I Watch Films: Spartacus (1960)

 

Spartacus (1960)

It’s the first century BC and the Roman Republic is at it’s height, which is also it’s depths. Work is done by slaves; in the mines one slave, Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) attacks his overseer and is chained up to starve to death. Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) a lanista, gladiator manager, is passing and decides to take Spartacus on whim.

Spartacus joins the training school, does well, forms a relationship with Varinia (Jean Simmons) but refuses to have sex when he discovers the overseers watching. They don’t break his pride – a gladiator needs something to keep them fighting, but they do humiliate him in various ways. Crassus (real, Lawrence Olivier) comes to visit, asks for a private show for his friends. (Amusingly Batiatus has a bust of Crassus’s political opponent Gracchus (Charles Laughton), as he is a supporter). Spartacus is disarmed by Draba (Woody Strode), a trident-armed Ethiopian; he refuses to kill Spartacus and instead tries to kill Crassus. Crassus kills him and leaves, having arranged to buy Varinia.

Unhappy at these events there’s a riot the next day and the gladiators seize control of the compound, Batiatus fleeing for Rome. The slaves elect Spartacus leader and he takes them on raids across the country, stealing supplies and freeing slaves, forming a base on Mount Vesuvius and training an army. Varinia escapes and joins them, so does Antoninus (Tony Curtis) an educated ex-slave who escaped Crassus. They contact the Cilicians whose pirate fleet can take them out of Italy to freedom, offering to pay them with plunder.

Some politics occur in Rome. Gracchus attempts to prevent military power being put into Crassus’s hands, instead promoting his protégé Julius Caesar, at the same time bribing the Cilicians to remove the slave army and the threat. Disgusted by this Caesar defects to Crassus who bribes the Cilicians to leave the slaves, and is rewarded by being given full military power.

Abandoned by the pirates, and caught between three Roman armies Spartacus fights one more battle, but the Roman reinforcements arrive and they are cut to pieces. Some survivors are captured; Crassus offers them their lives as slaves if they will identify Spartacus alive or dead, but they refuse in the famous scene in which the whole group declare “I’m Spartacus.” Events then grind to a bittersweet ending, Crassus winning everything except love and loyalty.

How does this film stand up, 65 years on? Pretty well to be frank. The romance scenes between Spartacus and Varinia, on slightly unconvincing studio sets, seem a little tired. I’m unimpressed with the poem or Tony Curtis’s recitation of it, and this is something that supposedly inspires the slaves for the rest of the film. The fights and battle scenes, and the politics and plotting remain excellent.

Watch This: A classic historical epic, with good performances, some solid themes and fantastic action
Don’t Watch This: Fairly poor history in the service of some dubiously violent tragedy
I Also Saw: A BBC documentary Talking Pictures, which used various interviews with people involved in the film; especially interesting was Peter Ustinov’s description of the competing acting styles of Olivier and Laughton