Top 250 Challenge: 213

Spartacus (1960)
Number 169 on IMDb's Top 250

The rebellious Thracian Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes. Meanwhile, in Rome, the slave revolt has become a deciding factor in the power struggle between two senators: the republican Gracchus and the militarist Crassus, each of whom sees the fortunes of the rebellion as the key to his own rise to power or humiliating defeat. As the two statesmen attempt to aid, hinder and manipulate the rebels for their own benefit, Spartacus and his followers press on toward freedom. Hilarity subsequens. <---that's latin!

Trivia: The sound of the crowd cheering Spartacus! Spartacus! was actually recorded at a football game in Spartan Stadium, home of the Michigan State University Spartans in East Lansing, Michigan. Winning an Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Lentulus Batiatus, Peter Ustinov stands as the only actor to win an Oscar for a Stanley Kubrick film. In fact, Peter Sellers is the only other actor to receive so much as a nomination. The original version included a scene where Marcus Licinius (Laurence Olivier) attempts to seduce Antoninus (Tony Curtis). The Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency both objected. At one point Geoffrey Shurlock, representing the censors, suggested it would help if the reference in the scene to a preference for oysters or snails was changed to truffles and artichokes. In the end the scene was cut, but it was put back in for the 1991 restoration. However, the soundtrack had been lost in the meantime and the dialogue had to be dubbed. Tony Curtis was able to redo his lines, but Laurence Olivier had died. Joan Plowright, Laurence Olivier's widow, remembered that Anthony Hopkins had done a dead-on impression of Laurence Olivier and she mentioned this to the restoration team. They approached Anthony Hopkins and he agreed to voice in Laurence Olivier's lines in that scene. Anthony Hopkins is thanked in the credits for the restored version.

After many foreign films over the past few months I finally get to watch a full-on Hollywood Epic. It seems a little weird. This is what I think of as classic Hollywood of the 50s and 60s, films like Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments come to mind and Spartacus fits right in with those films. Okay, now for my thoughts on the "seduction scene" where Olivier tries to seduce Curtis that got cut out of the movie because of the Hays Code. To me it was kind of comical thinking of why they cut it. First off, if I didn't know Olivier was trying to seduce young Curtis, I would have thought they were talking about dinner. Here is the whole conversation: Olivier is in his bath and calls Curtis in.

Olivier: Do you eat oysters?

Curtis: When I have them, master.

Olivier: Do you eat snails?

Curtis: No, master.

Olivier: Do you consider the eating of oysters to be moral and the eating of
snails to be immoral?

Curtis: No, master.

Olivier: Of course not. It is all a matter of taste, isn't it?

Curtis: Yes, master.

Olivier: And taste is not the same as appetite, and therefore not a question
of morals.

Curtis: It could be argued so, master.

Olivier: My robe, Antoninus. My taste includes both snails and oysters.

So basically, Olivier is sayin that he swings both ways (not that there is anything wrong with that). So tame compared to what we see today it is laughable. How in the heck did Some Like It Hot get past the code if this didn't?

Oh well, next up The Battle Of Algiers