20 years since 'Gladiator' the movie

Daily Mail ^ | 14 May 2020 | TOM LEONARD IN NEW YORK

[RandFan]

20 years since Gladiator was released. I feel old!

Great movie (from memory). Here's an interesting article I came across:

Gladiator's savage off screen battles: Actors who loathed each other, a star who threatened to kill a producer, and a fatal drinking contest... 20 years after the Roman epic was released, TOM LEONARD examines what went on behind the scenes

[Vince Ferrer]

We mortals are but shadows and dust. Shadows and dust, Maximus!

All we are is dust in the wind, dude.

[madison10]

That long? Wow!

[Amberdawn]

Russell Crowe at his finest...SIGH....

[mylife]

CGI pisses me off.

[Redcitizen]

Joey do you like movies about gladiators?

[bluejean]

It was a terrific movie. It could only be made now with the lead as a black gay “man”.

[DoodleBob]

18 posts before we got to Airplane on this thread? We’re slipping.

[qam1]

yes Great Movie but yeah that 1st battle scene

Why were the Romans laying siege to a forest?

The Germans could have just flanked them from the side and won

[Tired of Taxes]

You mean, Gladiator stole that line from Bill & Ted (and Kansas)? :-(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvKbbHKpwnU

[dp0622]

True.

The Romans would have never fought in so sloppy a formation.

[jmacusa]

‘Ere mate, time for a punch up!’’

[Right_Wing_Madman]

A good movie (Russell Crowe was terrific!), but a documentary of the making of this movie might be better than the movie itself. I thought the computerized special effects were clumsy and disorientating and it would have so much better if they had used old-style physical Hollywood effects. And of course there are the historical inaccuracies:

- Many here have already mentioned that the Roman legions used the wrong weapons and tactics in the opening battle scene.
- Commodus never killed his father to gain the throne. While Marcus Aurelius, Rome's last great emperor, had reservations about his worthless son, he never seriously considered anyone else has his successor.
- Marcus Aurelius never wanted to return to the Roman Republic. That didn't happen!
- And of course, Commodus was actually strangled to death in his bathtub by Narcissus, his wrestling partner (and lover?).

[Rockingham]

The close order "turtle" formation was like the Greek phalanx and was not the typical Roman formation in battles in open terrain because it was vulnerable to being outflanked, exhausted, cut apart by calvary attacks, and bombarded by catapults.

Rome's greatest military innovation was the flexible legionary formation and its associated tactics, training, weapons, and supply system. A Roman legion commonly started a battle with their infantry several feet apart and able to shelter behind large shields from arrows and sling stones and bullets. At decisive moments, the legion and its constituent centuries could change direction, form a solid line or tight formation, or change weapons from spear to short sword.

The initial battle scene in Gladiator was fairly accurate as to a fight against a more numerous but less organized adversary. Invading enemy territory, the Romans would let their adversary gather while improvising a strong line of defense, receive an attack, and then go on the offensive and rout their enemy. Like several other of Rome's worst military defeats, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in Germany involved getting ambushed while strung out on the march and unable to form a strong defensive position.

[dp0622]

Hey thanks man. Now I can enjoy a more when I watch it :-)

[PIF]

behind large shields from arrows and sling stones and bullets

```
bullets? Did they have guns too? :)

[sgt_lau]

Strength and honor!!!

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

“Maximus is called “The Spaniard”. The term “Spaniard” comes from a 14th Century Old French word, but this obviously falls under translation convention. In Latin, Maximus would have been called “Hispanus”, the word from where “Spanish”, “Spaniard” and “Hispanic” all come from.”

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/goofs

[Jimmy Valentine]

You are thinking of the Teutoberg Forest. The Romans were ambushed on the march backs against a lake and badly handled.
The turtle formation is the “Testudo” essentially a defensive formation.
As to their fighting prowess the Roman soldier conquered the known world.

[dp0622]

Prowess and strategy are two different words.

Their individual prowess against a gladiator or a Germanic fighter (who were WELL KNOWN to be better individual warriors) was not so hot

[Jimmy Valentine]

History is not on your side