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Spartacus - Criterion Collection
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Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
EAN: 9781559409155
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 1559409150
Label: Criterion
Languages: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 StereoEnglish (Subtitled),
Manufacturer: Criterion
MPN: 1568
Number Of Items: 2
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: April 24, 2001
Running Time: 196 minutes
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: October 07, 1960
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Editorial Review:
Stanley Kubrick was only 31 years old when Kirk Douglas (star of Kubrick's classic Paths of Glory) recruited the young director to pilot this epic saga, in which the rebellious slave Spartacus (played by Douglas) leads a freedom revolt against the decadent Roman Empire. Kubrick would later disown the film because it was not a personal project--he was merely a director-for-hire--but Spartacus remains one of the best of Hollywood's grand historical epics. With an intelligent screenplay by then-blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (from a novel by Howard Fast), its message of moral integrity and courageous conviction is still quite powerful, and the all-star cast (including Charles Laughton in full toga) is full of entertaining surprises. Fully restored in 1991 to include scenes deleted from the original 1960 release, the full-length Spartacus is a grand-scale cinematic marvel, offering some of the most awesome battles ever filmed and a central performance by Douglas that's as sensitively emotional as it is intensely heroic. Jean Simmons plays the slave woman who becomes Spartacus's wife, and Peter Ustinov steals the show with his frequently hilarious, Oscar-winning performance as a slave trader who shamelessly curries favor with his Roman superiors. The restored version also includes a formerly deleted bathhouse scene in which Laurence Olivier plays a bisexual Roman senator (with restored dialogue dubbed by Anthony Hopkins) who gets hot and bothered over a slave servant played by Tony Curtis. These and other restored scenes expand the film to just over three hours in length. Despite some forgivable lulls, this is a rousing and substantial drama that grabs and holds your attention. Breaking tradition with sophisticated themes and a downbeat (yet eminently noble) conclusion, Spartacus is a thinking person's epic, rising above mere spectacle with a story as impressive as its widescreen action and Oscar-winning sets. --Jeff Shannon
Stanley Kubrick directed a cast of screen legends-including Kirk Douglas as the indomitable gladiator that led a Roman slave revolt-in the sweeping epic that defined a genre and ushered in a new Hollywood era. The assured acting, lush Technicolor cinematography, bold costumes and visceral fight sequences won Spartacus four Oscars©; the blend of politics and sexual suggestion scandalized audiences. Today Kubrick's controversial classic, the first film to openly defy Hollywood's blacklist, remains a landmark of cinematic artistry and history.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - SPARTACUS
A GREAT EPIC FILM. I WAS DISAPOINTED THAT IT DID NOT INCLUDE ANY OF THE EXTRAS THAT OFTEN GO WITH DVDS TODAY. NO COMINTARY TRACK, NO FEATURETTES, NO DOCUMENTARY WITH INTERVIEWS. BUT MOETLY, IT COUILD HAVE BENIFITED FROM A HISTORY DOCUMENTARY.
Rating: - The Slave Who Challenged Rome
Impressively mounted old-school sword & sandals spectacle featuring a command performance from Kirk Douglas. I found myself liking it but not loving it. More admiration and respect than active engagement. I've never been a huge Kirk Douglas fan and the movie suffers from a weaker second half. Spartacus' studio pic trappings owe more to Gone With the Wind & Ben Hur and less to today's director epics.
I'm not surprised Stanley Kubrick repudiated Spartacus. Kubrick was the very ... Read More
Rating:  - Bothersome Details
I used to love this movie, I saw it countless times when I was a child and then in adolescense and to me it was perfect. That is until I learned some history and then this movie started to show some faults:
First the characters: Crassus was portrayed as a handsome, cultured, athletic and cruel Roman general. In truthness he was a banker and money lender far from an educated and cultured aristocrat, he was more a pudgy fat misser with an interest in politics for economic gain reasons and ... Read More
Rating:  - Spartacus
It was OK. I reminded my old memory from the movie that I saw when I was very young.
Rating: - I am spartacus! No,I'm Spartacus! No, I'm Spartacus! I'm Spartacus!
That there appears to be enough historical information on a man who was nothing more than a slave of Rome near the beginning of the "Common Era", makes this dramatization a bit free with historical perspective. Stanley Kubrick did a fantastic job in bringing the "Man" to the big screen, though.
Kirk Douglas had his work cut out for him, playing Spartacus. You KNOW what he feels at any given moment, just by looking at his face! Here was a man who railed against the bonds he was born into. By ... Read More
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