Spartacus

One of my favorite movies of all time, a must watch for anyone!

When they say: "they don't make movies like this anymore" - this is the kind of movie they are talking about.


It costs a whooping 12m USD - about 126.5m USD in todays money. However, even for that amount you couldn't make it today like they used to. Over 10000 people were involved. The battle at the end had 8000 people in it. People, not CGI generated objects. The sheer logistics of that is mind blowing. Everything you wanted in the picture had to be build or sought out. The closest to SFX you get is matte-painting. This is why it's called an epic - a monumental movie.


The story ? It's a classic in the truest sense of the word. You can call it cheesy, predictable, flawed if you like. I could understand all that. But that's true for many movies today equally.


The movie is on of the classics you have to watch if you consider yourself an enthusiast in my opinion.


I recommend reading the section with all the background infos over on imdb. It's very interesting.

I was impressed, a great 60s picture and definitely a rememberble one too and Kirk Douglas with a super performance. A different ending would of been nice but still good though. I definitely need to get more of his movies watched.

I really love the first hour of this (long) movie. Seeing the training and change of the slave gladiators is what I find interesting. Also, you get a lot of time with the owner Lentulus Batiatus, which is simply fantastic. He is so funny and entertaining, that every time he's on screen I am having a great time.

However, this movie is too long. They could cut a good amount from the middle and it would be a lot better. It feels like we skip the battles themselves a lot until the end. This does really knock an otherwise great movie down for me. But hey, Laurence Olivier is in it too. The great overcomes the minor bad in this one.

I tend not to like Roman epics, and this is quite long. But while it could have been cut substantially without losing effect, this has some interesting bits especially in the first third and last third--the action sequences are well-made and pretty awe-inspiring. The standout performance was Peter Ustinov, who infused Batiatus with so many small, fantastic mannerisms--I couldn't take my eyes off him any time he was on screen. Loved the downer ending.

The story of the famous slave rebellion in Rome.

Pending time and taking advantage of the occasion, we see it. We still like it, as it looks on the big screen. "I am Spartacus. I am Spartacus. I am Spartacus. I am Spartacus. I am Spartacus…"

It's soooo long but it's pretty good too. Kirk Douglas is fantastic as Spartacus. It is pretty to look at. The costumes and scenery are done very well and look pretty real. The action scenes are all great especially the big one near the end. I just wish this was shorter and didn't drag so much in the middle and didn't have as much roman screentime.

Some of the best visuals you will ever see in a movie. Everything else is, in my opinion, bad.

I'm surprised to find that I don't believe this movie holds up to modern audiences. It has some good cinematography and is good for its time, but not that watchable today. Only Kubrick fans who want to be educated on his early work should watch this. Kubricks previous movie, Paths of Glory, is a much easier recommendation and a much more reasonable length as well.