Leaving that aside, this is a really fine movie. Douglas and Olivier predictably shine in their roles, and the performances are outstanding right down to the bit roles (look for some excellent work from Woody Strode and John Dahl). Historically, it takes a lot of liberties (Gracchus and Crassus lived a century apart from each other, for example). But all in all, an excellent watch. 8/10.
P.S. Zippcast can be a bit cranky sometimes. If the film doesn't play right away, reload the page and it should be fine. The film starts around the 4 minute mark, after a long musical intro.
Swords and Sandals ping.
They had Spartacus on one of the History type channels a few years back. I was roughly familiar with the story but was surprised how close he came to basically destroying Rome.
Kirk Douglas, was he also a communist? He seemed awful cozy with Trumbo.
Thank you!
What if Spartacus had a Piper Cub?
later
For tomorrow.
All movies therefore should be judged right out of the box on whether they are Marxist or not and "Spartacus" is obviously Marxist. The job of a leftist writer like Dalton Trumbo is to hook the audience emotionally so that they will end up rooting for an ideology contrary to their own ideology because they empathize with the character.
We see this every day on television series in which immigrants are invariably portrayed sympathetically as are colored races and homosexuals. These characters are placed in positions of responsibility to demonstrate that African-Americans should be running a police department, or a fire department or NCI S etc. Other people of color are put in situations in which they demonstrate basic integrity while white Americans are portrayed as oppressors or criminals. This technique is often used to make illegal immigrants sympathetic.
Generally, the Marxists screenplay portrays government as heavy-handed, corrupt, unfeeling, or downright evil. It is the individual rebel, whether Spartacus fighting against slavery and an oppressive Roman Empire or Robert Redford fighting against a corrupt and murderous CIA. The original James Bond movies did not succumb to this Marxist approach but subsequent spy genre films generally portrayed the government that spied as inherently evil. If the Marxist can break down respect for the existing government, he can have his revolution.
Whatever the factual pattern of the screenplay, the art of the screenwriter is to engage the viewers emotions and seduce him into a proper Marxist mindset.
I am Spartacus!
The guys up against the Romans must have had "O Krap!" moments when they saw what they were facing.
Some ancient writer said that the Roman Legion's drills were bloodless battles and their battles were bloody drills.
Constantly swinging an eight-pound sword is tough work. Here's how the Romans solved that problem. (:36)
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