Spartacus

[really real]

With the new cheap blu-ray version of Spartacus available, I thought I
would watch this epic again. What a treat! The huge battle scene looks
quite fantastic in high def, especially when we know its down with
thousands of extras and not computers.

And what an amazing hodge podge of a movie. It was the most expensive
Hollywood movie of its time, back in 1960, and with Stanley Kubrick
directing, it's quite a spectacle and a scene. I read a quote from
producer/actor Kurt Douglas saying he hoped Kubrick would have a flop
soon so he would learn hou do compromise. But did Kubrick compromise
after Barry Lyndon?

Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and Peter
Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together. Laurence
Olivier is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy. John Gavin, as Julius Caesar,
seems to belong in a different movie. And why do they call him Caesar? I
thought Caesar was a title, like Czar or Kaiser.


Jean Simmons is gracious and lovely. She too seems to be coming from a
different movie than one about oppressed slaves thousands of years ago.

The homosexual subtext in the movie is also a delight, not only with the
snails and oysters scene, but with all the cute naked statues. And there
is a scene where Laughton talks about liking women, as if it were wrong
to like women.

The political subtext of the movie is also fascinating, with commie
propaganda lurking throughout. There are lovely scenes of the escaped
slaves in their camps, working in their paradisaical collective.

It's fascinating the way Spartacus veers from being an intelligent
Kubrick movie to a Hollywood schlock movie.

[John Dean]

Post by really real
With the new cheap blu-ray version of Spartacus available, I thought I
would watch this epic again. What a treat! The huge battle scene looks
quite fantastic in high def, especially when we know its down with
thousands of extras and not computers.
And what an amazing hodge podge of a movie. It was the most expensive
Hollywood movie of its time, back in 1960, and with Stanley Kubrick
directing, it's quite a spectacle and a scene. I read a quote from
producer/actor Kurt Douglas saying he hoped Kubrick would have a flop
soon so he would learn hou do compromise. But did Kubrick compromise
after Barry Lyndon?
Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and
Peter Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together.
Laurence Olivier is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy. John Gavin, as
Julius Caesar, seems to belong in a different movie. And why do they
call him Caesar? I thought Caesar was a title, like Czar or Kaiser.

That's what it became, but originally it was part of the family name. Gavin
was playing Gaius Julius Caesar who would have been called Gaius by those
close to him. Julius was from the clan name - Julii - and Caesar represented
the branch within the clan.
Emperor Augustus was originally Gaius Octavius Thurinus but, after adoption
by his dead uncle Gaius, became Gaius Julius Caesar.
The emperors from Gaius Julius through to Nero were all, or were adopted by,
members of the Caesar clan. When that line came to an end in the job,
subsequent emperors adopted the name as a title.

[ralph]

Laurence Olivier has never been more magisterial, and Peter Ustinov
and Charles Laughton give genuinely splendid supporting performances.
When the camera zooms in on these three faces, we're getting very
appreciated close-ups of the glories of togafest acting. Douglas is
more tolerable than usual -- maybe it's the moral weight of slavery.
Jean Simmons (who originally turned down her part) can't fully redeem
the necklace Olivier gives her to wear but her beauty is transcendent
and really real is onto something -- she does seem to be thinking
she’s in some other kind of movie. Shot mostly in California, using
Hearst's outlandish Romanesque San Simeon, with portions filmed in
Spain as economics forced executive producer Douglas and Universal to
use the Spanish Army instead of Hollywood extras for the six weeks it
took to film the battle scenes. Some of the sets -- the gladiator
school's sleeping quarters and Olivier's abode -- are marvelously lit.
Anthony Mann was originating director (having filmed the sun-baked
opening sequence), replaced by Stanley Kubrick, who also found himself
quarreling with Douglas. Blacklisted Dalton Trumbo adapted Howard
Fast's novel, though Kubrick openly condemned the “pretty dumb script”
because, among other errors, it fictionalized Spartacus's entrapment
at Brundisium. (And Ustinov reportedly rewrote his and Laughton's
scenes together.) The 1960 “Spartacus” which in many roadshow runs had
to forego the famous “snails” sequence as well as some dismemberment
of bodies during the battle scenes, was re-released in 1967 with an
additional 22 minutes of footage sliced away. What was left?

[Jim Beaver]

Post by really real
With the new cheap blu-ray version of Spartacus available, I thought I
would watch this epic again. What a treat! The huge battle scene looks
quite fantastic in high def, especially when we know its down with
thousands of extras and not computers.
And what an amazing hodge podge of a movie. It was the most expensive
Hollywood movie of its time, back in 1960, and with Stanley Kubrick
directing, it's quite a spectacle and a scene. I read a quote from
producer/actor Kurt Douglas saying he hoped Kubrick would have a flop soon
so he would learn hou do compromise. But did Kubrick compromise after
Barry Lyndon?
Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and Peter
Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together. Laurence Olivier
is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy.

Kurt Douglas?

[John Dean]

Post by Jim Beaver

Post by really real
Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and
Peter Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together.
Laurence Olivier is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy.

Kurt Douglas?

Nobody taller was available

[Kerrison]

Post by John Dean

Post by Jim Beaver

Post by really real
Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and
Peter Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together.
Laurence Olivier is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy.

Kurt Douglas?

Nobody taller was available
--
John Dean
Oxford

There is some interesting background info about 'Spartacus' in the
"Rooting for Laughton" blog which claims there were several extra
scenes with Laughton and John Gavin (stills from them are shown in
this blog) which didn't make it to the final print. Nor did they
appear in the "restored" version where Anthony Hopkins' voice doubles
for Olivier's in the "snails and oysters" scene, the audio track for
that having been lost. (Tony Curtis was able to re-dub his own voice
of course in that scene.)

Ustinov stated in interviews that each of the leads had been sent
different scripts in which their own parts had been built up,
something (so Ustinov said) which became apparent at the first read-
through. Maybe the missing Laughton/Gavin scenes were in their first
scripts but just got jettisoned after being filmed. Anyway, click the
link and wade back via "older posts" for the all the details ...

http://rootingforlaughton.blogspot.com/

[gggg gggg]

Post by really real
With the new cheap blu-ray version of Spartacus available, I thought I
would watch this epic again. What a treat! The huge battle scene looks
quite fantastic in high def, especially when we know its down with
thousands of extras and not computers.
And what an amazing hodge podge of a movie. It was the most expensive
Hollywood movie of its time, back in 1960, and with Stanley Kubrick
directing, it's quite a spectacle and a scene. I read a quote from
producer/actor Kurt Douglas saying he hoped Kubrick would have a flop
soon so he would learn hou do compromise. But did Kubrick compromise
after Barry Lyndon?
Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and Peter
Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together. Laurence
Olivier is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy. John Gavin, as Julius Caesar,
seems to belong in a different movie. And why do they call him Caesar? I
thought Caesar was a title, like Czar or Kaiser.
Jean Simmons is gracious and lovely. She too seems to be coming from a
different movie than one about oppressed slaves thousands of years ago.
The homosexual subtext in the movie is also a delight, not only with the
snails and oysters scene, but with all the cute naked statues. And there
is a scene where Laughton talks about liking women, as if it were wrong
to like women.
The political subtext of the movie is also fascinating, with commie
propaganda lurking throughout. There are lovely scenes of the escaped
slaves in their camps, working in their paradisaical collective.
It's fascinating the way Spartacus veers from being an intelligent
Kubrick movie to a Hollywood schlock movie.

Concerning the music composed for Spartacus:

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.music.movies/c/rxSBzvBFKus

[Kerrison Spartan]

Post by gggg gggg

Post by really real
With the new cheap blu-ray version of Spartacus available, I thought I
would watch this epic again. What a treat! The huge battle scene looks
quite fantastic in high def, especially when we know its down with
thousands of extras and not computers.
And what an amazing hodge podge of a movie. It was the most expensive
Hollywood movie of its time, back in 1960, and with Stanley Kubrick
directing, it's quite a spectacle and a scene. I read a quote from
producer/actor Kurt Douglas saying he hoped Kubrick would have a flop
soon so he would learn hou do compromise. But did Kubrick compromise
after Barry Lyndon?
Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and Peter
Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together. Laurence
Olivier is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy. John Gavin, as Julius Caesar,
seems to belong in a different movie. And why do they call him Caesar? I
thought Caesar was a title, like Czar or Kaiser.
Jean Simmons is gracious and lovely. She too seems to be coming from a
different movie than one about oppressed slaves thousands of years ago.
The homosexual subtext in the movie is also a delight, not only with the
snails and oysters scene, but with all the cute naked statues. And there
is a scene where Laughton talks about liking women, as if it were wrong
to like women.
The political subtext of the movie is also fascinating, with commie
propaganda lurking throughout. There are lovely scenes of the escaped
slaves in their camps, working in their paradisaical collective.
It's fascinating the way Spartacus veers from being an intelligent
Kubrick movie to a Hollywood schlock movie.

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.music.movies/c/rxSBzvBFKus

The infamous "Snails and Oysters" scene, where Tony Curtis is giving Laurence Olivier a rub-down in the tub, was shot in a single take. Maybe Kubrick suspected it wouldn't make it to the final print ...

According to Stephen Spielberg, Kubrick enjoyed shooting the Laughton & Ustinov scenes the most ...

[gggg gggg]

Post by really real
With the new cheap blu-ray version of Spartacus available, I thought I
would watch this epic again. What a treat! The huge battle scene looks
quite fantastic in high def, especially when we know its down with
thousands of extras and not computers.
And what an amazing hodge podge of a movie. It was the most expensive
Hollywood movie of its time, back in 1960, and with Stanley Kubrick
directing, it's quite a spectacle and a scene. I read a quote from
producer/actor Kurt Douglas saying he hoped Kubrick would have a flop
soon so he would learn hou do compromise. But did Kubrick compromise
after Barry Lyndon?
Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and Peter
Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together. Laurence
Olivier is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy. John Gavin, as Julius Caesar,
seems to belong in a different movie. And why do they call him Caesar? I
thought Caesar was a title, like Czar or Kaiser.
Jean Simmons is gracious and lovely. She too seems to be coming from a
different movie than one about oppressed slaves thousands of years ago.
The homosexual subtext in the movie is also a delight, not only with the
snails and oysters scene, but with all the cute naked statues. And there
is a scene where Laughton talks about liking women, as if it were wrong
to like women.
The political subtext of the movie is also fascinating, with commie
propaganda lurking throughout. There are lovely scenes of the escaped
slaves in their camps, working in their paradisaical collective.
It's fascinating the way Spartacus veers from being an intelligent
Kubrick movie to a Hollywood schlock movie.

https://plotandtheme.com/2017/03/31/spartacus-the-three-headed-triumph-of-douglas-trumbo-and-kubrick/

[gggg gggg]

Post by really real
With the new cheap blu-ray version of Spartacus available, I thought I
would watch this epic again. What a treat! The huge battle scene looks
quite fantastic in high def, especially when we know its down with
thousands of extras and not computers.
And what an amazing hodge podge of a movie. It was the most expensive
Hollywood movie of its time, back in 1960, and with Stanley Kubrick
directing, it's quite a spectacle and a scene. I read a quote from
producer/actor Kurt Douglas saying he hoped Kubrick would have a flop
soon so he would learn hou do compromise. But did Kubrick compromise
after Barry Lyndon?
Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and Peter
Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together. Laurence
Olivier is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy. John Gavin, as Julius Caesar,
seems to belong in a different movie. And why do they call him Caesar? I
thought Caesar was a title, like Czar or Kaiser.
Jean Simmons is gracious and lovely. She too seems to be coming from a
different movie than one about oppressed slaves thousands of years ago.
The homosexual subtext in the movie is also a delight, not only with the
snails and oysters scene, but with all the cute naked statues. And there
is a scene where Laughton talks about liking women, as if it were wrong
to like women.
The political subtext of the movie is also fascinating, with commie
propaganda lurking throughout. There are lovely scenes of the escaped
slaves in their camps, working in their paradisaical collective.
It's fascinating the way Spartacus veers from being an intelligent
Kubrick movie to a Hollywood schlock movie.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/87098/16-epic-facts-about-spartacus#:~:text=12.,because%20it%20was%20considered%20obscene.

[gggg gggg]

Post by gggg gggg

Post by really real
With the new cheap blu-ray version of Spartacus available, I thought I
would watch this epic again. What a treat! The huge battle scene looks
quite fantastic in high def, especially when we know its down with
thousands of extras and not computers.
And what an amazing hodge podge of a movie. It was the most expensive
Hollywood movie of its time, back in 1960, and with Stanley Kubrick
directing, it's quite a spectacle and a scene. I read a quote from
producer/actor Kurt Douglas saying he hoped Kubrick would have a flop
soon so he would learn hou do compromise. But did Kubrick compromise
after Barry Lyndon?
Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and Peter
Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together. Laurence
Olivier is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy. John Gavin, as Julius Caesar,
seems to belong in a different movie. And why do they call him Caesar? I
thought Caesar was a title, like Czar or Kaiser.
Jean Simmons is gracious and lovely. She too seems to be coming from a
different movie than one about oppressed slaves thousands of years ago.
The homosexual subtext in the movie is also a delight, not only with the
snails and oysters scene, but with all the cute naked statues. And there
is a scene where Laughton talks about liking women, as if it were wrong
to like women.
The political subtext of the movie is also fascinating, with commie
propaganda lurking throughout. There are lovely scenes of the escaped
slaves in their camps, working in their paradisaical collective.
It's fascinating the way Spartacus veers from being an intelligent
Kubrick movie to a Hollywood schlock movie.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/87098/16-epic-facts-about-spartacus#:~:text=12.,because%20it%20was%20considered%20obscene.

The following concludes:

- Despite the many inaccuracies in the movie, it is mostly faithful to the story of Spartacus. It could be said that on balance that while the film is not correct, but it is far more historically accurate than the average Hollywood blockbuster.

https://dailyhistory.org/How_accurate_is_Stanley_Kubrick%27s_%27Spartacus%27%3F

[gggg gggg]

Post by really real
With the new cheap blu-ray version of Spartacus available, I thought I
would watch this epic again. What a treat! The huge battle scene looks
quite fantastic in high def, especially when we know its down with
thousands of extras and not computers.
And what an amazing hodge podge of a movie. It was the most expensive
Hollywood movie of its time, back in 1960, and with Stanley Kubrick
directing, it's quite a spectacle and a scene. I read a quote from
producer/actor Kurt Douglas saying he hoped Kubrick would have a flop
soon so he would learn hou do compromise. But did Kubrick compromise
after Barry Lyndon?
Some of the acting in Spartacus is terrific. Charles Laughton and Peter
Ustinov are wonderful especially in their scene together. Laurence
Olivier is good. Kurt Douglas is hammy. John Gavin, as Julius Caesar,
seems to belong in a different movie. And why do they call him Caesar? I
thought Caesar was a title, like Czar or Kaiser.
Jean Simmons is gracious and lovely. She too seems to be coming from a
different movie than one about oppressed slaves thousands of years ago.
The homosexual subtext in the movie is also a delight, not only with the
snails and oysters scene, but with all the cute naked statues. And there
is a scene where Laughton talks about liking women, as if it were wrong
to like women.
The political subtext of the movie is also fascinating, with commie
propaganda lurking throughout. There are lovely scenes of the escaped
slaves in their camps, working in their paradisaical collective.
It's fascinating the way Spartacus veers from being an intelligent
Kubrick movie to a Hollywood schlock movie.