Spartacus (1960)

• Year: 1960
• Released: 17 Nov 1960
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Won 4 Oscars. 12 wins & 11 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054331/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spartacus
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/spartacus
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 2160p
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama
• Runtime: 197 min
• Writer: Dalton Trumbo, Howard Fast, Peter Ustinov
• Director: Stanley Kubrick
• Cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons
• Keywords: torture, epic, historical fiction, slavery, technicolor,

	7.9/10
	87/100

Spartacus Storyline

In the last century before Christ, Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), a Thracian, is born into slavery, and thus being a slave is the only life he has ever known. Within his lot in life, he is a proud and principled man. He is among those slaves doing hard labor for the decaying Roman empire, before he is purchased by Lentulus Batiatus (Sir Peter Ustinov), a slave trader. At Batiatus’ school, Spartacus and Batiatus’ other slaves are brutally taught to fight as gladiators, purely for show, before they will be sold for a higher price. It is within this environment that Spartacus witnesses the potential kill or be killed situation of the school, those he is asked to kill or be killed by being other slaves, some like Crixus (John Ireland), who he considers friends. He vows that he will never kill a slave if he ever gets out of this situation. There, he also witnesses the depravity of those at the higher echelons of the Roman empire. Within the Roman Senate, there is a battle of philosophies between Marcus Licinius Crassus (Sir Laurence Olivier), who wants ultimate control, and more populist Gracchus (Charles Laughton). Spartacus’ ultimate drive is to free all the slaves and be able to return to their respective homelands. Spartacus, as the de facto albeit reluctant leader of the slaves, is able to enact a plan to get within seventy days to the southern coast of Italy, where they can hire pirate ships to take them home. The slaves will have to fight any Roman armies along the way. Both Crassus and Gracchus know they must defeat Spartacus solely as a symbolic measure. What ultimately happens is affected by the philosophical differences between the two Senators, and Crassus’ infatuation with a slave girl named Varinia (Jean Simmons), who is mutually in love with Spartacus.

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Spartacus Movie Reviews

A Bit Long, But A Solid Epic

This isn’t “Ben-Hur,” but it’s no slouch, either. It’s a no-nonsense dramatic tale of a slave who leads a revolt against Rome, is successful in building the movement from almost nothing to an army of thousands, only to be beaten and literally crucified in the end…..but leaving his mark, to use a cliché, on history.

The prelude to the final battle scene is awesome-looking when you see all the soldiers lined up. I liked the fact they didn’t overdo the action scenes, which they could easily have done employing a cast of thousands. While they cut those down, they cut down on the overall length of the movie which was over three hours long. At two-and-a-half hours this would have been much easier to view.

Kirk Douglas, as “Spartacus,” the leader of that revolt, was excellent and Peter Ustinov shines, too. The dialog given Ustinov and Charles Laughton was intelligent. This movie also featured the acting talents of Jean Simmons, Laurence Olivier, Tony Curtis and John Gavin. Not bad, eh?

A solid adventure story.

Too sentimental, but beautiful… Wonderfully erotic and surprisingly moving…

Widely acclaimed for his serious ambitions and his uncompromising perfectionism, Stanley Kubrick has won for himself a unique degree of artistic freedom…

Based on a true story of a slave revolt in 73 B.C., Dalton Trumbo’s script mixes the melodrama with some quite moving moments… The film depicts the Roman era, the brutality of the slave system, gladiator combat and the decadence of Roman senators… What emerges from the screen is a passionate statement on behalf of freedom and men who are willing to die to overthrow oppressive governments…

The credit for the film’s style belongs to Stanley Kubrick, who handles scenes of intimacy and scenes of gigantic sweep with equal attention, illustrating the violence, brutality and corruption of both, the masters and the slaves, raising the question of freedom which justify the human cost…

Kirk Douglas plays Spartacus the idealistic noble slave who believes he must struggle forever against tyranny and just by opposing tyranny he inspires his followers with his example…

Spartacus’ character, from a violent primitive rebel who hamstrung a foreman with his teeth, into a gladiator who fought desperately for life in the arena, into a revolutionary able to unite an amorphous mass of slaves and deserters, into a force which succeeded to defeat Rome’s best trained armies, into a charismatic leader (with a vision) who forces a long-awaited revolt against the Roman empire…

Two political rivals (Crassus and Gracchus) use the slave uprising threat to manipulate the Roman senate for their own ends:

Crassus (played powerfully by Laurence Olivier) extorts ‘a fee,’ the dictatorial post of First Consul, Commander of all the legions of Italy as his price for releasing Rome from Spartacus… Crassus sees the defeat of Spartacus’ army as a chance for him to seize power of the empire for himself… He tries to make the slaves betray Spartacus… He tries to win the love of Varinia, not merely to possess her, but as a form of victory over Spartacus… In his last confrontation with Spartacus, he is seen losing all his delusions of grandeur as he stands deeply wounded by the total disregard in which Spartacus holds him…

Charles Laughton plays, with expertise, Gracchus, a generous Roman politician, soft and rich, able to get his Julius Caesar (John Gavin) elected leader of the Praetorian Guard to annoy Crassus’ ambitions…

The first hour of “Spartacus” contains many of the film’s best moments : The operation of the gladiatorial school and its training program is impressive and also expressive… The gladiators school is tough but fair: The men are oiled, bathed, shaved, massaged and trained to fight… They are never allowed to kill… And for their good performances, they are even rewarded with the companionship of a young lady… In this degrading manner Spartacus meets Varinia (Jean Simmons-lovely as ever) and it is his love for her and his hatred for his captors that inadvertently sparks off an uprising and the gladiators break out…

Particularly effective is the scene in which Crassus and his “capricious over-painted nymphs” (Nina Foch & Joanna Barnes) ask to be entertained by the sight of two pairs fighting to the death… The scene summarizes the injustice of the situation, the cruelty of bondage and the insurrection becomes a triumph easy to understand…

Nominated for six Academy Awards, and winning for Cinematography, Costume Design, Art Direction and Supporting Actor—Peter Ustinov. the motion picture contains no chariot races and no orgies but it still imparts the grandeur and the decay of ancient Rome…

With a stirring musical score by Oscar nominee Alex North, “Spartacus,” is masterfully directed by Kubrick…

ALMOST great

What a wonderful film! It, along with PATHS OF GLORY and DR. STRANGELOVE, are my favorite Kubrick films. However, while I could find no fault with the other two films, there is ONE flaw that prevents this movie from being truly great: it just didn’t know WHEN to end. When the Romans capture the rebels and announce that they will kill Spartacus but spare the others if they turn him over, the movie SHOULD have ended just AFTER all the rebel slaves stood up and announced “they were Spartacus”. This would have made this movie PERFECT. Instead, it drug on for another 20-30 minutes trying to needlessly tie up all the loose ends. It was as if Hollywood would not allow the movie to end any other way.

Just imagine the impact of ending the movie earlier followed by scenes of the thousands of impaled rebels as the closing credits rolled!!

As for the rest of the film, the acting and screen writing were superb–as good as it gets.