I AM Spartacus!

Spartacus
1960, dir. Stanley Kubrick. 3 hours 18 minutes, plus an intermission.
starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Jean Simmons, Tony Curtis, and Woody Strode.

In 1958 or so, William Wyler was preparing a big budget adaptation of the biblical epic Ben-Hur. Kirk Douglas, who had worked with Wyler on The Detective Story, desperately wanted the title role, but Wyler went with Charleton Heston (with whom he'd made The Greatest Show On Earth) instead. Douglas decided to try to one up them, and developed Spartacus, about the Roman slave that led a revolt that almost succeeded.

Spartacus, interestingly enough, is one of the only of the big Sword and Sandal epics of the 1950s and 1960s that does not feature any religious overtones in any way (although there is one offhand line where Laughton says that he, like most people, only believe in the Gods when they have to, in public). The film is, in fact, more of an allegory of socialism and worker's rights. So much so, in fact, that many right wing Hollywood stars denounced it, notably John Wayne. The film also ended up ending the blacklist, as Kirk Douglas insisted that screenwriter Dalton Trumbo actually get credit for the screenplay.

Peter Ustinov won an Oscar for his role in the film, as a slave dealer, but Charles Laughton gives the best performance, as a Roman senator who helps free Spartacus' wife and child, out of a sense of honour, but more so to infuriate his rival Olivier. Kirk Douglas gets star billing, however, as Spartacus, and gets most of the big speeches, and gets to martyr himself as well.

Spartacus is Kubrick's least Kubrickian film, as it was the only time in his career that he didn't have complete control. In truth, it shares little in common with Barry Lyndon, Paths of Glory, or Full Metal Jacket, and is more like any of the other big costume epics of the era. But of those epics, it is definitely one the best.

Paddy and I saw this Sunday afternoon at the Mayfair, and the Technicolor print, redone in the early 1990's, looks fantastic.

5 stars

FUN FACT: The new print contains a deleted scene featuring Olivier and Curtis bathing each other. However the scene had no soundtrack left, and since Olivier had died by the 1990's, his voice was dubbed by his former protege, Anthony Hopkins.