A Glittering Cast: Spartacus

1960 Historical Drama
From Universal Pictures
Screenplay adapted by Dalton Trumbo
Novel by Howard Fast
Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Starring
Kirk Douglas
Laurence Olivier
Jean Simmons
Charles Laughton
Peter Ustinov
John Gavin
John Ireland
John Dall
Nina Foch
Herbert Lom
Woody Strode
Joanna Barnes
Charles McGraw
Tony Curtis

As producer-star of this ambitious epic, Kirk Douglas felt about it as Orson Welles had Citizen Kane, as John Wayne did this same year about The Alamo and as Warren Beatty would with Reds and Kevin Costner with Dances with Wolves.  True, those men also directed their pictures and while Douglas did not direct Spartacus, there is a glorious director story certainly worth telling... and doncha know we will.  The point is filming this movie consumed Douglas to the point that he could think of little else.

These big epic films have never been my cup of tea.  Most of them seem like pageantry simply for the sake of pageantry.  Substance seems secondary to the look.  I have always been for the look and the pageantry but not when that's practically all that is being offered.  This film has such a tender love story at its heart that perhaps some action-fan dudes were turned off to it.  That would be too bad because I think Spartacus offers more than the standard fare for its genre.

We are not going to pound out word after word from scene after scene for a spectacle that is three hours and 17 minutes long.  You know already, I assume, that Spartacus was a real man who led a violent slave revolt against the great military might of the Roman Empire.  But it is more than that as one observes a tale of freedom, loyalty, honor and of great love.  I like to call it the thinking man's epic of a loving man.

Here is the brief version.  In some years before the establishment of Christianity, Spartacus (Douglas) is discovered pounding rocks by Batiatus (Ustinov) who buys and puts him in his gladiator training school, run daily by the mean-spirited Marcellus (McGraw).  Spartacus befriends Crixus (Ireland) and falls deeply in love with Varinia (Simmons), also a slave.  Enslaved since he was 13, he is also a virgin and the many charms of Varinia, who loves him as well, gets him all stirred up.

Arriving at the gladiator school comes Crassus (Olivier), a power-hungry Roman general, his wife (Foch), her sister (Barnes) and the latter's husband (Dall), also a Roman soldier.  The women, in the mood for some light entertainment, decree a battle to the death is to be staged in the arena between two sets of challengers.  Spartacus is paired with Draba (Strode) in one of the film's most exciting scenes. 

Their skirmish results in total bedlam and the slaves revolt with Spartacus leading them out into the Italian countryside where he ultimately forms a huge army of supporters for whom he has great love.  Varinia, of course, joins him as does Antoninus (Curtis), a magician and as he says, a singer of songs.  

In the meantime, the Roman senate gets all twisted over the many successes Spartacus is achieving on the battlefield and by the power being taken by Crassus.  Particularly annoyed is his old foe
Gracchus (Laughton) who wants his new boy Julius Caesar (Gavin) to assume the reins of power.

After the film's huge final battle (a stunning visual), Spartacus is captured along with scores of others but Crassus does not know which one is Spartacus.  Out of this comes the film's most famous and oft-repeated line as hundreds of men claim I am Spartacus.  It still gets to me.

Varinia, who has had a son, is also captured by Crassus, who fancies her because she is the wife of a leader so beloved, something that has eluded him.  Crassus has Spartacus crucified and placed on the Appian Way with many others in the same frightful situation.  As Batiatus leads her out of further harm, she spots Spartacus on the cross and shows him his baby boy. 

How dare an epic show this much emotion.

It had been an emotional roller-coaster for some time.  Douglas played Spartacus because he was turned down to play Ben-Hur and he sought revenge.  Director William Wyler, who helped steer Douglas to good notices for The Detective Story, was set on Charlton Heston but offered Douglas the role of Messala.  It wasn't good enough.  Around the same time he came across Spartacus and its author Howard Fast and they made a fast deal.  This was no consolation prize.  This was going to be better than Ben-Hur, he said.  

Shopping the project around town proved more of an obstacle than they might have imagined.  There was Yul Brynner planning to do essentially the same story but called The Gladiators.  Though it didn't materialize, Douglas was still having a problem finding a studio.  When Universal came to the rescue, it came with one of its favorite directors, Anthony Mann, mostly known for his brilliant collaborations with Jimmy Stewart in a series of hard-boiled westerns.   

One week into production and Mann was gone.  It's always been assumed that Douglas, as the boss, orchestrated it but in his autobiography he says it was the studio who didn't like the rushes they'd been seeing.

Enter Stanley Kubrick.  Say what?  The future director of such tales as Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, among others, is directing a sand and sandal epic?  Well, hey, it's not difficult to spot what doesn't belong in this grouping... and yet, Spartacus wouldn't be quite the superior film it is without the deft hand of Kubrick.

Mr. Kubrick himself

That's not to say it was a joyous experience for Kubrick... it wasn't.  Kubrick became a director because autocrats sometimes have to find suitable work.  This was only the fifth of his 16 movies... and the last one where Kubrick didn't rein supreme.  He would never again take orders in the manner he did on this set.  He was itching to sit on the throne.  He knew he could do it better.  King Kirk as the title star and boss was always around.  Their altercations were legendary and they would never work together again.  Kubrick would forever distance himself from the film.

Then, of course, there's the tale of Douglas and the pesky writer.  Once upon a time he was known as Dalton Trumbo and for a long time now he has been known as Dalton Trumbo, but in the time that Spartacus was being fashioned into a screenplay, Trumbo went by another name.  He been using different names for different writing assignments.  He couldn't work in the movie industry any longer because he was one of the Unfriendly Ten, men who stood their ground on the right to free speech during the communist witch hunt, and paid dearly for it.

In a series of episodes that unfolded over giving Trumbo his proper due, Douglas allowed the writer's true name to be used.  Tempers could easily flare and it could cause Douglas and his film great harm but he went ahead.  His actions and those of Otto Preminger around the same time on his film, Exodus, which Trumbo also adapted, help bring an ugly Hollywood story to an end... although never for those who suffered through it.

Douglas was told by Universal that he would need, among other things, a big-name cast to attract audiences.  He assembled, as I see it, a truly glittering cast, acting royalty, much of it from Britain.  To sell each of them, Douglas says in his bio, he present the part to each actor as though his role was the largest next to Spartacus.

Douglas had worked the previous year with Olivier in The Devil's Disciple and knew he'd make an utterly believable pompous general.  Olivier wanted to direct and somehow suspected that he was wanted for the title role.  I preferred watching the Great One emote as a bad guy.  The few scenes that Olivier and Douglas share are rife with electricity.  Each was such a power figure on and off the screen.  They were probably never great friends but were respectful and competitive coworkers.

Douglas and Laughton seemed to tolerate one another.  I've always thought Laughton was an acquired taste in real life.  Some people loved him, loved his wisdom, his acting gems.  But he could really be insufferable and that's a trait that didn't greatly appeal to Douglas. 

Laughton without any doubt was pleased that most of his scenes were with Gavin, whose wooden acting was made to look all the worse with Laughton there.  Julius Caesar certainly never looked so good before or since.  Well, at least Laughton and I thought so.  Here's a look at Gavin at the baths... you decide.

One thing Laughton and Olivier had in common... they both had worked with Jean Simmons and adored her.  She was Ophelia opposite Olivier's Hamlet (1948) and as Young Bess she was Elizabeth I to Laughton's King Henry VIII (1953).  And while Simmons wanted the role, even contacted Douglas for it, he favored Ingrid Bergman, Jeanne Moreau or Elsa Martinelli.  All declined and an unknown was hired and fired.  Then Simmons got a callback.

It would wind up being a very good year for the actress.   She had just come off making Elmer Gantry, opposite Douglas' pal, Burt Lancaster, and given the best role she would ever have.  And adding the gentle, loving, loyal Varinia to her acting stable in the same year as Sister Sharon in Gantry is proof it didn't get any better.

Douglas didn't think there was anything in Spartacus for his pal Curtis.  They and their individual circles of friends often crossed paths and it came as no surprise that Curtis knew of the planned filming.  But when Douglas said there was no role, Curtis asked him to have one written.  They tossed around ideas and came up with the juggling/singing magician which all agreed was perfect.  Curtis is remarkably subdued here, the mugging is virtually non-existent.  The friendship between Spartacus and Antoninus is touching and their parting definitely sweet sorrow.

I applaud Douglas that in 1959-60 he had no issue with hiring three known gay actors (within the industry, that is)... Olivier, Laughton and Dall.  Olivier and Laughton detested one another... so much so that it's surprising both would sign for the same film.  Off set, no one would dare bring up Laughton's name around Olivier.  But if someone brought up Olivier's name around Laughton, one could not stop Laughton's badmouthing.  It worked out well that their characters were adversaries but Douglas had to step in a couple of times when Olivier and Laughton were in the same scene.

While watching this film is serious business, I always snicker when other characters say they have to hide all of Laughton's women.  By the way, I still smile watching a scene hearing Douglas says he is a virgin.

Olivier's character is bisexual... though he is married to Foch and thinking naughty about Simmons, there is his fancy for Curtis' Antoninus.  There is the famous line Olivier delivers to Curtis in the Roman bath while Curtis soaps down Olivier's back... my appetite includes both snails and oysters.  It was snipped out of all versions for years and years before being restored.  

And Woody Strode I'd always wished had bigger roles.  This one is small but important in that it is his action that sets this film on its adventurous best.  And in that arena he was a magnificent gladiator.   Magnificent, I tell you.

This is certainly among Douglas' 10 best performances.  And surely this is one of the kindest, most decent characters the actor ever portrayed.  Let me not forget that watching over three hours of a gentle and rather innocent Douglas reminds me of what a good actor he was.  I dare say few would call Kirk Douglas gentle or innocent.

Spartacus may be a fierce warrior but he is shown to have grace, integrity, loyalty and a devoted love to a woman who wants that and returns it.  I find their relationship to be one of my movie favorites.

So then, we'll sum up the golden presence of this cast as being a master class in movie acting.  Not one of those listed above falters in any way although I must say that Ustinov's best supporting actor win continues to surprise me.

The grandeur of Spartacus is obvious.  It is a beautiful film to take in... cinematography, sets, costumes and a rousing Alex North musical score and its cast of 10,500.  But there's one other thing.  I admire how Trumbo worked into his writing parallels to the Civil Rights movement and that he gave a nod to something he knew very well, the social tension of McCarthyism.  I was always a big Dalton Trumbo fan.   

In addition to Ustinov's Oscar win were wins for cinematography, costume design and art/set decoration.  Nominations, however, also went to editing and musical score.

Bravo to Kirk Douglas for pulling this all together.  You ARE Spartacus.

Here's the trailer:

Next posting:
The role Kirk Douglas
said has his best acting