Advantages: Stands up well even by today's production standards Disadvantages: Plays fast and loose with actual history at times
...while the current remake of Spartacus was in production.
The original film, based as it was on Fast’s novel, takes many liberties with history. The characterisations of Spartacus’ early days with Varinia, for example, are mere speculation. The course of the slave-army progress through Italy is similarly an invention made for easier poetic rendering – the slave-army in fact wandered throughout Italy in a much different fashion, with different results ...
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...put on a decent show, Spartacus organises the other trainee gladiators and revolts against the school, then setting about the countryside liberating and recruiting slaves into an ever-growing army which he hopes to march on Rome to liberate all enslaved men. Standing in his way are the tyrannical patricians, in particular Crassus(Laurence Olivier) who orchestrates the fury against this uprising in the senate and the full might of the Holy Roman Empire. ...
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Advantages: All round family feature. Disadvantages: None.
...some ways even more, as Spartacus is based on the true story of a slave who became not just a Gladiator, but also a historical hero.
The film in it's original form dates back to 1960, though now you can buy it on DVD with extra footage that had been cut from the cinema version. Along with various DVD extras like Biographies, Production Notes, The Original Trailer and much more, you also get the quality, both in sound and vision due to the digital ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Great script, superb acting, cinematography, score, battle scenes Disadvantages: pace falters at times, 20 mins too long, some very obvious scenes filmed in studio
...so overdone as Ten Commandments. Spartacus offers a comfortable middleway between being a cultured and a populist movie.
Stanley Kubrick's direction has never been better, especially during the final battle scenes, and the rather subtle & discreet scene between Laurence Olivier & Tony Curtis sharing a bath together - a lot of the cryptic dialogue between the two probably went straight over the heads of a lot of viewers, myself included initially.
But ...
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Advantages: The best epic of them all. Disadvantages: Tony Curtis's accent.
This is unquestionably the best and most intelligent historical epic yet made - possibly because no other similar films had such a fine and intelligent movie maker as Stanley Kubrick at the helm. Apart from being a hugely compelling study of the central character and his story (based on truth) it also boasts many of the best performances in any similar film, notably Charles Laughton and Peter Ustinov who manage to steal every scene they're in even ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Beautifully filmed and acted Disadvantages: Overpowered by the CGI-fest "Gladiator"
...Roman Empire.
Douglas is superb as Spartacus (No - I'm Spartacus etc.) and the supporting cast of Sir Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov and Tony Curtis are tremendous, but it is the Academy Award winning cinematography that is the real star - who need CGI when you can just use paintings! Due to the beautiful filming, this is one of those films that MUST be seen in the widescreen format.
Glad to see that the video and DVD now include the deleted ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Sparticus to every one who has seen it is a classic film as it was made in 1960 and is still known now.
The film is about a man called Sparticus who rebels against Rome and takes with him a crowd of people. The film starts with Sparticus being a slave before he goes to gladiator school but he and the rest of them soon break out and start an army against Rome.
Sparticus then starts an army and he with a couple of his friends along side him convince ...
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Advantages: Good period action movie Disadvantages: None
Forget Ridley Scotts Gladiator. This is the film to watch. Based upon the actual revolt led by Sparticus in AD something or other.
The film takes us from the brutality of gladiator school, the break for freedom, through to the inevitable tragic consequences of taking on the might of the roman empire and coming second.
Watch out for the famed bathroom scene where a young and pretty Tony curtis is asked whether he prefers snails or oysters. (Geddit.)
Kirk ...
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Advantages: The leading character "Spartacus" played by sreen legend Kirk Douglas shows emence courage and bravery in breaking free from the role as slave ,and the attempt to lead his fellow slaves to freedom after a lifetime of toil and torture. Disadvantages: There could have been more references to Spartacus's life as a boy before he led the revolt against the hierachy of Roman society
Roman epic Spartacus made in 1960 and Starring Kirk Douglas as heroic slave turned leader "Spartacus" communicates to the audience of the struggle for wealth and power in Roman times.Leading man Kirk Douglas has been employed as a slave since boyhood and is desperate to break free from his 'shackles' and to lead himself and his fellow slaves to a longer and better quality of life.Spartacus escapes from his master and he leads a revolt against the ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Production Year: 2002 - Drama - Director: Christopher Misiano, Alex Graves, Vincent Misiano, Paris Barclay, Thomas Schlamme - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over
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