Spartacus (1960)Not a great film, if you ask me, but its place in American cinematic history assures it a certain degree of esteem. This is the least Stanley Kubrick film (hired by Kirk Douglas after previous director Tony Mann was fired off the project) but a few camera shots remind us of the genius behind the camera. Kubrick did the film "to hit big time" as Peter Ustinov revealed in his funny and honest interview. The film provided him with the opportunity to make small movies that were big time. Kubrick, also called the cinematic master of cynicism, can be observed in the film's strong sexual subtext particularly the implied homosexual seduction scene between Laurence Olivier's character and Tony Curtis' singer slave who Olivier promptly decides should be his "body servant." The discussion that takes place between them includes God, moral values and the choice between oysters and snails (euphemisms for man and women, also considered aphrodisiacs) is shot behind an obvious sexual motif – a lace curtain – set against a playful sexy score. It's a deeply subversive scene made especially memorable in how Olivier brings out the complex and sinister nuances of his character. "Spartacus'" was a watershed film for its time because it was the first "secular" film that consciously eschewed Christian fist-thumping in favour of a more universal film although talk of Gods and prayer which eventually find their way into the character's life with measured appropriation. The end scene shares an obvious Jesus Christ metaphor. Bottom line – I am less enthusiastic about any film shot on this scale, this epic range because they always manage to isolate my love for them. "Spartacus" is a tremendous achievement in craft and technique. There’s no dispute on this point. But the personal aspects of the film, and the characters, appealed to me: The homoeroticism, the "capricious women" gawking at the negro Gladiator, Kirk Douglas' miserable Spartacus meeting Jean Simmon's character and touching her, watching her disrobe and saying "I've never had a woman" and Ustinov's comedic genius and sincere camaraderie with Laughton (he wrote most of the dialogues between them after Laughton rejected the original script). These resonate deeper and managed to chip away some of the steely austerity of a take-it-granted epic. ak
Rating: 
1/2 out of
