The First Really Big Non-Christian Themed Sword and Sandal Epic

Rating: 10/10 (5 September 2009)

Actor & producer Kirk Douglas wanted to star as the protagonist in director William Wyler's ancient world epic movie "Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ." Of course, Wyler had other ideas. Basically, Wyler wanted Kirk to play the villainous Roman soldier Messala opposite the Charlton Heston hero. Kirk rarely played second fiddle to anyone unless it was Burt Lancaster. Consequently, since he did not get top billing in "Ben-Hur," Kirk Douglas decided to not only star in "Spartacus," but he also would produce it. "Spartacus" was an ancient world epic about a legendary slave who escaped captivity, organized a huge slave army and challenged the Roman Empire. Despite its distant past setting, "Spartacus" dealt with an issue that at the time of its release that weighed heavily on the minds of America: race relations. The theme of "Spartacus" was the dignity and freedom that every individual deserves as his or her birthright. Good films can span centuries because they mean something to us. The universal need that all men must be free lies at the heart of this blockbuster film. Indeed, "Spartacus" represented a liberal, Democratic sensibility.
Originally budgeted at $4-million, "Spartacus" proved to be a costly film with its budget reaching $12 million dollars. Today a medium budget movie runs about that price. When "Spartacus" came out everybody had something to say about its enormous budget. Ironically, MCA brought Universal-International Studio where Kirk was producing "Spartacus" for about the same price. "Spartacus" coined $30-million domestically at the box office and earned $60-million worldwide. This would be the biggest Kirk Douglas project. He turned heads in more ways that one. He allowed Hollywood Ten blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo to use his name on the credits for the first time. Trumbo had been blacklisted by the anti-Communists in Hollywood and Washington so that he could only pen scripts under a pseudonym. Mind you, he wound commanding lesser salaries as a result of this problem. Nevertheless, Douglas and Trumbo argued about the script because Douglas—a zealous Zionist—wanted "Spartacus" to reflect the travails of the Jewish people. Trumbo was more interested in how "Spartacus" reflected modern-day politics and the Cold War.
The version of "Spartacus" that most will watch is the restored version with the notorious "oysters and snails" scene between Sir Laurence Olivier and pop cult icon Tony Curtis. You will probably never be able to think about "oysters and snails" in the same light after you see "Spartacus." Religious groups complained about this scene with its conspicuously obvious language about bisexuality. Indeed, this movie is as secular as most standard issue Italian muscleman movies. British actor Peter Ustinov won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role. Lenser Russell Metty's widescreen photography received an Oscar, but Kubrick actually composed most of the shots while a disgruntled Metty sat nearby. "Spartacus" also won Best Costume Design Oscar and the Best Art Direction and Set Decoration Oscar. "Spartacus" received Oscar nominations for Best Editing and Best Music. Meanwhile, "Spartacus" won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture of 1960.
"Spartacus" is an epic adventure about a troublesome Thracian slave, "Spartacus" (Kirk Douglas of "Champion"), who is saved from sure death by slave trader Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) looking for new candidates for his gladiatorial training camp. It does not take Spartacus long to make an enemy out of thuggish Marcellus (Charles McGraw of "The Narrow Margin") who runs the school like a boot camp. Spartacus tries to befriend Draba (Woody Strode of "Sergeant Rutledge"), but the Ethiopian refuses to embrace him as a friend because he might have to kill him. Batiatus trains gladiators and sells them. However, things change when Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier of "The Entertainer") shows up with two women and Marcus Publius Glabrus (John Dall of "Rope") to see a gladiatorial battle. Lentulus doesn't like to pit his gladiators against each other, but Crassus pays him more than enough and Draba and Spartacus fight to the death. The outcome of this hand-to-hand combat scene is surprising, especially Crassus' role of killing the gladiator who tries to scale the walls with a trident and kill him. Lentulus sells Varinia (Jean Simmons of "The Big Country") to Crassus but Crassus tells him to deliver her to him later. After the gladiatorial duel, Spartacus starts a fight with Marcellus when the latter informs him that Varinia is being sent away. These two struggle, and Spartacus drowns Marcellus in a bubbling hot pot of stew. Lentulus decides to deliver Varinia to Crassus personally, orders his men to suppress the uprising, and hurries off in the cart to Rome with Varinia.
Not long afterward, Spartacus launches a revolt against Rome. Along the way, he meets Varinia and they fall in love. Initially, Spartacus and his army try to leave Italy, but their plans are thwarted when two Roman armies try to trap them on the coastline. Spartacus decides to turn his army north and confront Crassus, a wealthy and devious Roman soldier who has become Rome's new dictator. Ironically, Crassus doesn't know what Spartacus looks like so he has Lentulus brought to him. Lentulus reminds Crassus that he saw Spartacus fight the Ethiopian. Mind you, the weakest thing about "Spartacus" is the lack of hate between Spartacus and his mortal enemy Crassus. Several scenes occur in the Roman Senate with Sempronius Gracchus (Oscar winning actor Charles Laughton of "The Private Life of Henry VIII") chewing the scenery with John Gavin standing nearby as Julius Caesar. Gracchus and Crassus are mortal enemies, too. About an hour into this 197 minute marathon, Atoninus (Tony Curtis of "The Vikings") shows up as Crassus' slave who bathes the wealthy Roman. After Crassus' "oysters and snails" speech, Atoninus flees and joins Spartacus.
"Spartacus" is a rare, big-budgeted spear and sandal movie without religious references to Christ, though "Spartacus" is clearly a messianic hero. Kubrick does a great job of cross-cutting between the speeches given by Spartacus and Crassus to their public.