good]. Acting--great, drawing attention away from a fragmented plot. Ultimately, if the truly disturbing is your thing: enjoy! Otherwise: STAY AWAY.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Be A Sucker
Review: [...] arguably the worst film ever made. There's no eroticism in it, only graphic sickening violence. Don't let Guccione steal your money. Don't even rent it. It's only appeal is to severely alienated people, disenfranchised from humanity and in need of help.
|
