350 - Spartacus, United States, 1960. Dir. Stanley Kubrick.
Get up, Spartacus, you Thracian dog!
Those are the first words we hear spoken to Spartacus, played by Kirk Douglas. He is a slave. Rome is in her final days. Declining and falling. Corrupt. Unable to bear under the weight of its own debts. Kingdoms rise and fall in cycles. Successive generations cannot sustain forever what their forbears built. And in this case, too many people want freedom. And they intend to get it.
Spartacus is purchased by Batiatus, played by Peter Ustinov. He takes him to his school. He trains him to be a gladiator. To fight to the death in pairs. For the pleasure of spectators. His trainer is Marcellus. He used to be a slave. He used to be a gladiator. He was one of the rare fortunate ones who fought and worked his way to his own freedom.
Batiatus shows favor to Spartacus. He gives him a woman. Varinia, played by Jean Simmons. The owners watch through a grate in their floor, hoping to see Spartacus in action with Varinia in the cell beneath them. Varinia begins to undress. But Spartacus turns her down. He has her dress again.
Spartacus has one lifelong mission. Actors call it their super-objective. It is what he wants most in life. He wants to be known as a man. He is not an animal. He is a man. She is not an animal. She is a woman. He will not take her. He will treat her with the same respect he would have if he and she had been free.
Batiatus is disappointed.
Crassus visits. Crassus is played by Laurence Olivier. Are you beginning to see the heavyweight cast in this epic film? Crassus wants Varinia. He buys her. He wants to see some sport. He buys a couple of gladiator fights. The first takes place. One man wins. The other is killed. Now for the second one.
Spartacus has his first fight. With an African named Draba, played by Woody Strobe. Draba gets a long-spear trident. Spartacus gets a Thracian sword. It is short. It requires great skill to fight with a short sword against a long trident. Spartacus fights valiantly. Draba wins the fight. He pins Spartacus by the neck with his trident. Time to thrust him through. Draba does not thrust. He spares Spartacus. He heaves his spear at the daius. He climbs the wall to attack Crassus. A guard spears Draba in the back. Crassus cuts Draba in the neck. Draba dies. Spartacus is spared again.
But something is going on inside him. Something is rumbling.
When Batiatus carries Varinia to Crassus, they pass by the men in their cage. Spartacus sees her. She looks at him. They love each other. But he has lost her. Marcellus sees and mocks Spartacus. Marcellus has gone too far.
Spartacus shoves Marcellus' head in the soup vat. He holds him under. He kills him. Immediately, the men join him. They revolt. They overpower the guards. They break down the fences. They use the fences as weapons. They kill all the guards. They all go free. The men spread out across the land.
Spartacus is now a free man. A fugitive. But free. He could flee the country. But he sets up base as the head of a rebel army. He has his life mission. He wants all slaves to go free. He will fight for their freedom.
Back at the Senate Gracchus gets involved, played by Charles Laughton. And Julius Caesar, played by John Gavin. The young Antonius appears, played by Tony Curtis. And Crixus, played by John Ireland. (We saw him in both My Darling Clementine (1946) and Red River (1948).) We told you this was a heavyweight cast.
The Senate will send armies to fight Spartacus' army and he will beat them. Gracchus and Crassus will engage in their own intrigue. Julius Caesar will eventually split them and begin to appear as the man to watch.
There is a conversation about oysters and pearls. Crassus explains to Antonius that he likes them both. We understand.
Through all of the changes that take place in the Senate, in the armies, and in the fortunes of all the parties, Spartacus stays true to his mission. That he be free. That all men be free.
He will find Varinia again, and she will help him.
But some fights just might cost you your life.
And Spartacus just might find himself hanging on a cross along the Apian Way.
Maybe she can see him one more time.
This is your son. He's free, Spartacus. Free. . . . He'll remember you, because I'll tell him. I'll tell him who his father was and what he dreamed of. My love. My life.
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