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Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 0096898736930 Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording remastered, NTSC Label: Universal Studios Languages: Manufacturer: Universal Studios Number Of Items: 2 Publisher: Universal Studios Release Date: February 06, 2001 Running Time: 196 minutes Studio: Universal Studios Theatrical Release Date: October 07, 1960 Editorial Review: Amazon.com essential video: Stanley Kubrick was only 31 years old when Kirk Douglas (star of Kubrick's classic Paths of Glory) recruited the young director to pilot this epic saga, in which the rebellious slave Spartacus (played by Douglas) leads a freedom revolt against the decadent Roman Empire. Kubrick would later disown the film because it was not a personal project--he was merely a director-for-hire--but Spartacus remains one of the best of Hollywood's grand historical epics. With an intelligent screenplay by then-blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (from a novel by Howard Fast), its message of moral integrity and courageous conviction is still quite powerful, and the all-star cast (including Charles Laughton in full toga) is full of entertaining surprises. Fully restored in 1991 to include scenes deleted from the original 1960 release, the full-length Spartacus is a grand-scale cinematic marvel, offering some of the most awesome battles ever filmed and a central performance by Douglas that's as sensitively emotional as it is intensely heroic. Jean Simmons plays the slave woman who becomes Spartacus's wife, and Peter Ustinov steals the show with his frequently hilarious, Oscar-winning performance as a slave trader who shamelessly curries favor with his Roman superiors. The restored version also includes a formerly deleted bathhouse scene in which Laurence Olivier plays a bisexual Roman senator (with restored dialogue dubbed by Anthony Hopkins) who gets hot and bothered over a slave servant played by Tony Curtis. These and other restored scenes expand the film to just over three hours in length. Despite some forgivable lulls, this is a rousing and substantial drama that grabs and holds your attention. Breaking tradition with sophisticated themes and a downbeat (yet eminently noble) conclusion, Spartacus is a thinking person's epic, rising above mere spectacle with a story as impressive as its widescreen action and Oscar-winning sets. --Jeff Shannon Average Rating:
 Rating: - Great Movie - Inaccurate HistoryEntertaining film, well worth the time. But Hollywood history. To begin with Sparticus was a Roman not a Thracian. Marcus Licineus Crassus trapped Sparticus in the Toe of Italy, not the Heel. Pompey "The Great" (The "Great" part not mentioned in the film) returned from Spain where he had helped defeat a Roman rebel named Quintus Sertorius, by the land route through France, not by sea. Also, there was no such thing as "The Garrison of Rome". But again a fun film and a classic. Rating:  - Words fail meI'm one of those people who cries easily in movies. I cry at sad parts, I cry at happy parts, I have no problem with turning on the water-works. I have seen a lot of great movies in my time, many of which have indeed caused me to tear up, but NOTHING prepared me for the emotional battering I received in Spartacus. Not since Mel Gibson's The Passion, has a film moved me so profoundly. My husband and I watched this together the other night, neither of us knowing any thing about it. Probably ... Read More Rating: - A classic--and the Peter Ustinov extras are priceless!I grew up with this movie and it will always have a place in my heart. I have found,though, that as I have gotten older, the characters of the freedom-seeking slaves sem less interesting than those of the Romans. The slaves are too "good" to ring true, while the Romans seem more rounded out characters. Would that Kubrick could have directed the film with his own vision! And I thoroughly loved the Peter Ustinov interviews. The '92 interview was so funny (expecially Peter's "impressions"), ... Read More Rating: - SPARTACUSA GREAT EPIC FILM. I WAS DISAPOINTED THAT IT DID NOT INCLUDE ANY OF THE EXTRAS THAT OFTEN GO WITH DVDS TODAY. NO COMINTARY TRACK, NO FEATURETTES, NO DOCUMENTARY WITH INTERVIEWS. BUT MOETLY, IT COUILD HAVE BENIFITED FROM A HISTORY DOCUMENTARY. Rating: - The Slave Who Challenged RomeImpressively mounted old-school sword & sandals spectacle featuring a command performance from Kirk Douglas. I found myself liking it but not loving it. More admiration and respect than active engagement. I've never been a huge Kirk Douglas fan and the movie suffers from a weaker second half. Spartacus' studio pic trappings owe more to Gone With the Wind & Ben Hur and less to today's director epics. I'm not surprised Stanley Kubrick repudiated Spartacus. Kubrick was the very definition of auteur ... Read More |
