Spartacus (film)

Spartacus
Theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by	Stanley Kubrick Anthony Mann (uncredited)
Produced by	Edward Lewis Kirk Douglas (executive)
Screenplay by	Dalton Trumbo
Based on	Spartacus by Howard Fast
Narrated by	Vic Perrin
Starring	Kirk Douglas Laurence Olivier Peter Ustinov John Gavin Jean Simmons Charles Laughton Tony Curtis
Music by	Alex North
Cinematography	Russell Metty
Editing by	Robert Lawrence
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	October 7, 1960 (1960-10-07)
Running time	184 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$12 million
Box office	$60,000,000

Original 1960 theatrical release poster

Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast. The life story of the historical figure Spartacus and the events of the Third Servile War were adapted by Dalton Trumbo as a screenplay.

The film stars Kirk Douglas as rebellious slave Spartacus and Laurence Olivier as his foe, the Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus. Co-starring are Peter Ustinov (who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as slave trader Lentulus Batiatus), John Gavin (as Julius Caesar), Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, John Ireland, Herbert Lom, Woody Strode, Tony Curtis, John Dall and Charles McGraw. The film won four Oscars in all.

Anthony Mann, the film's original director, was replaced by Douglas with Kubrick after the first week of shooting.

Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted at the time as one of the Hollywood Ten. Kirk Douglas publicly announced that Trumbo was the screenwriter of Spartacus, and President-elect John F. Kennedy crossed picket lines to see the movie, helping to end blacklisting.

The film became the biggest moneymaker in Universal Studios' history, an honor it held for a decade until it was surpassed by Airport (1970).

Plot

Slaves work in the Roman province of Libya. Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), a burly Thracian, comes to the aid of an old man who has fallen down. A Roman soldier whips Spartacus and tells him to get back to work, only to be attacked and bitten on the ankle. For this, Spartacus is tied up and sentenced to death by starvation.

Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov), a lanista (an impresario of gladiatorial games), arrives looking for recruits for his gladiatorial establishment. Batiatus purchases Spartacus and several others, then takes them to the gladiators' training camp at Capua. There, the slaves are trained by Marcellus (Charles McGraw). Spartacus befriends another gladiator, Crixus (John Ireland).

Crassus (Laurence Olivier) arrives at the camp, with some companions, wishing to watch two pairs of gladiators fight to the death. Spartacus is selected, along with Crixus, an Ethiopian named Draba (Woody Strode), and another gladiator named Galino. Crixus slays Galino, then Spartacus duels Draba and is defeated. Draba, however, refuses to kill him, instead throwing his trident into the spectators' box and leaping to attack the Romans. A guard throws a spear at Draba, wounding him, and Crassus quickly dispatches the slave.

As Crassus leaves, he purchases the pretty slave woman, Varinia (Jean Simmons). Spartacus and Varinia have fallen in love, and in frustration at his loss and the overseer's callous treatment, Spartacus begins an uprising. The gladiators eventually take Capua and all the surrounding districts. Many local slaves flock to the insurgents.

In the Senate of Rome, plebeian senator Gaius Sempronius Gracchus (Charles Laughton) cunningly manipulates Crassus's protégé and friend Marcus Glabrus (John Dall) into taking six cohorts of the Garrison of Rome out to crush the revolt, leaving the way open for Gracchus' ally, Julius Caesar (John Gavin), to take command of the garrison during Glabrus' absence. Crassus receives new slaves, as a gift from the governor of Sicily. Among them is Antoninus (Tony Curtis), a former children's tutor.

Spartacus outlines his plan to escape by sea from the port of Brundusium, aboard the ships of the Cilician pirates, whom he plans to pay from the slaves' plunder. He is reunited with Varinia, who had escaped from Batiatus, only to end up the property of yet another master. Antoninus escapes from Crassus, in order to join the rebel army. He identifies himself as a poet and magician, and later entertains the commanders, but is determined to be a soldier.

A defeated Glabrus returns to Rome, to face a senate hearing. Crassus banishes Glabrus from Rome for his incompetence. Rome keeps sending armies to put down the rebellion, but Spartacus defeats them all. Crassus resigns from the Senate, supposedly to share the disgrace of his exiled friend Glabrus; however, Gracchus suspects that he is merely waiting for the situation to become so desperate that the senators will make him dictator, thus neutralizing Gracchus's rival plebeian party. Gracchus manoeuvres to help the slaves to escape, in order to deny Crassus his opportunity. A disgusted Caesar betrays Gracchus, however, and Crassus reaches deep into his own pockets to defeat the plan.

When the former slaves reach the coast, they discover that the Cilicians have been bought off by Crassus. Spartacus finds himself trapped between three Roman armies. The Roman deployment has manoeuvered Spartacus into a position where he is trapped between two Roman armies, and his only choice is to fight his way through to Rome itself. Meanwhile, the Senate gives Crassus the sweeping powers he desires. In parallel scenes, Spartacus harangues the slaves, while Crassus warns against the elimination of patrician privileges. Batiatus is hired by Crassus to identify Spartacus and is, in turn, promised the sale of the survivors of Spartacus's army, after its defeat.

The climactic battle begins, with Spartacus leading his troops against Crassus' legions. The slaves initially enjoy some success, but they are soon overwhelmed by the arrival of the armies of Lucullus and Pompey. The rebel army is defeated and Spartacus and Antoninus are captured. Crassus promises the captives that they will not be punished if they identify Spartacus. Spartacus and Antoninus stand up to be identified but, before Spartacus can speak, Antoninus shouts "I'm Spartacus!". One by one, each surviving slave shouts out "I'm Spartacus!". The prisoners are marched along the Appian Way, to be crucified. Crassus saves Antoninus and Spartacus for last. Crassus orders Spartacus and Antoninus to duel to the death, furious at Spartacus' refusal to confirm his identity. Crassus declares that the winner will be crucified. Each man tries to kill the other, to spare his companion death on the cross. After killing Antoninus, Spartacus is informed that Varinia and her baby son are slaves of Crassus. Crassus admits to Caesar that he fears Spartacus even more than he fears Caesar himself. Spartacus is crucified near the walls of Rome.

Varinia and her son are taken to Crassus' home, where he unsuccessfully tries to woo her. The disgraced Gracchus hires Batiatus to steal Varinia from Crassus, then grants freedom for her and her son. After they leave, Gracchus examines two daggers, looks at one and says "Hmm... prettier". Grabbing one dagger and putting down the other, he goes into the adjoining room, closes the curtains behind him, and commits suicide.

Batiatus and Varinia leave for Gaul, via the Appian Way, and see Spartacus hanging on a cross by the road, not quite dead. Varinia shows Spartacus their newborn son, vowing that he will grow up a free man, and promises to tell her son who his father was, and what he dreamed of. She bids Spartacus a final farewell and gets back onto the wagon and rides on.

Cast

• Kirk Douglas as Spartacus, a Thracian slave working in Libya, who is purchased by the lanista Lentulus Batiatus, and trained as a gladiator. He later leads the revolt at the gladiatorial school, which spreads throughout the countryside.
• Laurence Olivier as Crassus, a patrician with an obsessive love of the city of Rome and its old tradition of patrician rule.
• Jean Simmons as Varinia, a slave girl from Britannia working for Batiatus, who falls in love with Spartacus and eventually becomes his loving wife, and gives birth to a son.
• Charles Laughton as Gracchus, a dedicated Roman senator who is Crassus' only real opposition. He is a Republican and a crooked pragmatist whose lack of scruples in his political dealings is his ultimate downfall. But he also has sympathy for Varinia's plight, and he helps her and her newborn child escape Crassus. Knowing that he will be killed for this, he chooses to commit suicide.
• Peter Ustinov as Lentulus Batiatus, a shrewd, manipulative slave dealer, who purchases Spartacus, and ends up paying dearly for it. He blames Crassus for Spartacus' rebellion and for his poverty; therefore, he seeks revenge against Crassus and eventually settles that account with a little help from the Roman senator Gracchus. Peter Ustinov won his first Oscar for his role in this film; his performance was the only one to win an Oscar in a film directed by Kubrick.
• John Gavin as Julius Caesar, the young ambitious protégé of Gracchus, who gains command of the Garrison of Rome during the chaos of the Spartacus rebellion.
• Nina Foch as Helena Glabrus, a shrewd, manipulative sister of Marcus Publius Glabrus, who insists that Batiatus entertain them with two pairs of gladiators fighting to the death.
• John Ireland as Crixus, one of Spartacus' most loyal lieutenants, who serves him until he is slain in the final battle.
• Herbert Lom as Tigranes Levantus, a Cilician pirate who agrees to take the slaves out of Italy. When Spartacus and his forces reach Brundisium, Levantus is forced to betray them, and takes no pride in it.
• John Dall as Marcus Publius Glabrus, a naïve protégé of Crassus, who unwittingly plays into the hands of Gracchus.
• Charles McGraw as Marcellus, the gruff gladiator trainer for Lentulus Batiatus. He dislikes Spartacus immediately and singles him out for extra training and punishment. He is killed by Spartacus during the revolt.
• Tony Curtis as Antoninus, a young Sicilian slave who leaves his master, Crassus, and joins Spartacus. At the conclusion of the movie, Spartacus and Antoninus are forced to fight to the death in a gladiatorial match, the survivor to be crucified.
• Woody Strode as Draba, an Ethiopian being trained at the gladiatorial school. Initially, Draba refuses to tell Spartacus his name, as he knows someday he might be matched with him in the ring, and each would be obliged to kill the other.

Production

The development of Spartacus was partly instigated by Kirk Douglas's failure to win the title role in William Wyler's Ben-Hur. Douglas had worked with Wyler before on Detective Story, and was disappointed when Wyler chose Charlton Heston instead. Shortly after, Edward (Eddie) Lewis, a vice-president in Douglas's production company, Bryna (named after Douglas's mother), had Douglas read Howard Fast's novel, Spartacus, which had a related theme—an individual who challenges the might of the Roman Empire—and Douglas was impressed enough to purchase an option on the book from Fast with his own financing. Universal Studios eventually agreed to finance the film after Douglas persuaded Olivier, Laughton and Ustinov to act in it. Lewis became the producer of the film, with Douglas taking executive producer credit. Lewis went on to produce several more films for Douglas.

Screenplay development

Originally, Howard Fast was hired to adapt his own novel as a screenplay, but he had difficulty working in the format. He was replaced by Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted as one of the Hollywood Ten. He used the pseudonym "Sam Jackson".

Kirk Douglas insisted that Trumbo be given screen credit for his work, which helped to break the blacklist. Trumbo had been jailed for contempt of Congress in 1950, after which he had been surviving by writing screenplays under assumed names. Douglas' intervention on his behalf was praised as an act of courage.

In his autobiography, Douglas states that this decision was motivated by a meeting that he, Edward Lewis and Kubrick had regarding whose name/s to put against the screenplay in the movie credits, given Trumbo's shaky position with Hollywood executives. One idea was to credit Lewis as co-writer or sole writer, but Lewis vetoed both suggestions. Kubrick then suggested that his own name be used. Douglas and Lewis found Kubrick's eagerness to take credit for Trumbo's work revolting, and the next day, Douglas called the gate at Universal saying, "I'd like to leave a pass for Dalton Trumbo." Douglas writes, "For the first time in ten years, [Trumbo] walked on to a studio lot. He said, 'Thanks, Kirk, for giving me back my name.'"

The filming was plagued by the conflicting visions of Kubrick and Trumbo. Kubrick complained that the character of Spartacus had no faults or quirks, and he later distanced himself from the film. Despite the on-set troubles, Spartacus's critical and commercial success established Kubrick as a major director.

Filming

Stanley Kubrick looking through camera with cinematographer Russell Metty (in hat) standing behind.

After David Lean turned down an offer to direct, Spartacus was to be directed by veteran Anthony Mann, then best known for his Westerns such as Winchester '73 and The Naked Spur. Douglas fired Mann at the end of the first week of shooting, in which the opening sequence in the quarry had been filmed. "He seemed scared of the scope of the picture," wrote Douglas in his autobiography; yet a year later Mann would embark on another epic of similar size, El Cid. The dismissal (or resignation) of Mann is mysterious since the opening sequences, filmed at Death Valley, Nevada, set the style for the rest of the movie.

Thirty-year-old Stanley Kubrick was hired to take over. He had already directed four productions (including Paths of Glory, also starring Douglas), but only two had been feature-length films. Spartacus was a bigger project by far, with a budget of $12 million and a cast of 10,500, a daunting project for such a young director (although his contract did not give him complete control over the filming). Cinematographer Russell Metty complained about Kubrick's unusually precise and detailed instructions for the film's camerawork. But Metty remained on the production and later won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color for the film.

Spartacus was filmed using the 35 mm Technirama format and then blown up to 70 mm film. This was a change for Kubrick, who preferred using square-format ratios. Kubrick found working outdoors or in real locations to be distracting and thus preferred to film in the studio. He believed the actors would benefit more from working on a sound stage, where they could fully concentrate. To create the illusion of the large crowds that play such an essential role in the film, Kubrick's crew used three-channel sound equipment to record 76,000 spectators at a Michigan State – Notre Dame college football game shouting "Hail, Crassus!" and "I'm Spartacus!"

The intimate scenes were filmed in Hollywood, but Kubrick insisted that all battle scenes be filmed on a vast plain outside Madrid. Eight thousand trained soldiers from the Spanish infantry were used to double as the Roman army. Kubrick directed the armies from the top of specially constructed towers. However, he eventually had to cut all but one of the gory battle scenes, due to negative audience reactions at preview screenings.

Music

The original score for Spartacus was composed and conducted by six-time Academy Award nominee Alex North. It was nominated by the American Film Institute for their list of greatest film scores. It is a textbook example of how modernist compositional styles can be adapted to the Hollywood leitmotif technique. North's score is epic, as befits the scale of the film. After extensive research of music of that period, North gathered a collection of antique instruments that, while not authentically Roman, provided a strong dramatic effect. These instruments included a sarrusophone, Israeli recorder, Chinese oboe, lute, mandolin, Yugoslav flute, kythara, dulcimer, and bagpipes. North's prize instrument was the ondioline, similar to an earlier version of the electronic synthesizer, which had never been used in film before. Much of the music is written without a tonal center, or flirts with tonality in ways that most film composers would not risk. One theme is used to represent both slavery and freedom, but is given different values in different scenes, so that it sounds like different themes. The love theme for Spartacus and Varinia is the most accessible theme in the film, and there is a harsh trumpet figure for Crassus.

The soundtrack album runs less than forty-five minutes and is not very representative of the score. There were plans to re-record a significant amount of the music with North's friend and fellow film composer Jerry Goldsmith, but the project kept getting delayed. Goldsmith died in 2004. Numerous bootleg recordings have been made, but none has good sound quality.

In 2010 the soundtrack was re-released as part of a set, featuring 6 CDs, 1 DVD, and a 168-page booklet. This is a limited edition of 5,000 copies.

Political Commentary, Christianity, and Reception

The film parallels 1950s American history with the McCarthy Hearings as well as the civil rights movement. The McCarthy Hearings, which demanded witnesses to "name names" of supposed communist sympathizers, closely resembles the final scene when the slaves, asked by Crassus to give up their leader by pointing him out from the multitude, each stand up to proclaim, "I am Spartacus". Howard Fast, who wrote the book on which the film was based, "was jailed for his refusal to testify, and wrote the novel Spartacus while in prison.” The comment of how slavery was a central part of American history is pointed to in the beginning in the scenes featuring Draba and Spartacus. Draba, who denies the friendship of Spartacus claiming "gladiators can have no friends", sacrifices himself by attacking Crassus rather than kill Spartacus. This scene points to the fact that Americans are indebted to the suffering of African Americans who played a major role in building the country. The fight to end segregation and to promote the equality of African Americans is seen in the mixing of races within the gladiator school as well as in the army of Spartacus where all fight for freedom. Another instance of the film's allusions to the political climate of the United States is hinted to in the beginning where Rome is described as a republic "that lay fatally stricken with a disease called human slavery," and describing Spartacus as a "proud, rebellious son dreaming of the death of slavery, 2000 years before it finally would die"; thus the ethical and political vision of the film is first introduced as a foreground for the ensuing action.

The voice-over at the beginning of the film also depicts Rome as destined to fail by the inevitable rise of Christianity and the "enlightenment" it would bring: "In the last century before the birth of the new faith called Christianity which was destined to overthrow the pagan tyranny of Rome and bring about a new society, the Roman Republic stood at the very centre of the civilised world . . . Even at the zenith of her pride and power, the Republic lay fatally stricken with the disease called human slavery. The age of the dictator was at hand, waiting in the shadows for the event to bring forth. In that same century, in the conquered Greek province of Thrace, an illiterate slave woman added to her master's wealth by giving birth to a son whom she names Spartacus. A proud rebellious son, who was sold to living death in the mines of Libya, before his thirteenth birthday. There under whip and chain and sun he lived out his youth and his young manhood, dreaming the death of slavery 2000 years before it finally would die."

Thus Rome is portrayed as the oppressor suffering from its own excesses, where the prospect of Christian salvation is offered as the means to end Roman oppression and slavery.

The film's release occasioned both applause from the mainstream media and protests from anti-communist groups such as the Legion of Decency who picketed theaters showcasing the film. To affirm the film's "legitimacy as an expression of national aspirations wasn’t stilled until the newly elected John F. Kennedy crossed a picket line set up by anti-communist organizers to attend the film”.

Re-releases and restoration

The film was re-released in 1967 (in a version 23 minutes shorter than the original release), and again in 1991 with the same 23 minutes restored by Robert A. Harris, plus an additional 14 minutes that had been cut from the film before its original release. This addition includes several violent battle sequences. It also has a bath scene in which the Roman patrician and general Crassus (Olivier) attempts to seduce his slave Antoninus (Curtis), speaking about the analogy of "eating oysters" and "eating snails" to express his opinion that sexual preference is a matter of taste rather than morality.

When the film was restored (two years after Olivier's death), the original dialogue recording of this scene was missing; it had to be re-dubbed. Tony Curtis, by then 66, was able to re-record his part, but Crassus' voice was an impersonation of Olivier by the actor Anthony Hopkins. A talented mimic, he had been a protege of Olivier during his days as the National Theatre's Artistic Director and knew his voice well.

Some four minutes of the film are lost, due to Universal's mishandling of its film prints in the 1970s. These scenes relate to the character of Gracchus (Laughton), including a scene where he commits suicide. The audio tracks of these scenes have survived. They are included on the Criterion Collection DVD, alongside production stills of some of the lost footage.

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

Award	Winner(s)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Peter Ustinov
Best Art Direction–Set Decoration, Color	Alexander Golitzen Eric Orbom Russell A. Gausman Julia Heron
Best Cinematography, Color	Russell Metty
Best Costume Design, Color	Arlington Valles Bill Thomas
Nominations
Best Film Editing	Robert Lawrence
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture	Alex North

Spartacus has been on 5 different AFI 100 Years... lists including #62 for thrills, #22 for heroes, #44 for cheers and #81 for overall movies.

In June 2008, AFI revealed its "10 Top 10"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Spartacus was acknowledged as the fifth best film in the epic genre.

American Film Institute lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #62
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Spartacus – #22 Hero
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • "I'm Spartacus! I'm Spartacus!" – Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #81
• AFI's 10 Top 10 – #5 Epic film

Critical reception

The movie received mixed reviews when first released, but over time its reputation has gained in stature. Critics such as Roger Ebert have argued that the film has flaws, though his review is generally positive otherwise. When released, the movie was attacked by both the American Legion and the Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper because of its connection with Trumbo. Hopper viciously stated, "The story was sold to Universal from a book written by a commie and the screen script was written by a commie, so don't go to see it."

Bosley Crowther called it a "spotty, uneven drama." It has a 96% (fresh) rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

"I'm Spartacus!"

In the climactic scene, recaptured slaves are asked to identify Spartacus in exchange for leniency; instead, each slave proclaims himself to be Spartacus, thus sharing his fate. The documentary Trumbo suggests that this scene was meant to dramatize the solidarity of those accused of being Communist sympathizers during the McCarthy Era who refused to implicate others, and thus were blacklisted.

Regarding this scene, an in-joke is used in Kubrick's next film, Lolita (1962), where Humbert Humbert asks Clare Quilty, "Are you Quilty?" to which he replies, "No, I'm Spartacus. Have you come to free the slaves or something?"

Many subsequent films, television shows and advertisements have referenced or parodied this iconic scene. One of the most notable is the 1979 film Monty Python's Life of Brian, which reverses the situation by depicting an entire group undergoing crucifixion all claiming to be Brian, who it has just been announced is eligible for release ("I'm Brian"; "No, I'm Brian"; "I'm Brian and so's my wife.") Further examples have been documented in David Hughes' The Complete Kubrick and Jon Solomon's The Ancient World in Cinema.

In a 2005 advertisement for Pepsi, the actual clip of the "I'm Spartacus" scene is incorporated into the commercial along with new footage of a Roman soldier trying to find the owner of a lunch, which includes a can of the soft drink.

At the beginning of The Wall Live shows, the sounds of the slaves each claiming to be Spartacus from the film are heard.

See also

• 1st century BC
• List of films set in ancient Rome
• List of historical drama films

External links

• Spartacus at the Internet Movie Database
• Spartacus at AllRovi
• Spartacus at Rotten Tomatoes
• Criterion Collection essay by Stephen Farber
• Rare, Never-Seen: 'Spartacus' at 50 at LIFE