#81 Spartacus (1960)

#81 Spartacus (1960)

Antoninus: I'm Spartacus!

Crassus: You can't grieve forever.
Varinia: I'm not grieving.
Crassus: What are you doing?
Varinia: I am remembering.
Crassus: And what do you remember when you think of Spartacus?
Varinia: I remember that he started out all alone.  And yet, on the day he died, thousands and thousands died in his place.

How do you untell something? You can't. You can't put words back in your mouth. What you can do, is spread false gossip... so people think that everything that's been said is untrue. Include that Stanley is having an affair. It's like the end of Spartacus. I have seen that movie half a dozen times and I still don't know who the real Spartacus is. And that is what makes that movie a classic whodunnit.  -Michael Scott, The Office

Tyler describes Spartacus as "Ben-Hur lite," and "Mostly an excuse for Kirk Douglas to take his shirt off."  Oh, my funny husband.



In actuality, I thought Spartacus was as good as Ben-Hur (I admit I didn't need to see Kirk Douglas in such skimpy outfits, but it was period accurate).  Douglas looks so much like his son (Michael Douglas) that it kind of freaked me out to watch him.  It's really uncanny.

But back to the movie: It's a historical movie about a slave, Spartacus (played by Kirk Douglas), who leads other slaves to rise up against their Roman masters and fight for freedom:

Spartacus: I made myself a promise, Crixus.  I swore that if I ever get out of here alive, I'd die before I saw two men fight to the death again.  Draba made that promise too.  He kept it...What's happening to us?  Have we learned nothing?  What are we becoming, Romans?  We hunt wine when we should be looking for bread.
Dionysus: When you got wine, you don't need bread!
Spartacus: You can't just be a gang of drunken raiders.
Dionysus: What else can we be?
Spartacus: Gladiators, an army of gladiators.  There's never been an army like that.  One gladiator is worth any two Roman soldiers that ever lived.



A really great story, diminished only by the horrible ending, where they lose an epic battle and are all crucified.

The thing is, they knew they were going to lose, and decided to take a chance and go down in a blaze of glory anyway: "We've traveled a long ways together.  We've fought many battles and won many victories.  Now, instead of taking ships to our homes across the sea, we must fight again once more.  Maybe there's no peace in this world, for us or for anyone else.  I don't know.  I do know that we're brothers, and as long as we live, we must remain true to ourselves."

After they have been defeated, he discusses it with Antoninus:

Antoninus: Could we have won, Spartacus?  Could we ever have won?
Spartacus: Just by fighting them, we won something.  When just one man says, "No, I won't" Rome begins to fear.  And we were tens of thousands who said no.  That was the wonder of it.  To have seen slaves lift their heads from the dust, to see them rise from their knees stand tall with a song on their lips, to hear them storm through the mountains shouting, to hear them sing along the plains.
Antoninus: And now they're dead.

Exactly, Antoninus.  Spartacus thought it was worth it, but I had a problem with that.  Spartacus may have felt their eventual defeat was inevitable, but I didn't.  The idea that they must fight a last noble battle that they will surely lose felt wrong.  Why not dispense with the whole "Yes, it's a tap, but we're going into it because we want to and not because they want us to" way of thinking?  Instead of allowing all they've built up to be destroyed, why not disperse, go underground, and continue the fight through guerrilla warfare?  Well, I guess the reason is because that's not what happened historically, but it's what I wanted to happen.



The love story is sweet.  Jean Simmons (who was in Desiree) is Varinia, another slave, and she and Spartacus are overjoyed to find each other again after they escape the bonds of slavery.

Tony Curtis plays Antoninus, a singer and academic who becomes like a son to Spartacus.  There is an amusing moment where Crassus, his master, is making a pass at him, and making a big speech about it, and when he turns around he finds Atoninus has fled like Speedy Gonzales, practically leaving a cloud of dust.  Crassus is played well by Laurence Olivier, and makes an interesting villain.

Overall, the movie was quite good.  A little long, and definitely sad, but good.

I would like to know what happened historically after the death of Spartacus, but I will have to do some reading to find out if his death inspired future uprisings.  Spartacus certainly thought it would, and tells Crassus after the death of Antoninus: "Here's your victory.  He'll come back.  He'll come back, and he'll be millions!"