The 300 Spartans

This article is about the 1962 film. For the historical Spartan contingent, see Battle of Thermopylae.

The 300 Spartans
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rudolph Maté
Screenplay by	George St. George
Story by	Gian Paolo Callegari Remigio Del Grosso Giovanni d'Eramo Ugo Liberatore
Produced by	Rudolph Maté George St. George
Starring	Richard Egan Sir Ralph Richardson Diane Baker Barry Coe David Farrar
Cinematography	Geoffrey Unsworth
Edited by	Jerry Webb
Music by	Manos Hadjidakis
Production company	20th Century Fox
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	August 29, 1962 (1962-08-29) (US)
Running time	114 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	£500,000 (approximately $1,350,000.)

Epitaph with Simonides' epigram (modern replica)

The 300 Spartans is a 1962 CinemaScope epic film depicting the Battle of Thermopylae. Made with the cooperation of the Greek government, it was shot in the village of Perachora in the Peloponnese. The working title was Lion of Sparta. It stars Richard Egan as the Spartan king Leonidas, Sir Ralph Richardson as Themistocles of Athens and David Farrar as Persian king Xerxes, with Diane Baker as Ellas and Barry Coe as Phylon providing the requisite romantic element in the film. Greek warriors, led by 300 Spartans, fight against a Persian army of almost limitless size. Despite the odds, the Spartans will not flee or surrender, even if it means their deaths.

When it was released in 1962, critics saw the movie as a commentary on the Cold War, referring to the independent Greek states as "the only stronghold of freedom remaining in the then known world", holding out against the Persian "slave empire".

Plot

King Xerxes of Persia leads a vast army of soldiers into Europe to defeat the small city-states of Greece, not only to fulfill the idea of "one world ruled by one master", but also to avenge the defeat of his father Darius at the Battle of Marathon ten years before. Accompanying him are Artemisia, the Queen of Halicarnassus, who beguiles Xerxes with her feminine charm, and Demaratus, an exiled king of Sparta, to whose warnings Xerxes pays little heed.

In Corinth, Themistocles of Athens wins the support of the Greek allies and convinces both the delegates and the Spartan representative, warrior king Leonidas I, to grant Sparta leadership of their forces. Outside the hall, Leonidas and Themistocles agree to fortify the narrow pass at Thermopylae until the rest of the army arrives. After this, Leonidas learns of the Persian advance and travels to Sparta to spread the news and rally the rest of the troops.

In Sparta, his fellow king Leotychidas is fighting a losing battle with the Ephors over the religious harvest festival of Carnea that is due to take place, with members of the council arguing that the army should wait until after the festival is over before it marches, while Leotychidas fears that by that time the Persians may have conquered Greece. Leonidas decides to march north immediately with his personal bodyguard of 300 men, who are exempt from the decisions of the Ephors and the Gerousia. They are subsequently reinforced by about 700 volunteer Thespians led by Demophilus and few other Greek allies.

After several days of fighting, Xerxes grows angry as his army is repeatedly routed by the Greeks, with the Spartans in the forefront. Leonidas receives word sent by his wife that, by decision of the Ephors, the remainder of the Spartan army, rather than joining him as he had expected, will only fortify the isthmus in the Peloponnese and will advance no further. The Greeks constantly beat back the Persians, and following the defeat of most of his personal bodyguard in battle against the Spartans plus the killing/death of Xerxes' own two brothers, Xerxes begins to consider withdrawing to Sardis until he can equip a larger force at a later date. As he prepares to withdraw, as advised by Artemesia (who, having a Greek mother, has her own agenda to dissuade the king from continuing invasion), Xerxes however, receives word from the treacherous and avaricious Ephialtes of a secret old goat-track through the mountains that will enable his forces to attack the Greeks from the rear. Promising to richly reward the traitorous goatherd for his betrayal (just as Ephialtes had expected) an emboldened Xerxes sends his army onward.

Once Leonidas realizes he will be surrounded, he sends away the Greek allies to alert the cities to the south. Being too few to hold the pass, the Spartans instead attack the Persian front, where Xerxes is nearby. Leonidas is killed in the melée. Meanwhile, the Thespians, who had refused to leave, are overwhelmed (offscreen) while defending the rear. Surrounded, the surviving Spartans refuse Xerxes's demand to give up Leonidas' body. They are then all annihilated as the remaining Immortals rain down a barrage of arrowfire.

After this, narration states that the Battle of Salamis and the Battle of Plataea end the Persian invasion, which could not have been organized and victorious without the time bought by the 300 Spartans who defied the tyranny of Xerxes at Thermopylae. One of the final images of the film is the stone memorial bearing the epigram of Simonides of Ceos, which the narrator recites in honour of the slain 300 Spartan men's bravery :

"Oh stranger, tell the Spartans that we lie here obedient to their word."

Then ends with : "...But it was more than a victory for Greece, it was a stirring example to free people throughout the world of what a few brave men can accomplish once they refuse to submit to tyranny!"

Main cast

• Richard Egan as King Leonidas of Sparta
• Ralph Richardson as Themistocles of Athens
• Diane Baker as Ellas, daughter of Pentheus
• Barry Coe as Phyllon, Spartan in love with Ellas
• David Farrar as King Xerxes of Persia
• Donald Houston as Hydarnes, leader of the Persian Immortals
• Anna Synodinou as Queen Gorgo of Sparta
• Kieron Moore as Ephialtes of Trachis, farm worker & Greek traitor
• John Crawford as Agathon, Spartan spy and soldier
• Robert Brown as Pentheus, Leonidas' second-in-command
• Laurence Naismith a Greek delegate
• Anne Wakefield as Artemisia, Queen of Halicarnassus
• Ivan Triesault as Demaratus, exiled former King of Sparta
• Charles Fernley Fawcett as Megistias, Spartan priest
• Michalis Nikolinakos as Myron, a Spartan
• Sandro Giglio as Xenathon, a Spartan Ephor
• Dimos Starenios as Samos, a goatherd
• Anna Raftopoulou as Toris, Samos' wife
• Yorgos Moutsios as Demophilus, leader of the Thespians
• Nikos Papakonstantinou as Grellas, a Spartan in Xerxes' camp
• John G. Contes as Artovadus, Persian general
• Marietta Flemotomos as a Greek woman
• Kostas Baladimas as Mardonius, Persian general
• Zannino as Athenian citizen, Persian general

Production

The battle scenes were shot near the village of Perachora, on the mainland side of the Corinth Canal, as it was impossible to shoot at the actual location in Thermopylae, where 2,500 years of silt had shrunk the Malian Gulf drastically since the battle in 480 BCE, turning the strait where the battle was fought into a broad coastal plain. The Greek Defense Ministry agreed to make available to the producers up to 5,000 members of the Hellenic Army for a pre-negotiated fee. However, the film's budgetary constraints reduced the numbers drawn to only two battalions (approximately 1,100 men). The largest establishing scenes, of the Persian Army entering Greece, utilized many of these soldiers, together with a combined total of several hundred civilian extras, horses, cattle, ox carts, and chariots. For the wider establishing scenes of the battle, one battalion was retained to play both Greeks and Persians. For closer compositions of the fighting and encampments, military extras were called (call-sheeted) by company-size or smaller units, in meeting the specific needs of the day's shooting schedule. Director of Photography Geoffrey Unsworth made good use of the tree groves, which lined the coastal plain aside the Limni Vouliagmeni lagoon, to cover for the obvious deficiency in the number of troops that would have been amassed on the Persian-side of the battle line.

Originally developed as an Italian sword-and-sandal project, the cooperation and blessing of the Greek government allowed the producers to both finance and complete the production on a budget of 500,000 GBP (equivalent to £13,473,378 in 2023) or approximately US$1,350,000 (equivalent to $13,598,020 in 2023), roughly twice for what most Italian peplum films were being made at the time. The 300 Spartans was the last film of Richard Egan's seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. It was also the last film appearance of David Farrar, who then chose to retire from acting.

Release

In 1970, despite the attributed Cold War connotations, the film was dubbed in Russian and shown in the USSR. The film proved to be very popular, with 27.1 million total viewers.

Other adaptions

• Comic book -Dell Movie Classic: Lion of Sparta (January 1963)
• Novelisation - John Burke - The 300 Spartans Signet, New York; First Printing edition (1962)

Legacy

Frank Miller's 1998 graphic novel 300 depicts the same Battle of Thermopylae. The comic artist saw The 300 Spartans as a boy and said "it changed the course of my creative life". In 2006, his book was adapted into a successful film of the same name directed by Zack Snyder.

See also

• List of American films of 1962
• List of historical drama films
• 300
• 300: Rise of an Empire
• List of films based on military books (pre-1775)

External links

• The 300 Spartans at IMDb
• The 300 Spartans (1962) at DBCult Film Institute
• The 300 Spartans! at AllMovie
• The 300 Spartans publicity photos at 300spartanwarriors.com