Spartacus (1960)
 

9/10


Overall a great movie...a very uplifting plot centered around the struggles of slavery that in some ways is still relevant today. Stanley Kubrick certainly did his homework with the history even if it isn't totally accurate, was more of a mythologizing of a real person. Very genuine looking sets, great acting, complex political dialogue.


The only reason I subtracted a star is I guess it could have been a little more exciting, but the script writing certainly makes up for it. We all have our standards, and I may have given this one a better score if I had watched it at a different time...

bump^



i guess i'm glad to find something that nobody has really heard of or cares about, i would think that Stanley Kubrick would get a lot of responses here...but you learn something new every day!

Most people have likely seen Spartacus. For me, although it had been awhile, I didn’t enjoy it as much as his later films starting with Dr Strangelove.
Spartacus is decent, but nothing amazing.

to movie buffs like most of here... yes we have seen Spartacus...

Maybe people just didn't notice your post yet. I just saw it now.


I mostly agree with you. I think Spartacus is an awesome film, so great that inspired me to read the book too. When it was restored back in the late 80s or early 90s, I was lucky enough to see it in an ultra widescreen theater in Manhattan. It was an unforgettable experience!


I hear what you're saying about the excitement level, but I can go either way on that. As it is now, I see it as more of a drama. But it definitely would have worked as more of an action film too.


Thank you for your review, I really enjoyed reading it!

A Kirk Douglas classic !

yeah he was good for the role, extremely handsome, this was the kind of role you'd expect charlton heston to play, glad he didn't lol

I watched this recently as well, and wrote about it in the rate the last movie you watched thread.


I quite liked it. It wasn't a typical Kubrick film, but then I read later online that Kirk Douglas had a big say in how it was made.


My pick of the characters was this man. He was brilliant.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...LOfsA&usqp=CAU

oh yes, that conniving roman senator! Surprisingly the hero at the end of the movie!

Re: Spartacus (1960)
 

That movie broke the blacklist, and the anti-1st Amendment themes are very clear when everyone says "I'm Spartacus"



People actually went to prison for their beliefs. Worst non-violent event that has happened in the US. Probably killed art with self-censorship. You can see the movies they made after the blacklisted.. That killed the left-wing in America forever, and it's only getting worse.

I've been a little perplexed by the response, i'm sensing some criticism of kirk douglas, the politics surrounding the movie, and right wing politics. Would you care to elaborate? I'm not terribly happy about seeing this type of thing on movieforums.com but I always want to learn about things for free...


for those of you not familiar with the McCarthyan "blacklist" matt is referring to...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_blacklist

I'm perplexed by your response, lol


Kirk Douglas said he was going to put Dalton Trumbo's name as a writer when the credits rolled, as opposed to what was previous protocol - using someone else' name, using an alias, etc... So when Kirk did this (he produced, Kubrick directed), Otto Preminger did this, and soon they were employable again. Not just writers, but directors and actors.

my bad, i just wanted an explanation for what you were talking about, luckily a long time ago i saw a VHS documentary called "the blacklist" so i was somewhat aware of what you were getting at...i guess it's premature of me to expect being able to avoid political discussions anywhere.

Re: Spartacus (1960)
 

You know, my rating and the reasons behind it are almost exactly like yours.

Should we consider this an actual Kubrick film, from reading all of the backstory, it seems more fit as a Kirk Douglas child.

I've re/watched some early Kubrick this past week (Killing, Strangelove, Lolita, Paths of Glory) and kind of forgot about this movie and the backstory of it. Re/watching POG last night brought up memories.