A fitting tribute to the career of Kirk Douglas.

Rating: Null/10 (19 April 2004)

Even today it is hard to visualise the scale of this epic or the efforts that went into its production. With all the computer generated effects of todays so-called epics eg Gladiator something stands out about this bench mark film. That Kirk Douglas did not win best actor oscar award for this film probably says more about the judging criteria of the day than it does about Douglas,s performance for when you stack it against that of Russell Crowes in gladiator what you are really seeing is the master & apprentice. There is something about the raw boned straight from the hip performance by Douglas that sets it apart from the rest of the so-called sword & sandal epics both past & present. I consider the fact that Douglas did not win an oscar for that role is perhaps the single biggest injustice in the history of the oscars especially when one considers that the film was largely his own in more ways than. I have never seen such an example of an actor carrying a film as it were on his back as without douglas the film would never have worked. The greatest ever Epic of its kind we will ever see.I would love to meet the man & present him with the oscar he never got before he dies what a coup that would be for the academy.