Spartacus (1960) ***1/2
Executive producer/star Kirk Douglas famously fired director Anthony Mann from Spartacus (1960) just a week after shooting began. Why he thought replacement Stanley Kubrick would be a good match for this type of movie spectacle is beyond me (though I completely understand why Kubrick took the gig). Perhaps it's because from working with him on Paths Of Glory three years earlier he saw that Kubrick had vision and scope but perhaps too he didn't realize that the man was fiercely independent (to the extent that a director can be) and staunch in his stance of overseeing every aspect of and having final cut on his films.
Originally intended to be written under a pseudonym by Dalton Trumbo (and later publicly announced by Douglas, helping to end the blacklist), Spartacus tells the story of the titular gladiator/leader's slave revolt which led to the Third Servile War. Featuring a star-studded cast, a grand score by Alex North, and many memorable moments, Spartacus is nonetheless a decidedly sanitized and Hollywoodized version (no doubt to meet the Production Code) of what undoubtedly must have been a bloody, somber era. The filmmaking is still very impressive and there's plenty of big, rousing entertainment and strong performances (with Peter Ustinov stealing every scene he's in). This was the first time that Kubrick shot in widescreen and he took advantage of gigantic landscapes to great effect.
But any time I see someone mention that Spartacus bears Kubrick's stamp, it confounds me because I just don't see it and I never have. To be sure, Spartacus is an incredible technical achievement and an important film in motion picture history (and the new 4K UHD looks and sounds fantastic), but I've always felt that what was delivered is an epic that could have been made by a handful of talented directors and would have turned out roughly the same. Kubrick later distanced himself from the film and he never made one like it again—that says something. It's the only film that he didn't have complete artistic control of and, while it's still a very good film, it is one of his weakest.
You can find my Stanley Kubrick Feature Films Ranked list here.
Originally intended to be written under a pseudonym by Dalton Trumbo (and later publicly announced by Douglas, helping to end the blacklist), Spartacus tells the story of the titular gladiator/leader's slave revolt which led to the Third Servile War. Featuring a star-studded cast, a grand score by Alex North, and many memorable moments, Spartacus is nonetheless a decidedly sanitized and Hollywoodized version (no doubt to meet the Production Code) of what undoubtedly must have been a bloody, somber era. The filmmaking is still very impressive and there's plenty of big, rousing entertainment and strong performances (with Peter Ustinov stealing every scene he's in). This was the first time that Kubrick shot in widescreen and he took advantage of gigantic landscapes to great effect.
But any time I see someone mention that Spartacus bears Kubrick's stamp, it confounds me because I just don't see it and I never have. To be sure, Spartacus is an incredible technical achievement and an important film in motion picture history (and the new 4K UHD looks and sounds fantastic), but I've always felt that what was delivered is an epic that could have been made by a handful of talented directors and would have turned out roughly the same. Kubrick later distanced himself from the film and he never made one like it again—that says something. It's the only film that he didn't have complete artistic control of and, while it's still a very good film, it is one of his weakest.
You can find my Stanley Kubrick Feature Films Ranked list here.
Comments
Post a Comment