Rating: PG13
Genre:
Epic
Release Date: 03/31/1998
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1/DDS
Run Time: 196 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios
Spartacus (
Kirk Douglas) is a rebellious slave purchased by Lentulus Batiatus (
Peter Ustinov), owner of a school for gladiators. For the entertainment of corrupt Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus (
Laurence Olivier), Batiatus' gladiators are to stage a fight to the death. On the night before the event, the enslaved trainees are "rewarded" with female companionship. Spartacus' companion for the evening is Varinia (
Jean Simmons), a slave from Brittania. When Spartacus later learns that Varinia has been sold to Crassus, he leads 78 fellow gladiators in revolt. Word of the rebellion spreads like wildfire, and soon Spartacus' army numbers in the hundreds. Escaping to join his cause is Varinia, who has fallen in love with Spartacus, and another of Crassus' house slaves, the sensitive Antoninus (
Tony Curtis). The revolt becomes the principal cog in the wheel of a political struggle between Crassus and a more temperate senator named Gracchus (
Charles Laughton).
Anthony Mann was the original director of
Spartacus, eventually replaced by
Stanley Kubrick, who'd previously guided Douglas through
Paths of Glory. The film received 4 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Ustinov. A crucial scene between Olivier and Curtis, removed from the 1967 reissue because of its subtle homosexual implications, was restored in 1991, with a newly recorded soundtrack featuring Curtis as his younger self and
Anthony Hopkins standing in for the deceased Olivier.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
;)
