In SPARTACUS, a lot of movie blood is spilled in the pursuit to overthrow the decadent Roman Empire, with pothole-chinned Kirk Douglas in his bare-chested prime as the slave-turned-leader leading the charge. I was never much a fan of Hollywood "throngs of thousands" type movies - including Ben Hur - and Douglas is so Douglas that I have a hard time seeing Spartacus. But there's no resisting this rousing film, with its great story and so many wonderful actors filling togas, including Olivier, Ustinov, Laughton, Strode, plus, the amusingly cast Tony Curtis ("Spaw-ta-cuss"). And when Spartacus is captured, and to safeguard his identity each of his men steps forward to claim, "I am Spartacus," we feel there's perhaps a flicker of him in each of us, too. (Trivia notes: Douglas had wanted to play Ben Hur, but you-know-who got the role. So in an act of “I’ll show ‘em”, he produced SPARTACUS. Thirty years later, when the film was restored, the original soundtrack for the bath scene couldn't be found, so Curtis redubbed his lines, while the deceased Olivier's voice was supplied by Anthony Hopkins. [Olivier] "Do you eat oysters?" [Curtis] "When I have them, master." [Olivier] "Do you eat fava beans?" [Curtis] "No." [Olivier] "Do you consider the eating of oysters to be moral, and the eating of fava beans to be immoral? My taste includes both fava beans and oysters."
SPARTACUS (1960)
Loved him, hated Hur
In SPARTACUS, a lot of movie blood is spilled in the pursuit to overthrow the decadent Roman Empire, with pothole-chinned Kirk Douglas in his bare-chested prime as the slave-turned-leader leading the charge. I was never much a fan of Hollywood "throngs of thousands" type movies - including Ben Hur - and Douglas is so Douglas that I have a hard time seeing Spartacus. But there's no resisting this rousing film, with its great story and so many wonderful actors filling togas, including Olivier, Ustinov, Laughton, Strode, plus, the amusingly cast Tony Curtis ("Spaw-ta-cuss"). And when Spartacus is captured, and to safeguard his identity each of his men steps forward to claim, "I am Spartacus," we feel there's perhaps a flicker of him in each of us, too. (Trivia notes: Douglas had wanted to play Ben Hur, but you-know-who got the role. So in an act of “I’ll show ‘em”, he produced SPARTACUS. Thirty years later, when the film was restored, the original soundtrack for the bath scene couldn't be found, so Curtis redubbed his lines, while the deceased Olivier's voice was supplied by Anthony Hopkins. [Olivier] "Do you eat oysters?" [Curtis] "When I have them, master." [Olivier] "Do you eat fava beans?" [Curtis] "No." [Olivier] "Do you consider the eating of oysters to be moral, and the eating of fava beans to be immoral? My taste includes both fava beans and oysters."
