Damn, I forgot about Spartacus. Best sword and sandal movie ever made.
And that scene where the black gladiator kills the roman senator instead of his supposed enemy is everything you ever need to know about class warfare.
Joanna
wrobert at uci.edu wrote:
>I'd have to go non-conventional with Spartacus. Perhaps its my love of
>communism and Kirk Douglas (or are they really the same thing....) robert
>wood
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I saw "Spartacus" as a teen. It was 1960. The narrative captured my imagination. Made me go out and look for Howard Fast's novel. I had no idea, not a clue as to what the politics of making a hero out of a guy who led a slave revolt was; I just knew that I didn't mind seeing Rome and its patricians seriously threatened. Olivier played Crassus quite well. His white leather boots were cool, but I wanted the SOB dead. Charles Laughton as Gracchus and Peter Ustinov as the slave buyer were great, as usual. Douglas was fine as Spartacus--he'd already wowed me in "Ulysses" 1954 (the "Odyssey" really, kind of Italian spaghet-west style). Jean Simmons as Vannia...I fell in love with her along with 'Spartacus'. But Tony Curtis kind of made the film hokey with his Brooklyn accent and John Ireland was so 50s Hollydrab. Anyway, I was so inspired after finishing Fast's novel that I sprung some of my meagre cash to cop the 33 and 1/3 LP of Alex North's score. It wasn't until I saw "Dr. Strangelove" 1964 that I began to see the importance of directors to movie making. Much, much later, I found out that Aram Khachaturian had composed a ballet called "Spartacus". That was in the 70s and of course, when I found out, I went to my local record store and plunked down $2.50--a cheap Soviet import. ;p Great music. Alas, I've never been able to see the ballet.
Mike B)
Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer." - W. C. Fields http://www.iww.org/culture/official/preamble.shtml
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