Movie of My Week: "Spartacus" (1960)
Sunday, July 25, 2010 at 12:01AM
Thomas P.M. Barnett in Movie of My Week, movie picks

Watched it with son Jerome in home theater, and I must say, it's really worthwhile to get the blu-ray version, because the restoration is just lovely to look at.

Tons of stars, almost all of whom overshadow Kirk Douglas's wonderfully understated performance.  This movie, produced by Douglas with a firm grip, was originally directed by Anthony Mann, who Douglas forced out, only to give to his friend (and then still largely unknown), up-and-coming Brit director Stanley Kubrick, with whom he had worked three years previously on the antiwar classic, "Paths of Glory."  Kubrick and Douglas fought incessantly during production, and it killed their relationship forever.  It was the only movie Kubrick ever directed without his usual control, all of which lay with Kirk.  Interestingly enough, it won four Oscars, including the only one ever for a Kubrick actor (best supporting to Peter Ustinov).

It remains one of my favorite Laurence Olivier movies ("I'm not after glory!  I'm after Spartacus.").

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