Spartacus

Rating:
Summary: Classic Hollywood epic looks great
Review: If you're a fan of the movie Sparatus, this is the version to get; the Universal DVD is as bare bones as they get with just the movie. The Criterion version looks great. The facelift the film received help return much of its luster. Kubrick later disowned his version of the epic Hollywood Sword & Sandal genre, but Kubrick brings much of his sensibility to bear; the fight sequences and epic vistas bring to mind Kubrick's work on Paths of Glory and 2001. True, this isn't a complete Kubrick picture; Kubrick had nothing to do with the screenplay and Douglas had all but cast the picture in collaboration with director Anthony Mann (dismissed after butting heads with Douglas one too many times).

Is it Kubrick's finest film? Well, frankly no it isn't. It's an interesting mishmash between Kubrick's detached, ironic style and Hollywood glitz. Spartacus is Kubrick for people who don't care for Kubrick's detached style. It doesn't measure up to Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001 or A Clockwork Orange although it does compare favorable to the much darker Paths of Glory.

Kubrick stated that his intend at the time was to subvert the cliches of the genre. As a result, Kubrick manages to reinvent a genre that was in danger of becoming a parody of itself. As a collaborative effort, Spartacus is a great piece of entertainment and far more sophisticated than almost everything else that came out of Hollywood at the time.

The transfer is beautiful with much of Kubrick's bold use of color restored. The strong acting of most of the cast has always been a virtue of Sparatcus. The soundtrack has been meticulously transferred to 5.1 and Alex North's beatiful score has never sounded so sweet, tragic and powerful before. The audio commentary is the same one that was on the laserdisc version. It provides additional understanding about the complexity of making an independently produced project like Spartacus. Kirk Douglas' bold decision to produce the film himself (with Universal-International distributing)was a leap of faith in both the material and the talented director.

The second disc is stuffed with supplements that are found nowhere else.There's two older interviews with Peter Ustinov, Jean Simmons plus one that Ustinov did in 1992 for the laserdisc edition. It's delightful and he shares a number of funny stories about the picture. There's also a text overview of Kubrick's career and his involvement with the picture. Included also are sketches Kubrick made for the motion picture (artistically they're nothing special but they do provide insight into Kubrick's role in the visualization of the film). Included are some vintage newsreels and a promotional film originally made but unfinished for Spartacus that gives us a glimpse behind the scenes. The promotional film is missing it's soundtrack (in fact, it might have been lost if not for the forsight of a private collector) and has much from North's score. We also get to glimpse at Saul Bass' wonderful title design sequence.

Criterion has been both praised and criticized for their DVDs and laserdiscs before. While they tend to be expensive, this is the complete package. Occasionally Criterion will release a package that isn't up to their usual standards. Spartacus isn't one of them. Robert Harris (Harris restored the film along with Vertigo)evidently was also involved in the transfer to DVD. If you want a spectacular transfer of the film, loads of extras about the making and background of the project from those involved, this is the set to pick up.

Rating:
Summary: "No talking in the kitchen, slave"
Review: "No talking in the kitchen slave" *smack*!- then the slavemaster dude whips him in the mouth! Did you see the look on Spartacus' face after he did that!? That was worth the price of admission right there! Be careful or you could have a nasty slave rebellion!
Spartacus is a slave and he knows it! The Roman are pretty brutal with the slaves in this movie. This movie was probably the inspiration for Braveheart. Did you see some of the aftermath in some of those battlefield scenes? Bodies piled deep as far as the eye can see!but here are some more quotes
"I like to eat both snail and oysters", ( twisted master speaking to his slave as he bathes him)
"I desire the sale of all surviving slaves"
"too many women!" (Spartacus declares as he views his slave army)
"We must learn to share our pleasures, slave"
"No, take her to the other slave's quarters.."
"on your toes."
"I hold you responsible!"

Rating:
Summary: Morituri te Saluant
Review: "Those who are about to die salute you!" was the traditional gladiator salute to audiences prior to commencing their spectacle of death. The movie successfully brings the audience into another epoch were life was nasty, brutish, and short for virtually everyone: especially for slaves and gladiators.

The all-star cast of Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, and Peter Ustinov, more than makes up for Kirk Douglas' frequent forced acting. The love story with Jean Simmons could have been much shorter and perhaps would have been more interesting if they had based it on Spartacus' actual historic lover; a wild woman who claimed to be a prophetess and practiced sorcery.

The movie takes great poetic licence in recounting the social and cultural norms of ancient Rome by presenting a class conflict theme and plot structure; the Romans being like McCarthyists/capitalists and the slaves as Bolsheviks sacrificing all their labor for their commarades. The truth is that most of Spartacus' followers were exactly the gang of thieves and brigands that Kirk Douglass doesn't want them to be in the movie; more interested in quick plunder and mayhem than fighting for a desperate cause that no one at the time cared for anyway. Spartacus himself, given his overwhelming familiarity with legionary tactics, was (as historical sources suggest) probably a former auxillary or legionnaire who was condemned to slavery. The movie also wants to suggest that slavery was a product of pagan ignorance that needed the salvation of Christianity to see its cruelty. The legitimacy of slavery (spoils of war mostly) was the dominant world view in antiquity. Actually, early Christians were even more ardent believers of slavery than their pagan counterparts: believing that it was an immutable condition imposed by God. The truth is that slavery was mainly a product of agrarian economics and its end had more to do with the politics of capitalist industrialism than religious beliefs alone: the U.S. Civil War perfectly demonstrates that fact.

Much of the dialogue in the movie is exquisite; following exactly the type of intellectual wit and humor that the Romans cherished. The worst dialogue and acting seems to come from the method actors in the movie (Douglass, Curtis, and Simmons.) It's hard to make an epic movie on antiquity where the m.o. of acting is how the character would be like you instead of how you would be as the character. The truth is that people who lived 2000 years ago simply had completely different views on life or death and what was important in between.

Kubrick's rendition of the battle is extremely well done and the movie is worth watching or owning for that scene alone. The legionary formations and tactics were meticulously researched even though the campaign against Spartacus depicted in the movie wasn't accurate. Actually, contrary to what is depicted in the movie, Crassus had confined the gladiator army near Rhegium by building a pallisade of several miles from north to south, sea to sea. It was only by desperation and attrition that Spartacus was able to break through and attempt a final push back north. Unlike the movie, there's no historical reference to suggest that the "I'm Spartacus!" event ever occurred. All historical sources conclude that Spartacus was cut to pieces in the heat of battle.

In some ways the character of Marcus Licinius Crassus played by Olivier reflects the true historical figure but the movie again takes great poetic license to support its theme of class conflict. A patrician noble, Crassus was richest man in Rome who boasted that no man was rich unless he could maintain his own legions. Although he was extremely ambitious, there's nothing to suggest his pursuits were demagogic or dictatorial as suggested in the movie. Crassus was a traditional republican politician and his politics were much more like those of his nemesis in the movie, Graccus, played by Charles Laughton. The movie falsely portrays Crassus as a hard-line optimate to the likes of Cato Uticensis or Sulla which he was not. Crassus was quite the opposite; using his vast wealth to advance populist causes in favor of commoners (plebeans) and the lower orders (pedari and equites) to outwit his arch-rival, Pompey the Great. There's also no indication that he was enamoured to slave boys as the film suggests in the bath scene; indeed, Crassus was one of the few Romans of his day who remained faithfully married to his wife until his ignoble death at the hands of the Parthians in his failed Persian campaign.

The gladiator combat scenes and training are much more accurate than what was shown in "Gladiator." The retieri/fishermen vs. the Thracian fighters were common pairs matched for gladiatorial spectacles: especially in the later republic as such spectacles were not quite yet the mass entertainment that they came to be during the empire. Caesar and Pompey were actually the first public figures to turn these usually private ancestor worship ceremonies into mass entertainment. Unlike "Gladiator", you don't have amazons wielding fancy crossbows (a weapon that didn't even exist until the Middle Ages.)

If you can sit through or fast forward the over-extended love scenes, you will probably enjoy this movie. Definitely a movie for anyone who loves Roman history.

Rating:
Summary: A DVD of epic proportions
Review: The film "Spartacus" is an epic, justifiably famed and duly honored. The combination of subject matter, Stanley Kubrick and Kirk Douglas makes for an interesting, dynamic stewpot. Its place in cinema history is assured.

Criterion has served up a DVD worthy of this great epic. Of greatest note is the original, full-length version of the masterpiece, re-introducing the controversial homosexual overtones eliminated from the theatrical release, as well as the tragic ending. The transfer is blissful, the sound is magnificent and the DVD version of the film is everything you would want it to be.

The extras include deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes newsreels, interviews, commentaries and pretty much everything one associates with a well-done DVD. Along with this is a history lesson on "The Hollywood 10," to better help your understanding of the political arena in which "Spartacus" was made, and what it is commenting on.

Overall, this is exactly the kind of DVD that "Spartacus" deserves. An epic package for an epic film.

Rating:
Summary: America's fascination with Roman life and Empire
Review: From the moment the opening bars of Alex North's Overture trumpet forth, we know as viewers, that this movie, not as the rest of the movies we have seen (in the 60's genre), will be something different. North studied for a time at the Moscow Conservatory of Music and the Russian influence is heard especially during the opening credits, where this listener was pleased to hear that Dimitri Shostakovitch has appreciative followers. North's music can be intrusive at times, but I believe Kubrick was intentional in allowing that, indeed, knowing Kubrick as we do, how can we say other wise? To what purpose could one say the music is allowed to work in tandem with the cinematography, which secured an Oscar for Russell Metty? (Ernest Gold won the Academy Award trophy that year for his magnificent musical score backing up 'Exodus')

High drama is the key to understanding the director's purpose in allowing the music to the forefront; with Kubrick, one is always on an Olympian field, even if dealing with street thugs. Never do we go far from the existentialist questions of how we achieve meaning in life. With Spartacus, this existentialism is glossed over in the Great Producers of Hollywood mannerism; but to investigate this theme briefly, let's think about another glossy movie of Kubrick's, 'Barry Lyndon'. To characterize that movie as only a glossy statement, is to trivialize, but if we look back, through the images of 'Barry Lyndon' to Spartacus, we will learn much about Kubrick's purposes at making universal statements about the human condition. A favorable comparison with two other existential (in my book at least) giants of film, Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon, Seven Samurai) and Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal), will allow us to see some similarities but also great differences in how these men worked in their medium to tell compelling tales of human existence. Kubrick's style takes us into a world of dynamic symmetry, where visual moments of stunning grace and sublime verdure are balanced with equal moments, painful shards made of agony and ecstasy. Certainly Kurosawa and Bergman allow moments of visual beauty to serve as stately vehicles for their messages, with Kubrick, and this is a very essential nature of his film making, the bejeweled nature of the finished moment propels us to a mythical discovery of human nature. To make this stunningly clear, Kubrick always chooses and tells stories that allow him to work skillfully with these tools of cinematography, script and musical score; all of these are used in tandem to propel us to a Great Message about the human condition.

Kurosawa allowed his cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, a great deal of license in Rashomon, and Bergman in Seventh Seal has Gunnar Fischer use his talents to great effect with a deliberate choice of the black and white medium. The cinematographic skills of Metty teamed with Kubrick's sense of the immanent, transitory nature of heroic life make Spartacus the great masterpiece that it is. Backing it all up are North's masterful musical interludes, which in their symphonic proportions, match Kubrick's goals flawlessly. This realization of North's efforts, have to be appreciated, I feel, in light of what has been said here. Finally to conclude, we have three elements, pictorial or visual, verbal, and musical all tied together with Kubrick's magisterial and sympathetic look at the human condition.

1. The cinematographer always keeps us placed in an epic world where grandeur and majesty are in view. At every possible moment we are looking to the broadest horizons manageable. Not that immediacy or intimate views are shunned, rather those intimate looks are always framed in the realm of the Universal Human Condition theme which is always dominant. This theme is then looked at closely and sympathetically with a camera that informs while keeping us in touch with that Big Picture. One example of this approach appears at the end of a scene entitled 'Snails and Oysters' in which Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Oliver) entices Antoninus (Tony Curtis) into his life. Marcus is rhapsodizing in a grandiloquent manner about the Greatness and Terror of the mistress named Rome to a reserved and somewhat reticent Antoninus. The camera moves our line of vision from an opulent, elegant room of Oriental splendor to the evening landscape where the Roman legions are marching to suppress Spartacus' rebellion. While Marcus' rhetoric flows effortlessly, Antoninus slips away unnoticed. Our lingering suspicion of his allegiance to the rebellion is furthered by Marcus' mystification at the very end of the scene. From opulence and great self sufficiency to abject poverty and subsistence in one perfidious move, Antoninus seems to personify the great contrasts that make this movie more than you or I could ever be.

2. The other two elements of music and script will have to handled summarily, I've gone into the existential theme to the extent I did because I feel other reviewers have missed that aspect of the movie. Both music and script are but handmaidens to the art of making a film, this is especially true here; both deserve to be given great attention to as they are works of art. North's symphonic approach is heard at the scene following, where we are shown the growth of the rebellion. Here again the music predominates for several minutes while we are brought to a dramatic moment of realizing the scope of the rebellion
Finally, we know that Kubrick distanced himself from this film, because of the heavy hand of a mannerism I have called 'The Great Hollywood Producer'. I will only say this; that mannerism had no greater exponent or more eloquent representative than Kubrick himself. We all have to earn a living somehow. ...Kubrick and Douglas fought mightily over the details of production of the film and Kubrick retired to Engalnd afterwards, cynical about the world or "Great Hollywood Producers". An interesting task for another viewing of the film would be to try to decide where Kubrick's influence begins and where that of Douglas' mannerism takes over.

Rating:
Summary: Despite Some Flaws Still A Great Film
Review: Welcome back to a time when epic films with a "cast of thousands" had real people and not computer generated images. Taking as its basis a Roman slave revolt in the pre-Christian era "Spartacus" is an epic tale of freedom frustrated and ultimately destroyed. Although Stanley Kubrick is the credited director most of the ground work was layed out by the original director, Anthony Mann, who had a falling out with producer/actor Kirk Douglas.
The cast for the most part is superb but that should be no surprise when you have Douglas, Olivier, Laughton and Ustinov at the top of your line up. The one mistake is Tony Curtis as a Roman poet. This was really stretching it producing some scenes of unintentional humor. Although the film has a lull or two it has many striking scenes that more than make up for it. The intense and jarring opening credits sequence. The tighly shot angular gladiator fight is a masterpiece of editing. Perhaps the most chilling scene of all is the Roman legions assembling on the field into battle formations. That last scene is further enhanced by perhaps the films strongest element, Alex North's stunning and at times unsettling score. His Roman marches are not victorious affairs but have a sinister edge reminding us musically that the glory that was Rome was built on war and slavery. It is hard to believe this film is over 40 years old but despite the occasional flaw or lull it still remains a great film.

Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece Of Cinema: Kirk Douglas' Greatest Role
Review: 1960: Stanley Kubrick directed a great film that still awes us on DVD. Kirk Douglas performed the role of his lifetime as Spartacus, the slave who rebelled against the mighty Roman Empire to win his freedom. The music, the scenery, the music and the overall lush cinematography make this akin to the great epics popular in the day - The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur. Spartacus is based on the true, historic account of the slave who desired the freedom of other slaves. He attempted to fight against the Roman legions, but was thwarted and was crucifiec with the rest of the slaves.

Jean Simmons plays Lavignia, his love interest, and the woman who bears his child, who is born free. Peter Ustinov plays a promiscuous, decadent Roman senator. The corrupt Roman Empire has always been a favorite of literature and films, and in this film, the moral decay is well expressed. In contrast, the slaves are a good hearted group, young, old, men and wome, with good hearts and with a yearning for freedom. Slavery would continue until 1850's America, but even then, through efforts of Spartacus, slavery was attempted to be abolished.

Everyone knows the Roman armies were very strong and powerful. Spartacus did not stand a chance. But the greatest moment in the film comes when Spartacus is not found among the captives and every slave declares "I am Spartacus!" risking their life to save his. Such loyalty and courage is foreign to even the Romans. Spartacus is crucified, his wife is set free and his son is born free. Epic films like these are captured perfectly on DVD. The music is beautiful, the costumes are rich, and the dialogue, although poetic, is realistic. Although this film is very long, it is a good way to glimpse the Roman Empire. It is also very much like the recent film Gladiator in a sense.

Rating:
Summary: Spartacus
Review: I am a fan of these kind of movies but I have to admit I have seen better. It was a great story but i thought it was too gory. It was really violent and there was a lot of drama. The violence was cool to me but i didn't like the drama! Three stars I think is how much it deserves because it wasn't the best or worse movie I have ever seen. If you have never seen it and are looking to see if you should, I think you should watch it. It is a little too long but some people like those kind of movies. And another cool part about the movie is that it is based on a true story.

Rating:
Summary: Slaving away
Review: Among the epic American films made about the ancient world during the Fifties and Sixties, "Spartacus" is clearly the champ, although the hokier "Ten Commandments" is still a great time, too. The director Anthony Mann doesn't get enough credit for "Spartacus"' success. He had prepared the entire project and had actually begun filming when he and producer Kirk Douglas fell out and Mann departed. Stanley Kubrick was a pinch-hitter here, and although he brought plenty of his own youthful skill to the movie, the cast, sets, costumes, locations, script had all been readied under Mann's supervision. The film takes some dramatic liberties with history and logic that Kubrick tried to correct with a re-write, but Douglas was on the hook for 12 million dollars, the biggest budget in movie history, and needed a crowd-pleaser. He may have been right; I'd rather see "Spartacus" 50 times than sit through "Full Metal Jacket" a second time. This story of a slave rebellion in ancient Rome does have a moral resonance for Americans when it points out that our own vision of liberty was still being corrupted by slavery 1900 years after the age of Spartacus.Fine performances all around, except for some squirmy romantic interplay between Douglas and Jean Simmons.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent Epic? Impossible
Review: It wasn't until I'd read some of these Amazon reviews that I understood how a well-written, well-acted, witty, multi-layered and complex film like this could possibly have been created by a director as dreadful as Kubrick. Now I realise that he didn't have that much to do with it, although it does show some of his hallmarks: eg it's somewhat slow (although not funereal, like his later work); there is meticulous attention to secondary details (eg the interior designs); coupled with shoddy neglect of other aspects (eg some of the painted backdrops and the patently fake crucifixions), and the usual abysmal lapse of directorial taste in connection with at least one of the characters ---- in this case the ridiculous Tony Curtis part. Compare the lunatic over-acting of Patrick Magee in A Clockwork Orange, and the idiotically simpering hotel clerk in Eyes Wide Shut. Fortunately, the intelligence of the script and the exceptionally talented cast rescue it from too much directorial damage, and the film remains interesting and absorbing at a number of levels; political, social, philosophical, romantic, technical. There are few celluloid epics as brainy as this one; the genre is normally quite unsubtle and only concerned with spectacle. It's no use complaining about historical inaccuracy. I haven't yet seen a Hollywood film which shows more than minimum concern for actual truth. It's only a story after all, and sometimes an over-the-top tear-jerker at that. Still, Simmons and Douglas make an attractive couple; Olivier is masterful; Ustinov and Laughton devious and amusing. It's a pretty good tale. I have to knock off one star on account of Tony's singing, however.