Live Life Team
Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring Cast: Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton
Originally released in 1960, one of the most iconic of the older classic Hollywood epics is the story of Spartacus (Douglas), who was born and raised a slave. After being trained as a gladiator, he turns on his masters and leads the other slaves in a rebellion. Lead by Spartacus, the rebels travel to the south of Italy, where they plan to cross the sea to return to their homelands. Two Roman statesmen, Gracchus (Laughton) and Crassus (Oliver), attempt to manipulate the rebels for their own political gains.
Spartacus has been seen as possibly the first “intellectual epic” emanating from Hollywood, whereby the ideas were as important as the action sequences. Spartacus does indeed deliver on both the fronts of thought and spectacle in its focus on the political connotations of the slave trade and the ambitions and dreams of freedom of the rebels.
With its star studded cast and clever screen play written by Dalton Trumbo, Spartacus quickly became an international hit and won an impressive 5 Academy Awards in 1961. The movie’s star still shines brightly and keeps it as a much loved and referenced film. It could be said that today certain elements of the film can appear dated but there can be little doubt that Spartacus remains a stirring, extremely self-assured slice of epic cinematography. On this basis it is a legendary film and is likely to keep the viewer revisiting it time and again.
