Spartacus (1960)
Before you sit down to watch Attila, I am compelled
to recommend this far more artistic and epic depiction of one
man's revolt against the tyranny of Rome. There's little I can
add to the unanimous and well deserved chorus of approval which
has greeted Spartacus since its release over 40 years ago. Suffice
to say, if anyone has not yet seen this production, I urge them
to screen the DVD from Universal Home Video, which presents the
film in its full, wide-screen splendor.
The story follows a gladiator in training, Spartacus (Kirk Douglas)
who leads his fellow gladiators in a revolt against their master.
Raiding the surrounding landscape, Spartacus frees all the slaves
and trains them in his gladiatorial expertise. A gladiator is
twice as deadly as a Roman soldier, and Spartacus soon has several
legions' worth, inspiring terror in the heart of Rome. Laurence
Olivier plays Crassus, the creepy, cold-blooded Roman general
who sees himself as the patriarch of Rome and uses the national
emergency of the slave revolt to install himself as dictator.
Written for the screen by formerly blacklisted writer Dalton
Trumbo, the screenplay is literate, deep, and predictably interprets
Rome as a regime where law and order is purchased at the cost
of its citizens' rights. Yet Trumbo's work surprisingly escapes
heavy-handedness. The scale of the film is mammoth, yet it never
crushes its characters, thanks to the brilliance and steady hand
of then-neophyte director Stanley Kubrick (who would prove his
genius many times over in subsequent films). Admittedly, Kirk
Douglas' and Tony Curtis' New York accents sound out of place
among the English stage diction of Olivier and Jean Simmons,
but all of the performances are so energetic and compelling,
the clashing accents are rarely noticeable. Add to that visceral
gladiator duels and a sprawling battle scene (which served as
the model for Braveheart), and the result is one of the best
epics of all time. The DVD release ciontains little in the way
of supplements, though the theatrical trailers are included.
Paul Andrew MacLean
© 2001 
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