A good body with a dull brain is as cheap as life itself.

Rating: 9/10 (9 June 2007)

This Stanle Kubrick classic appears to have it all. The set decoration, cinematography and costuming are all superior. Also excellent was the editing, score, and, of course, the direction by Kubrick.
The cast was superlative. Kirk Douglas (Lust for Life, The Bad and the Beautiful, Champion) as Sparticus really gave us an outstanding performance as the man who took on Rome. Not until Gibson gave us William Wallace do we see a champion of the people fighting for freedom.
We cannot neglect mentioning Laurence Olivier as Crassius, Jean Simmons as Varinia, Peter Ustinov as Batiatus, and Woody Strode (The Quick and the Dead) as Draba.
The restored version of this film goes 3 and a half hours. I guess sitting through Grindhouse wasn't so bad after all. If a film is good, then the time flies by.