Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) has been a slave since the age of thirteen. He is among a handful of slaves selected by the Roman Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) to be trained as gladiators. (I absolutely loved Peter Ustinov in the role of Batiatus; he was fabulous!)
Slaves are treated like animals, and those in power have no feelings for them whatsoever. They would have slaves kill each other purely for entertainment. Spartacus makes friends with the slaves, and when an opportunity arises, they overpower the guards and manage to escape. Now, the slaves are building their own army in revolt against the Romans.
Laurence Olivier stars as Crassus, a wealthy Roman senator and the film's main protagonist. Jean Simmons stars as Varinia, also a slave and the love interest of Spartacus. I enjoyed the developing romance between Spartacus and Varinia. The film follows Spartacus as he builds his army and plans to avenge the Romans, even if it seems impossible to fight against such a mighty power.
From all the costumes to the magnificent sets and thousands of extras, 'Spartacus' is an incredible production. In a time before CGI, the scale of the production is jaw-dropping! The film apparently had a cast of 10,500 members (with all the extras). Today the extras would simply be added with CGI in post-production. And this is why I enjoy older movies so much; it was real film making. On every level, 'Spartacus' is a film of epic proportions. It's hard to believe this film was made more than six decades ago!!
If I had to compare 'Spartacus' to more recent films, movies like 'Gladiator', '300', and the TV series 'Rome' comes to mind.
Slaves are treated like animals, and those in power have no feelings for them whatsoever. They would have slaves kill each other purely for entertainment. Spartacus makes friends with the slaves, and when an opportunity arises, they overpower the guards and manage to escape. Now, the slaves are building their own army in revolt against the Romans.
Laurence Olivier stars as Crassus, a wealthy Roman senator and the film's main protagonist. Jean Simmons stars as Varinia, also a slave and the love interest of Spartacus. I enjoyed the developing romance between Spartacus and Varinia. The film follows Spartacus as he builds his army and plans to avenge the Romans, even if it seems impossible to fight against such a mighty power.
From all the costumes to the magnificent sets and thousands of extras, 'Spartacus' is an incredible production. In a time before CGI, the scale of the production is jaw-dropping! The film apparently had a cast of 10,500 members (with all the extras). Today the extras would simply be added with CGI in post-production. And this is why I enjoy older movies so much; it was real film making. On every level, 'Spartacus' is a film of epic proportions. It's hard to believe this film was made more than six decades ago!!
If I had to compare 'Spartacus' to more recent films, movies like 'Gladiator', '300', and the TV series 'Rome' comes to mind.