PG-13, 3 hr. 16 min. Directed By:
Stanley Kubrick. Release Date:
Oct 7, 1960. DVD Release
Date: Apr 24, 2001.
This was another movie classic that I didn’t know anything
about, and wasn’t sure how I felt when it appeared on my list of
recommendations. Well, that’s not
true. I knew a few things about the
movie. I knew that it’s the story of a
gladiator who leads a rebellion against Rome (something that may or may not be
inspired by actual events… I’ve heard both sides of that argument), I knew Kirk
Douglas was the titular lead, and well, I know that depending on your point of
view, you could interpret the movie in various ways. I also know that Spartacus inspired the television series of the same name, and
having watched a few episodes of the show, I know that the television follows
very close to the film, and I understand why the show could be interpreted in a
certain way. Lord knows I’ve seen less
hanging sausage in a butcher’s window than in your average episode of the
television series.
I’ll start with my issues, because I didn’t really have
many. In fact, I had one serious
complaint: the run time. Three hours and sixteen minutes is WAY too
long for a movie, and I’ve learned from comments on my post about Cleopatra that these lengthy epics were
popular because they were trying to compete with the sweeping epic miniseries
on television during the same time periods.
But seriously. THREE HOURS and it
wasn’t done. That is a crazy long time
to watch one movie. And yes, I have
watched Gone with the Wind.
Truthfully, I was mostly interested on those connections
hinted at in Clueless, and it only
took me about four minutes to see it.
The slave master at the mine, the leering glances between the
gladiators, and particularly the selection of Crassus’ “body servant” and
subsequent bath. It’s pretty clear how
you could make that particular leap of logic.
I was surprised to find that other than that, which I laughed about for
quite some time, the movie was kind of fun.
The combat scenes are pretty decent, although they’re a little reminiscent
of the Star Trek episode where Spock
gets all horned up and tries to kill Kirk, although I might be better if I said
that the fight scene in Star Trek was
reminiscent of the gladiator combat in Spartacus,
since the latter came first. Also,
it took me about half the movie to stop thinking about this as “Sporadicus.”
All in all, this isn’t a terrible movie, although it does
have a few faults… most of which I blame on Kirk Douglas and the
direction. Hey, Kubrick was young. He gets much better than this. To follow my Clueless reference, it’s a bit of a Monet… decent from a high
level view, but when you look close, you start seeing faults. If you can get past the horrific run time and
sultry man-on-man glances, then this is
going to be your thing.
