Spartacus (film)
| Spartacus | |
|---|---|
| File:SpartacusCover.jpg 1991 Re-release poster | |
| Directed by | Stanley Kubrick |
| Written by | Dalton Trumbo Howard Fast (novel) |
| Produced by | Edward Lewis Kirk Douglas (executive producer) |
| Starring | Jean Simmons Laurence Olivier Kirk Douglas Charles Laughton Peter Ustinov <br\> John Gavin Tony Curtis |
| Music by | Alex North |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates | 6 October, 1960 (premiere) |
Running time | 184 min. (premiere) 198 min. (1991 restored version) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12,000,000 |
Spartacus is a 1960 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the historical novel of the same name by Howard Fast. The film stars Kirk Douglas as rebellious slave Spartacus and Laurence Olivier as his rival, Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus. John Gavin (Julius Caesar), Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Herbert Lom, Woody Strode, Tony Curtis, John Dall and Charles McGraw are also featured. The titles were designed by Saul Bass. Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
Spartacus is a classic Hollywood large format epic, with an important cast and crew. Critics such as Roger Ebert, however, have argued that the film has flaws which have caused it to become severely dated. Critics attribute the film's flaws to various elements including the interference of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which imposed censorial conformity under the Production Code; the replacement of original director, Anthony Mann, after the first week's shooting; a sparring cast (Laughton vs. Olivier ; replacement director Kubrick vs. executive producer/star Douglas); and a distracting and boisterous orchestral soundtrack.
Plot Summary
Template:Spoiler The film begins at a mine in the Roman province of Libya, where we see Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) trying to aid an old man. A Roman soldier tells Spartacus to get back to work, only to get his ankle bitten by the rebellious slave. Spartacus is then tied up and sentenced to death.
We then see the slave dealer, Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) arrive. He inspects several slaves with a disgusted look, before finally settling on Spartacus. Batiatus then sails for Capua, and arrives with his new purchases at his villa in the country, which also doubles as a gladiator training school.
Over the course of several months, Spartacus becomes a fine warrior. He is given the opportunity to sleep with one of the slave girls, Varinia (Jean Simmons), but declines, declaring: "I AM NOT AN ANIMAL!"
Eventually, Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier) arrives at the school with some companions, wishing to see several gladiators fight to the death. Spartacus is chosen, and is defeated, but his vanquisher refuses to kill him, instead throwing his trident into the spectator's box. Crassus kills the gladiator, and leaves, however, he also purchases Varinia, of whom Spartacus has grown fond.
When Batiatus personally takes Varinia away, Spartacus leads a revolt against the Romans, and the slaves eventually take Capua. The senate of Rome tries to come up with a solution to the problem, so Gracchus (Charles Laughton) cunningly manipulates Crassus' charge, and persuades him to take the Garrison of Rome and destroy the slaves, so that Gracchus' charge, Julius Caesar (John Gavin) can take command of Rome.
Meanwhile, Crassus purchases a new slave, Antoninus (Tony Curtis), and tries to seduce him. Antoninus runs away and joins Spartacus, who has formed a general plan for the slaves. Spartacus reviews the new recruits, assigning them a position according to their skills. Antoninus presents himself as a poet and illusionist, but Spartacus still wants him in the army, indirectly commenting on the relation between politics and art. Spartacus has been reunited with Varinia, and they get married. He then destroys the Garrison of Rome, and outlines his plan to make for the sea, freeing every slave on the way, until they meet Cilician pirates, who will take them to a better place.
Rome keeps sending armies to destroy Spartacus (9 armies as mentioned in Theatrical Trailer), but Spartacus keeps on going. Crassus has made a point of honor and left politics, let his rivals to fail. Gracchus perceives that he is waiting for the situation to get so desperate that the Senate makes him dictator thus counteracting Gracchus' plebeian party. Gracchus manoeuvers to let free escape to the slaves, thus denying Crassus his opportunity.
When the slaves eventually reach the Sea, they discover that the Cilicians have been bought off by Crassus. Spartacus rejects an offer of the Cilician envoy to smuggle him and his family and aides to Asia to live in riches. Spartacus then finds himself trapped between three Roman armies (Pompey in Calabria, Luculus in Brundisium and the garrison in Rome). The only solution is to fight their way through to Rome.
Meanwhile, Crassus has gained complete control of Rome. In parallel scenes, Spartacus harangues to the slaves, while Crassus warns against the elimination of patrician privileges. Batiatus is hired by Crassus to help him recognize Spartacus.
A large battle ensues, and results in the defeat and capture of many slaves. Crassus declares that the captured slaves may go free if they identify Spartacus. They all claim to be Spartacus, so Crassus has them all crucified, from the battlefield to the gates of Rome. He saves Antoninus and Spartacus for last, and has them duel to the death for him. Meanwhile, Batiatus sees that the revenge of Crassus denies him the lucrative auction of the surviving slaves. Varinia is taken to Crassus' home where he unsuccessfully woos her. In his last acts, Gracchus generously hires Batiatus to steal Varinia from Crassus. Spartacus kills Antoninus, and then, in turn, is crucified himself by the walls of Rome.
Batiatus and Varinia leave Rome for Gaul through the Via Appia and find the agonizing slaves. Varinia announces to the dying Spartacus that his son will be a free man.
Cast
Starring
-
Jean Simmons as
Varinia -
Tony Curtis as
Antoninus
Production
Stanley Kubrick was called on to take over as director for Anthony Mann, who, two weeks into shooting, was fired by the studio because of his lack of leadership. By that time Kubrick had already directed four feature films; two of which were Hollywood productions. Spartacus was the biggest project of Kubrick's career at that point with a budget of twelve million dollars and a cast total of 10,500 actors, which was very impressive for such a young director, although his contract did not give him complete control over the filming.
Spartacus was filmed using 70 mm Super Technirama cameras, which was a change for a Kubrick, who preferred using square-format ratios. Kubrick found working outdoors or in real locations to be distracting and thus preferred to film in the studio. He believed the actors would benefit more from working on a sound stage, where they could fully concentrate. Kubrick skillfully utilized the close-up and the wide shot to enhance dramatic effects. Sound was also very important to him, to illustrate the large masses that play such an essential role in the film. To achieve the huge sound, they used three-channel sound equipment to record 76,000 spectators at a Michigan State – Notre Dame college football game shouting ‘Hail, Crassus!’ and ‘I'm Spartacus!’ Unlike the more intimate scenes, Kubrick insisted all battle scenes be filmed abroad, instead of in the studio backlot. They were filmed on a vast plain outside of Madrid. Eight thousand trained soldiers from the Spanish infantry were used to double as the Roman army. Kubrick directed the armies from on top of specially constructed towers. Kubrick eventually had to cut all but one of the gory battle scenes, due to audience reaction at preview screenings.
Versions
Template:Infobox movie certificates Template:Spoiler The film was re-released in 1967, 23 minutes shorter than the original release, and again in 1991, with those 23 minutes restored, plus an additional 14 minutes that had been cut from the film before its original release. That addition included several violent battle sequences as well as a bath scene in which the Roman patrician and general Crassus (played by Olivier), attempting to seduce his slave Antoninus (played by Curtis), uses the analogy of "eating oysters" and "eating snails" to express his opinion that sexual preference is a matter of taste rather than morality.
When the film was restored, two years after Olivier's death, the original dialogue recording from this scene was missing, and so it had to be re-dubbed. Tony Curtis was able to re-record his part, but Crassus's voice is actually an Olivier impersonation by Anthony Hopkins.
Political history
Originally, Howard Fast had been hired to adapt his own novel as a screenplay, but he had experienced difficulty working in a screenplay format and was replaced by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo, working under the pseudonym "Sam Jackson". Some people feel the Spartacus in Trumbo's version was depicted as a sort of early communist who fights against the wealthy Roman establishment by liberating the slaves. The film was plagued by the conflicting visions of Kubrick and Trumbo. Kubrick, a young director at the time, did not have the degree of control he would later have over his films. The final product is more a result of Trumbo's optimistic screenplay than it was of Stanley Kubrick's trademark cynicism.
Trumbo developed two versions of Spartacus; large and small. The large Spartacus was one of vision and intelligence whose influence was immense. The small Spartacus was an ignorant barbarian who used force rather than ideas to lead his followers. The small Spartacus was inconsequential, while the large Spartacus he credits with the ultimate downfall of Rome, if only indirectly. Trumbo favored the large Spartacus over the small while Kubricks vision of Spartacus' morality was less cut and dry. Kubrick's motivations for the film were of moral explorations, whereas Trumbo's were moral declarations. Kubrick's vision can be seen in moments rather than in the overarching themes presented.
In post-production, Douglas was made aware that Kubrick intended to take writing credit for the film instead of Trumbo. The powerful Douglas publicly resisted Trumbo's exclusion, and when Trumbo's name appeared in the credits, the Hollywood blacklist was effectively broken.
Music
The original score from Spartacus was composed and conducted by six-time Academy Award nominee Alex North. It is considered one of his best works, and a textbook example of how modernistic compositional styles can be adapted to the Hollywood leitmotif technique. North's score is large and epic, as befits the scale of the film. After extensive research of music of that period, North gathered a collection of antique instruments that, while not authentically Roman, provided a strong dramatic effect. These instruments included a sarrousaphone, Israeli recorder, Chinese oboe, lute, mandolin, Yugoslav flute, kythara, dulcimer, and bagpipes. North's prize instrument was the Ondioline, similar to an earlier version of the electronic synthesizer, which had never been used in film before. Much of the music is written without a tonal center, or flirting with tonality in ways that most film composers wouldn't. North has one theme that he uses for both slavery and freedom, but they are given different values and therefore sound like different themes. The love theme for Spartacus and Virinia is the most accessible theme in the film, and there is a harsh trumpet figure for Crassus.
The soundtrack album runs less than forty-five minutes and is not very representative of the score. There were plans to re-record a significant amount of the music with North's friend and fellow film composer Jerry Goldsmith, but the project kept getting delayed until Goldsmith's death in 2004. There have been numerous bootlegs, but none of them have very good sound quality.
"I am Spartacus!"
One famous scene of the movie has the recaptured slaves being asked to point out which one of them is Spartacus in exchange for leniency. Instead, they each proclaim themselves to be Spartacus and thus share his fate. A similar scene or event is sometimes called a Spartacus moment in reference to this particular scene. This has sometimes been misidentified as historical fact, notably by George Galloway, who identifies Spartacus as his hero.
The phrase has passed into popular culture and was mimicked in the films
- Countdown to Destruction, the finale of Power Rangers in Space
- The Mask of Zorro
- Monty Python's Life of Brian (spoofed)
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (spoofed)
- a Pepsi commercial
- That Thing You Do! (characters use the phrase to express their beatnik coolness)
Historical inaccuracies
- Spartacus was actually one of numerous rebel slaves, and not the sole leader of the Roman slave revolts, as portrayed in the film.
- The events in the film's famous "I am Spartacus!" scene and all other scenes afterwards with Spartacus never occurred, as Spartacus is widely believed to have been killed in battle.
- Marcus Crassus was actually unwilling to pursue Spartacus and his army. It is also widely believed that the film's large battle near the end was started when Spartacus' army attempted to ambush Crassus. Furthermore it was Crassus alone who won the final battle against Spartacus. Pompey's role was simply killing 5,000 slaves who had fled from that final battle.
- Julius Caesar never commanded the garrison of Rome, and could not have since it did not exist during the time the film takes place.
- In the film, Spartacus was born into a life of slavery. In fact it was known by Kubrick that Spartacus was believed to have served in the Roman Army as an auxiliary soldier then deserted, caught and sold into slavery as punishment. This was considered not to be heroic enough and was changed to what is seen in the film.
- There are fewer battles in this movie than actually take place in life. For example, after being defeated in the north, Spartacus flees south, and rather than confront him, Crassus builds a wall across the boot of Italy to contain him.
- In the film, Spartacus is shown to abhor slavery and the Roman way. In truth, Spartacus most likely simply abhorred being a slave, he showed no compunction about making some of his own men fight as gladiators, crucifying Roman soldiers, and some reports have even suggested that he kept some as slaves.
- Spartacus' original plan did not involve Celician pirates, it involved fleeing north to Gaul. It is widely believed that German and Gallic rebels however pressed him into fighting the Romans further, and the fact that he did not have the loyalty of his men for a march through the Alps, hoped to turn south and raid the Roman country side further.
- Spartacus' motivation to free the slaves is presented in the film as a fundamental opposition to the institution of slavery, an assertion that is not supported by historical evidence. His motivation was most likely self preservation rather than a belief in the immorality of slavery, a relatively modern concept.
- Varinia met Spartacus when he is about to die crucified. The girl is going from Rome to the Picenum (in the nowadays Marche on the Adriatic Sea) while Spartacus is said to be crucified on the Via Appia (the road of Appius) that linked Rome and Taranto, in the Southern Italy. So, it's impossible understand why she's taking a way to the South when she's about to go on the Northen Italy.
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards
Popular Culture
In the Seinfeld episode, The Gum, the show's central characters see Spartacus at a revival theatre.
References
- Spartacus, Directed by Stanley Kubrick and written by Dalton Trumbo, 1960.