1960 - THEATRICAL RELEASE
1991 – RESTORED VERSION
10/10
TOP TEN FILM!
This is the definitive Roman epic. Ahead of it’s time in tone and production, this ticks all the right boxes, with a full set of impassioned performances, fully realised characters, and a duel plot, focusing on slavery as well as the political machinations of Rome on the brink of falling into the dictatorial hands of the Caesars.
Underplayed in so many ways, with all the leads seeming vulnerable to their own bitterness, jealousies and insecurities, this is what makes for a gripping drama, let alone a timeless Hollywood blockbuster. Released only a year after Ben Hur, it is like they were made decades apart.
Not to say Ben Hur wasn’t first rate, because it most defiantly was, but Spartacus offered something else, more tangible, real and maybe a little disturbing.
“I’m Spartacus” has to be the heart of the entire film, emotionally charged with a sense as to what the film was about, though no doubt, a somewhat romanticised account of the historical event…
Stanley Kubrick would end up making stranger and stranger movies, but this is his best in my opinion, pushing the envelope without breaking it.
[...] SPARTACUS (1960) Not dead on accurate, but it will always be hard to make an accurate Roman epic due to the ever fluid nature of archeology but this is truly Stanley Kubrick’s best mainstream achievement. After this he would become the genius behind the 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining but in this role as director for hire, Spartacus is the best Roman Epic full stop. Ahead of its time in many respects, boasting some scenes that world be cut for 30 years, namely the “Oysters and Snails” scene, which featured a thinly veiled conversation of homosexuality. [...]
[...] and off the screen, as possible. His early work was simple, straight forward, such as his excellent Spartacus (1960), which was his last mainstream “director for hire” [...]
[...] Of Heaven in 2004, which had El Cid (1961) stamped all over it, but this was looking back to Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960) and The Fall Of The Roman Empire (1964), with the first being quite a benchmark to live up to. [...]
[...] missing titles were masterpieces such as Raging Bull (1980), Ben~Hur (1959), Spartacus (1960), Toy Story (1995), with Toy Story 3 (2010) taking a spot, not a bad choice but where was the [...]
[...] and off the screen, as possible. His early work was simple, straight forward, such as his excellent Spartacus (1960), which was his last mainstream “director for hire” [...]
[...] Of Heaven in 2004, which had El Cid (1961) stamped all over it, but this was looking back to Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960) and The Fall Of The Roman Empire (1964), with the first being quite a benchmark to live up to. [...]
[...] Kubrick was smack dab in the middle between his director for hire gig, Spartacus (1960) and his tour de force 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Here, what began life as a more serious [...]