Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / Spartacus (1960) - Stanley Kubrick | Houselights #123
Transcript
- 0:03Welcome to the nerd Party. Hello everybody at home, and welcome to Houselights
- 0:23House of Kubrick. That's right. We're taking on the Master, Stanley Kubrick,
- 0:27and we're focusing on his films from the nineteen sixties, and we are
- 0:31starting tonight with nineteen sixty itself with Spartacus, and for most of us,
- 0:39if not all of us, I think this is the first time we've seen
- 0:43it as a group and as individuals. Is that right? Yeah, this
- 0:47is definitely my first time seeing it. Absolutely. I don't know how that's
- 0:52possible that all of us who are huge film buffs, some of us went
- 0:56to film school, and all of us are in the arts, and I
- 1:00just don't understand how we could have passed up on this. And we're all,
- 1:03you know, for for better or for worse, fans of Stanley Kubrick.
- 1:07I'm not like a Kubrick, you know, aficionado. I'm not a
- 1:12diehard fan, but I like a lot of his work and so it's really
- 1:17crazy to me that all of us missed out on this one. But I'm
- 1:19really glad that we're going to be talking about it tonight, and something that
- 1:23I'm also glad of is that you guys are going to go to the nerdputty
- 1:26dot com and check out all of other shows. We got nerd Party content
- 1:30coming at you every single day of the week. We got Star Trek show,
- 1:34Star Wars shows, you know, like a we got Doctor Who show,
- 1:38we got a Harry Potter show, we got we got everything that you
- 1:41could ever think of coming at you. And you should go to the nerdputty
- 1:45dot com and also check out all of our backlogged episodes, all of our
- 1:48previous directors that we have encountered and analyzed and dissected. By going to the
- 1:53nerdputty dot com. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook and Instagrams
- 1:59by searching the party. All Right, So I am your co host,
- 2:02Tristan Riddel, and with me as always is John Mills and Darren Moser.
- 2:07So, John, I want to know from you. Let's get right down
- 2:10to it. Let's let's uh, let's hit this wicket. What were you?
- 2:17Obviously we all know about the pseudo ending. We all know about the
- 2:22I'm sparticus. I'm sparticus. You know, like it's so ingrained in our
- 2:24culture that it's hard to know what did you know about this movie before you
- 2:30watched it. What were you expecting when you watched it? I was expecting
- 2:36an overblown nineteen sixties era historical epic with a lot of extras and a basically
- 2:50very sort of like old school you know, like you know, the old
- 2:53school sort of like Cleopatra Ben hur sort of vibe going on. You know,
- 2:58Ten Commandments, all that sort of stuff, where it's like it's all
- 3:00about the big, overblown production values that can be brought to you. It's
- 3:05shot and technical, you know, all that sort of stuff that they used
- 3:07to do, where it's like when the whole idea of simply going to the
- 3:13movies was the marketing experience was they were simply selling you on the idea that
- 3:16you were going to see something that could not be seen elsewhere. That's what
- 3:22I was looking for. Knowing that it was directed by Kubrick, I can
- 3:27also say that I was extremely curious as to how that translates, because a
- 3:31big, sprawling historical epic sort of thing is not what I'm used to seeing
- 3:37from Stanley Kubrick. I'm used to seeing much more small, personal sorts of
- 3:40stories, things that are much more contained, much more along the Lines of
- 3:46the Shining or even Doctor Strangelove. You know, it's it's a defined cast
- 3:51of characters. Very I don't talk about that movie full Metal Full Metal Jacket,
- 3:59you know, that sort of thing, Like it's very focused, it's
- 4:00very controlled, it's very contained. So it's very curious to see what we
- 4:06would see about Kubrick reflected in something on that massive a scale, because even
- 4:12two thousand and one, two thousand and one is interstellar travel and it's still
- 4:16basically two dudes floating around for a while in space. And it's like,
- 4:21you know, that's a very contained, linear sort of thing, and that
- 4:27movie is actually still going on. It's never finished. It's it's it's if
- 4:30you started it on your DVD player, it's still running. Um. Actually
- 4:35very true because I consider two thousand and ten an underrated sequel, and so
- 4:40if you if you work those two together, two ten is a lot of
- 4:44fun. It is, isn't it? It really really is. It is
- 4:46like it's definitely completely totally different than two thousand and one. But I mean,
- 4:54I'm also a person who's read all four of the books, so same,
- 4:57same, and I think that the um what's really interesting is I'm not
- 5:02comparing artistic result. But twenty and ten in terms of that tonal difference you're
- 5:06talking about, it's sort of like Aliens versus alien where it's like these are
- 5:11technically in the same franchise and I have sort of to do the same thing,
- 5:14but it's very obviously two different approaches to the material sorts of But anyway,
- 5:17that's enough about twenty and ten. Yeah, you know, I mean,
- 5:21I was just curious to see what that looks like when Kubrick establishing himself
- 5:27is put in that massive a scale sort of thing. What is that?
- 5:30What comes out of that? Doctor sci Fi? Darren? What did you
- 5:34What did you know about Spartacas? What did you expect before you came into
- 5:39this. Honestly, it was probably just that, like you said, Tristan,
- 5:44the I am Spartacus. You know, everybody stands up and says it.
- 5:47It happened a lot earlier in the movie than I was expecting. I
- 5:50kind of expected it to be like the climax in the very end, and
- 5:54there was quite a bit of movie after that. But I don't think I
- 5:58even knew that he was a gladiator. I didn't know. I mean,
- 6:02it's been several years since Gladiator came out, and obviously when that movie did
- 6:08with Russell Crowe, and there were a lot of references and talk about Spartacus
- 6:12because it's kind of the other big budget Gladiator type movie. But it's been
- 6:17so long since then. Yeah, I didn't know practically anything, although I
- 6:23did know that the running time for two thousand and one, A Space Odyssey,
- 6:27is less than Spartacus. So if you're going to make jabs about movies
- 6:31still playing, Tristan, uh, well, okay, Well, while you
- 6:36are technically right, which is the best kind of correct, how long does
- 6:42it feel? Exactly? I guess I hear how long does it feel?
- 6:46Spartacus doesn't feel anywhere near as long as two thousand and one, Like whenever
- 6:50you watch two thousand and one, you just feel like the life is being
- 6:53sucked out of you. But Spartacus, there's there's a preview of the rating
- 6:58that Tristan will be bringing to our two thousand and one discussion in a few
- 7:00episodes four weeks. Yeah, way to tip your hand there, Tristan.
- 7:06I'm hoping I get a different experience upon this re one. Hey, listen,
- 7:12Christopher Nolan loves the movie, and therefore you should too. But anyway,
- 7:16Yeah, I mean Spartacus is interesting too, because like we're talking about
- 7:19the length and everything, and I think it's been released in three different lengths.
- 7:23There's like the original theatricals, then there was a rerelease that was like
- 7:26twenty three minutes shorter, and then when they did the restoration in nineteen ninety
- 7:30one, they added those twenty three minutes back in and then added five more
- 7:32minutes. So the version we all saw was the complete extended version, as
- 7:38they would if they release it today. This would be extended version of Blue
- 7:42Ray only sort of thing. Okay, exactly, I'm just going to jump
- 7:46right into that. I'm gonna jump right into it since you brought it up.
- 7:49One thing, like, I'm so glad that, like I got to
- 7:54watch the four K version, you know, hdr fully fully complete extra edition,
- 8:03Bestavision for Days, Division for Days. You know, I got to
- 8:07see that edition, and it was beautiful. It was absolutely beautiful. It
- 8:09was It was a beautiful remaster. And one thing I really appreciated about the
- 8:15remaster is that it had credits at the end for the remaster, like it
- 8:20said, like, oh, the nineteen ninety one part of the movie now
- 8:24if you think about it, Yeah, I really like that. I really
- 8:26think that we should we should do that more often, like the like these
- 8:30are the people that worked on the remaster, here you go, here you
- 8:31go, and then like the two and then it had like the four K
- 8:35you know, upgrade, like here are the people who worked on that.
- 8:37I want to know that stuff. I really appreciate that kind of thing.
- 8:39But anyway, the reason why I'm bringing it up is because it's so funny
- 8:43that we are further away from the anniversary edition in nineteen ninety one than the
- 8:50Anniversary Edition was from the theatrical release in nineteen sixty and that kind of math
- 8:56just blows my mind. But there was one scene. There was one scene
- 9:00in particular, and I this is I know, I'm getting right into it.
- 9:03I should have had a little bit of four play first. But there's
- 9:07there's a scene between um Crassis and played by Laurence Olivier and Tony Curtis's character
- 9:18Anton, Thank you Anton, Ninas And in the in the bath where Laurence
- 9:24Olivia goes into the bath and Tony Curtis is there and like washing him and
- 9:28everything like that. And as I'm watching it, I'm just like, oh,
- 9:33wow, this this this is a one shot. This is this is
- 9:35they put the camera on the sticks and they're not cutting away, and I'm
- 9:41like, oh, oh oh, this is gay, Like this is gay.
- 9:46And I was super surprised to see it from from a movie in the
- 9:50nineteen sixties. And then as I was watching, and as as I was
- 9:56listening, I was like, man, Laurence Olivier sounds exactly like Anthony Hopkins.
- 10:01It's so weird, Like this is really weird. He sounds he sounds
- 10:07exactly like Hannibal. And and then as soon as there's a reason for interesting,
- 10:13Yeah, as soon as the movie was done, I looked it up
- 10:16and that scene was not included in the original theatrical cut because it was so
- 10:24overtly homosexual. And they're like, like, listen to this. The Production
- 10:31Code Administration and the Legion of Decency both objected. Have you ever heard of
- 10:37anything more? Just more? What's the word I'm looking for? Like,
- 10:43why do I believe that there's an organization nineteen sixty called the League of Decency,
- 10:46like the Legion the Legion of Decency, Like that is just you know
- 10:52that they were down with some evil stuff. But they objected it to it
- 10:56and cut it out, and in nineteen ninety one they wanted to put that
- 11:01scene back in, but the audio was trash. He was gone. They
- 11:05didn't have the audio, and so Tony Curtis was sixty six at the time.
- 11:09They're like, oh, Tony, you know, could you could you
- 11:11do this? And he does and they had just to pitch just a little
- 11:13bit so that he doesn't sound like a sixty six year old. He sounds
- 11:18like, you know how he did in nineteen sixty and you know Olivia was
- 11:22dead by then, or like, what are we going to do? And
- 11:26so they got Anthony Hopkins to do his best Olivia impression and that's how they
- 11:31used it. And I just thought it was so fascinating. That's really impressive.
- 11:37Like that's dedication to restoring a scene. It's like, because I feel
- 11:41like anybody else I shouldn't say, it's like in the restoration and remastering of
- 11:48Next Gen, that's like having Brent Spiner do his best Patrick Stewart in a
- 11:54scene for some reason because he couldn't come to the mic. I mean quite
- 12:00that bad, but like that's yeah, that's a lot, No that that's
- 12:03pretty great, that's that's like, as you know, Brent Spiner does an
- 12:05amazing Patrick's through an impression. But I think you're I think you're spot on
- 12:09with that. It's it's it was so interesting because there I read an article
- 12:13about it where they're just like, oh, if you weren't looking for it,
- 12:16you would never know it was an Anthony Hopkins. I was like,
- 12:18no, no, we we knew it was Anthony Hopkins. But I mean
- 12:24anyway you knew because you mean we you know voices even more. But yeah,
- 12:31I guess I had looked it up and I knew that, but I
- 12:35in the moment, I wasn't paying attention enough. It wasn't jarring enough to
- 12:39pull me out and be like, wait, that's Anthony Hopkins. So you
- 12:41didn't even know it was a wonder Yeah, okay, that that that's interesting
- 12:48because like it to me, yeah, it's just it's it just it just
- 12:50struck out to me like like a sore thumb. But uh, it was
- 12:56interesting because it was cut because of you know, the Legion of decency.
- 13:01But at the same time, it doesn't really add anything to the plot.
- 13:05It really doesn't. Like you you could have cut it and you would have
- 13:09no no idea that it was gone. It's not on the Senate floor,
- 13:13it's not some speech by Spartacus. It's honestly even what why it's even in
- 13:20there except for having something that's kind of like pushing the limit, Like why
- 13:24else would you even have this scene? It's very much like gay Code in
- 13:30in nineteen sixty. Well, I mean, you know, the writer is
- 13:33um Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted during McCarthy era, and so I feel
- 13:41like this was very much like a an fu to the to the to the
- 13:48establishment done by Trumbo to put that scene in. But I thought at Trumbo
- 13:54again, looking in the history of the film, I think that Kirk Douglas
- 13:58public speaking out that Tremble was the author or was the screen writer, helped
- 14:05him like kind of I mean in history they're saying, oh, and that
- 14:09itself caused the blacklist to go away. I'm like, I'm sure it wasn't
- 14:13quite that clean cut, but still it was a It was a person of
- 14:18you know, high stature standing up for someone on the list, and I'm
- 14:22sure that had repercussions, which is good because you know that blacklists is not
- 14:28a it's not a good thing. Yeah, not at all, and so
- 14:33it's yeah, I mean like it doesn't like like we talked about, it
- 14:35doesn't really add anything to the plot. It's not really needed. It was
- 14:39nice to see in the rerelease just just because of the history behind it in
- 14:45the way that they brought it about, but it didn't do anything for the
- 14:48story. No, I mean it's never brought up again Tony Curtis and Laurence
- 14:52Olivier, you know, like they don't have that kind of sexual tension again.
- 14:56So it's it's it wasn't really needed. But you know, but see,
- 15:01I think this is I would say needed. No, but I think
- 15:07that where I think people look at the scene through one angle and they fail
- 15:13to look at it from the angle that Crassis is. I mean, he's
- 15:18exercising power over a literal slave. He's basically saying a slave, like this
- 15:24is a really uncomfortable situation. This is basically like a boss coming on to
- 15:28an employee, only even worse. And so like that's the angle that I
- 15:33think everybody seems to skip over when they talk about the scene, like it's
- 15:37really uncomfortable, because what's going on here is basically like he feels he has
- 15:41his little pet trapped, who he obviously recruited to work for him for this
- 15:48reason. And it's like, there are some really uncomfortable things from that angle
- 15:50that are completely overlooked, And you know, I actually think it's it's not
- 15:58funny, but I think it's really in a sense clever the way that the
- 16:02scene resolves itself, where he you know, he walks off. He thinks
- 16:04he's got Tony Curtis basically corn Antonitis cornered, and he's like, oh,
- 16:08well, this is just the way Rome is, this is the way you
- 16:11have to be. And he turns around Tony Curtis is it's almost like there's
- 16:15uh the bugs, Bunny cartoon, dust cloud, He's just disappeared. Yeah,
- 16:18and it's like and he goes off too, and it's like, so,
- 16:22I think the scene does work, and it's interesting, but I think
- 16:26I think it's interesting more from that angle than any other. You know,
- 16:30I think I think you're absolutely right. I never really thought of it that
- 16:33way, but you are absolutely right. I think that's an interesting take in
- 16:38an important take, and I think that alone really gives it the the weight
- 16:45to kind of keep it in the film. So you you totally changed my
- 16:51mind. On that one. But speaking of behind the scenes stuff, Kirk
- 16:56Douglas was a producer on this film and he is the one who hired Kubrick
- 17:03after falling out with the original directors. I think it was Anthony Man if
- 17:10I'm correct, if I'm remembering correctly, and I think the only thing that
- 17:14he directed that made it into the film was the salt mines scene, and
- 17:18everything else was done by Kubrick. So one thing that we haven't asked so
- 17:22just like one and sorry, a solo at the very beginning when they're in
- 17:26when they're in the salt mines. You know, yeah, exactly. Um.
- 17:32So, one thing I want to ask you guys, which we haven't
- 17:33asked each other in a very long time because sometimes we don't get to delve
- 17:38deep into directors because we don't get to either maybe they're not as well known
- 17:44as some of the masters, or they don't have a distinct style like Wes
- 17:48Anderson. But I think we can ask each other this question. Now,
- 17:52where do you guys see Kubrick? And I'm going to go first because where
- 18:00I saw it, because this is this is nineteen sixty this I think Kubrick
- 18:04is like thirty four here thirty three something like that, And this isn't his
- 18:11first film. He did a lot of work in the fifties and I you
- 18:15know, stuff that I haven't seen. And so he's not green at thirty
- 18:21three years old. He's not green, and he takes on this epic And
- 18:26so to me as I'm watching it, it's right before them the revolt,
- 18:33right before Spartacus like loses his mind and just starts going after the slave master.
- 18:40It's where they're walking into the like it's not at ten, but they're
- 18:45they're walking into the into the dining area, to the food area. But
- 18:48right before all the slaves and gladiators make it in, the slave master picks
- 18:52up an axe and then throws it into one of the pillars, one of
- 18:57the wooden pillars. He like picks it up, throws it in there,
- 19:00and so it's sticking out. And then a little bit later on we see
- 19:06the camera track and it reveals like as it tracks to the left, we
- 19:12see that we see that axe just staying there in the pillar. And then
- 19:21later on during the revolt, when everything's going crazy, it's just absolute chaos.
- 19:25People are getting killed, people are getting slaughtered. A person who's trying
- 19:29to get out of a jam, pulls out the axe from the pillar and
- 19:33uses it as a weapon against the one of those las. Yeah, it's
- 19:38Chekhov's ax exactly. And for some reason, to me, I'm like,
- 19:44that's Kuberuck right there. He's introducing something early on that you think is nothing
- 19:48but then is pivotal towards a character's journey. It wasn't even Spartacus who used
- 19:56it, but it was it was somebody else this journey, and it's just
- 20:00like, for some reason, like as I'm watching him, just like,
- 20:02Yeah, that's him, that's Kubrick. That's the attention to detail that we
- 20:04know and love from one of the masters of film. And so John,
- 20:10I want to I want to want to ask you, like what do you
- 20:11think about that? And also and or you know, where do you see
- 20:15Kubrick in this film? I see Kubrick in those moments where it's obvious that
- 20:21he cares most um, which I know seems like an odd way, but
- 20:26there's there's this strange disconnected nature to some of the big wide stuff. Like
- 20:30I felt like there were a lot of the stuff we're like you see all
- 20:33the slaves, h you know, when they've joined together as a giant force
- 20:38and they're moving across the desert. There's just something about the way the camera's
- 20:42place in the way to light it, Like you look at it, you're
- 20:45like, oh, this is second Uni photography. This doesn't this doesn't look
- 20:48like Stanley Kubrick and it it. It's odd because every movie has second Uni
- 20:53photography in it. Every movie has you know, different you know, different
- 20:59shots. They have a production schedule to keep up and everything like that,
- 21:02but then when you get for instance, you know, just to offer supplemental
- 21:07stuff. We already talked about the bath scene. I think that's that's very
- 21:10much a Kubrick You lock the shot and you're peering through the veil like that
- 21:15felt like a Stanley Kubrick movie to me that I'm watching. But also when
- 21:21I'm in the Senate and I'm seeing the strict sense of balance and light that's
- 21:26going on, like when Grabis has failed and he's standing there and he's the
- 21:29guards are specifically equidistant and he's center shot, and there's a very like all
- 21:36of the things we're going to come to expect from Kubrick later about the way
- 21:40that things are composed in the shots and how balanced and structured everything is.
- 21:45Those moments really shine through. And I'd say even in the gladiator fight that
- 21:51that Spartacus is in, I can see Kubrick in that, and I know
- 21:56I'm sort of like jumping all over the board, but it's specifically because there
- 22:00are moments, including in my opinion, the I Am Spartaca scene, where
- 22:07I feel like Kubrick is just there, He's just okay, I'll just do
- 22:11what I have to do to get this out there. I know that he
- 22:14disagreed. One of the disagreements between him and and and Douglas was about the
- 22:22I Am Spartaca scene because I think Kubrick said, I think this is silly
- 22:26or something like that. And it's really interesting to me because I I struggled
- 22:33to think of a movie, any other movie I've seen recently during doing this
- 22:37show, or anything else where I can see such a clear difference between first
- 22:44and second unit as I do in this movie, or what I presume to
- 22:48be. But like, there are a lot of things where just I see
- 22:51the Kubrick touch, I see the balance, I see the structure, and
- 22:55then there are other things where I can just tell he's just there and he's
- 22:59just get the job done, which I would expect from a young director.
- 23:03That's just sort of keeping things moving. But that's my lengthy, long winded
- 23:07answer. Sorry, no, no, I love to hear this stuff,
- 23:11and I love answers are specialty, John. That's true. That's a good
- 23:15point. That's a good point. Yeah, you know, this is smartness
- 23:18is interesting because I'm looking at at Kubrick's filmography right here, and he didn't
- 23:22write it, and he didn't produce it, and so I mean he did
- 23:27a little bit of rewriting with like Lalita, but pretty much beyond that,
- 23:32he has written, directed, and produced every single thing he's done. So
- 23:37he's absolute controlled over everything. So this was the you know, you know,
- 23:41hail Mary called Kubrick, bring him in. We we've already started shooting.
- 23:45You need to get up to speed. So yeah, it's it's I
- 23:51mean, like you had said, trust and he has done stuff before this,
- 23:55but a lot of things that he had also written. So I think
- 23:57that's going to add a little bit of an aspect. And maybe that's partly
- 24:02why we get kind of the prime unit second unit vibe, like John was
- 24:07saying, is because you know, he didn't have as much control over the
- 24:11story or the writing as he apparently is used to. One one scene that
- 24:17I felt was very Kubrick was like John was kind of saying as he went
- 24:22through all the main uh sections and less before I could get to him.
- 24:26Now, but I know the in the in the gladiator scene, Um,
- 24:30two parts of that one. There's the kind of we're above you, you
- 24:37know, discussion of the nobles and the and the you know, the Romans,
- 24:41and then the gladiats are in the pit and you know when they're I
- 24:45mean even before the gladiator scene where they're literally like picking a slice of beef,
- 24:52you know, to to eat, like it's it's so degrading, but
- 24:56it's shot so well. Um but my favorite part of the gladier scene is
- 25:00the through the door moments where and because it's it's it's it's gutsy like you're
- 25:10you're spending you know, you got some star power. I mean obviously your
- 25:12star is on this side of the door, so it works, but um
- 25:15yeah, but to not show and just here the first fight was gave so
- 25:23much tension and suspense for the second fight, like way more than anything we
- 25:29would have seen. I think it was the perfect decision to really just because
- 25:36these people, especially how they had set it up where they aren't. They
- 25:40were told like, when we're training you, you're not going to fight to
- 25:44the death because your product, you know, we're going to sell you.
- 25:48And so to be forced to kill basically your kind of slave brother in arms
- 25:53like that is literally what sparks the rebellion is you know that one to vision,
- 26:00So yeah, that that part with the fight behind the door, and
- 26:04just in general, I'd say Kubrick has a really good eye for conveying frenetic
- 26:14scenes, but you still know exactly what's going on, like the entire uprising,
- 26:18all of the main battles, just all these things where there's a lot
- 26:23of pieces, a lot of extras. No we're digitally going to replace that
- 26:27group over there later or oh we're gonna you know, cgi this out like
- 26:32that didn't exist. But he has such mastery over these moments, and I
- 26:38never felt lost at all. There's no shaky cam, there's no like what's
- 26:42going on, but you still feel the sense of you know, weight of
- 26:48this, but it's not It's different than like Swashbuckle. It's different than like
- 26:52Errol Flynn or you know, those kinds of movies where they're trying to create
- 26:57a phonetic energy. I think he has a way of creating that energy,
- 27:03but in a I can tell what I'm looking at, you know, which
- 27:07is appreciated. I appreciate that, you know. What's what's interesting is that
- 27:11looking at the way Kubrick approaches the material here, I think it's also an
- 27:18early tell that Kubrick is not incredibly comfortable with couples in a film that have
- 27:27function like an actual love for each other. Like if if you look at
- 27:33his other films, they're all about dysfunctional relationships, specially marriage in a couple
- 27:37of cases, and then here we have just like that sort of like pure
- 27:42heroic love between the male and the female lead. And if anything, it's
- 27:48very awkward. I'm so glad that you brought that up. It's so awkward.
- 27:53It felt like a studio note, yeah, where they're just like throwing
- 28:00some romance so that the ladies will want to come and see this too.
- 28:03Like that, That's what it felt like. It's I mean, I don't
- 28:10want to knock it because I really I like the idea. Or it could
- 28:14be Douglas, That's my guess. If he's your leading man. He's also
- 28:17a producer. Of course he's going to say I need enough scenes where I'm
- 28:21being the leading man, you know, And I mean, what do you
- 28:26think, John On? Like you said, it felt awkward, But I
- 28:32actually kind of liked the way the narrative went in the fact that he did
- 28:37fall in love with the girl. It wasn't oh, I'm a slave.
- 28:41You're a slave, so we're gonna get it on, like you know,
- 28:45Like I think they kind of partly did that because it's just he's the white
- 28:48hat, so we have to give him the virtue. But do you feel
- 28:52like that part of the story worked or did it just feel ham fisted the
- 28:57entire way through? No? I did. I thought it was stilted.
- 29:00I thought I thought it was written fine, I just didn't I again,
- 29:06I think this was one of the parts where I could tell that Kubrick was
- 29:08just backing away from it and he just he's like, Okay, well,
- 29:12this is part of the script and therefore it will be in here, and
- 29:17that's cool. But I think that if Kubrick had complete control of the story,
- 29:21we would have seen something more along the lines of they never got together,
- 29:25but she still wept it the foot of his of his cross because she
- 29:30realized the life they should have had. That that's a Kubrick movie to me.
- 29:33There's something really despondents had, you know, the Lost Life. I'm
- 29:41gonna agree and disagree with you at the same time. John, please do
- 29:47it's what you do. I can tell find the look on your face,
- 29:48Tristan, what you're about to say. So with that in mind, I
- 29:53think I do agree with you that I think it's awkward and that it's weird,
- 29:59and that Cubri had no interest in it because he loves the dysfunction.
- 30:03I mean, just look at his movies. Oh my god, you know
- 30:06he loves the dysfunction between adults and consenting adults in them. And how you
- 30:12know, screwed up marriage can be, in relationships can be. But I
- 30:17think what really works is the relationship before the revolt. After the revolt,
- 30:22when they see each other again, that's when it gets weird and like in
- 30:29cheesy nineteen sixties, yes, kind of agree, but before the revolt,
- 30:34when like good lord, like like this. This movie did such a good
- 30:40job of recognizing the time of nineteen sixty and showcasing the horrors of slavery without
- 30:49you know, like being able to show you like something like with Amistad.
- 30:55You know when Amistad, Like I wept when I watched Amistad because it showed
- 31:00you the horrors of slavery, and within nineteen sixty you're not able to be
- 31:04as honest and as upfront as you are with something like in with Spielberg and
- 31:10Amistad. But with this one, there was there were scenes of like,
- 31:14you know, Darren, you kind of mentioned this, like when they're like,
- 31:15oh, yeah, we're like you're not going to fight to the death
- 31:18because you're a product we're gonna sell you, Like, oh, you know,
- 31:22like this this like in like with this scene with when we first see
- 31:26Crassus Lawrence Olivier and like the women that are with them are saying like,
- 31:30oh, well, we want to we want to fight to the death,
- 31:33and they say that they're going to have to fight their brother, Like that's
- 31:36when they realize we have no free will, like we are nothing but a
- 31:41slave. The battle of choice and freedom was just kind of there in the
- 31:48fact that they were respected and treated semi decently, like there were rules and
- 31:52if you follow the rules, this is what you expect. And then they
- 31:56broke that, they broke that covenant, and then you get rebellion, and
- 32:00then we see a scene where like, that's the male perspective, that's the
- 32:07glad Eater male perspective, but then we see the female perspective where they're in,
- 32:12you know, they're inside, and then there's just this line of women
- 32:15and they're just they're just like like, Okay, you're going to name,
- 32:20You're, you're gonna go to what's You're You're gonna go to this guy,
- 32:22You're gonna go to Crixus, You're gonna go to Marcus, You're gonna go
- 32:25to Drama. You're gonna go you know, you're gonna go here. You're
- 32:30gonna go to Spartacus. And and the beginning of this love was, oh,
- 32:35well, Spartacus didn't rape me, so maybe he's a cool guy,
- 32:39you know, And I'm not I'm not trying to be funny, but it's
- 32:43it's ridiculous when you say it out loud. And and then once we go
- 32:46past that, and Spartacaus you know, doesn't want to do this, he
- 32:51doesn't want to treat her like a slave girl. Uh, we have this
- 32:57really touching romance where where Spartacus is concerned about her safety, like when the
- 33:05next day when she goes to another man forcibly, you know, he says,
- 33:08he's like, did he hurt you? And she's like, no,
- 33:10I'm fine. That's their relationship. It's just like this, this, this
- 33:15look this, this, this, this miniature gives me um princess Princess bride
- 33:23vibes, just from the very beginning act when he's not outwardly saying his love,
- 33:29but the way he acts as expressing as you wish means I love you.
- 33:32I think. I mean, obviously one is slavery, one is not,
- 33:36which is very different. But I think Spartacus is in the same boat
- 33:39where you know, I mean, gosh, I heard that theme so many
- 33:45times in this movie, that the love you know, Spartacus theme, they
- 33:50really love theme, into your into your hand. But you know, you
- 33:53could tell he was trying to be tender and caring and but he was still
- 34:00carrying and tender, but still powerless. He's still a slave, he still
- 34:04has very little say I M yes, I agree with all of this.
- 34:14I agree with what you're saying Tristan as well about you know, the relationship
- 34:19works and does have a tenderness to it up until after a certain point,
- 34:22I'm you know, and in the totality, it's that second half that sort
- 34:27of just derails the whole thing for me, because this is a long film.
- 34:30So i'd say, like, pre intermission, yeah, okay, you
- 34:35absolutely got a point. Post intermission, you know, I think I think
- 34:38we're picking up what I'm laying down. But I'll go ahead and ask that
- 34:44straight straightforwardly. I would be very curious to see the nineteen sixty seven rerelease
- 34:51version and wonder if it addresses all of these issues in the sense that if
- 34:57you spend less time sort of dwelling on certain moments, or you get from
- 35:06A to B quicker, if some of these flaws are less apparent. I
- 35:09mean, we're all in love with the idea that an extended or director's cut
- 35:14is always going to be the better thing, but there are times when it
- 35:17is not. I love to trumpet the case of Highlander two the quickening,
- 35:22where I refer to the renegade cut as fifteen minutes worse, which is the
- 35:27first time I've ever used a unit of tying to describe how bad it was.
- 35:30And I think with this I would be really interested to see that in
- 35:35nineteen sixty seven rerelease, because I wonder if that means you can if it's
- 35:45twenty three minutes shorter, it's just as long as two thousand and one,
- 35:47So we're good. That's fine. But but I mean, seriously, let
- 35:53let's just address that head on. Do you think that a shorter cut of
- 35:58this film would resolve some of the shortcomings that we see here? Well,
- 36:04to kind of jump ahead to the end of what I think of the film,
- 36:09I think that I think this is a great film. I think this
- 36:13is this is masterfully done. I think it's it's the characterization is great.
- 36:19I mean, Charles Lofton as Gracchus, holy crap, Peter Ustinov as Ustinov
- 36:27the Oscar with good reason. Yeah, he's a phenomenal I want to talk
- 36:30about Peter for a second, because I knew him first from We're No Angels,
- 36:36which is a Humphrey Bogart Christmas movie, and man, the acting chops
- 36:43on this guy, Like, you give him any role, You could plug
- 36:45him into any role in this movie and he would soar, and he soars
- 36:50as I can't even pronounce it with Batilla bust Beatilius. Yes, that guy.
- 36:58He oust just boost it off. Yeah, it's easier to say,
- 37:01but he was so good and has that like you know, used car salesman
- 37:09of the gladiatorial era kind of charm where you know he's kissing, but he
- 37:15knows he's kissing, but everybody knows it, but they are like, but
- 37:20you're so good at it, We're just gonna go along with what you're doing,
- 37:22you know, from you know, oh, well, surely a person
- 37:28wanting this would pay twice as much, you know. And just but I
- 37:30loved him every everything he had. I love that he stayed throughout the story.
- 37:35I love that, you know, he continued on every time he was
- 37:37on screen. I was just but I totally believe you could plug him in
- 37:44to practically any role in this movie and he'd do just as good. Although
- 37:47I'm glad the role that he I don't know, almost every almost every I
- 37:52don't think he works as Sparta kiss too. Okay, well you know we
- 37:55know that's not happening. Yeah, he doesn't have the the chin dimple enough
- 38:00to be spied. The first time I saw him was in Robin Hood the
- 38:06animated pictures as Prince John, which is que and the scenery. Yeah,
- 38:15but John, I remember texting you while watching this and saying, holy crap,
- 38:22this script is electric. And the reason why I texted that to you
- 38:28was because of the scenes between Peter Ustinov and Charles Lofton. Those scenes are
- 38:36just phenomenal. I mean, the writing by Trumbo is is is next level.
- 38:42And the way that these guys, these guys, these guys um the
- 38:45way that you know Ustinov and Lofton, what they bring to the table and
- 38:51the conversational atmosphere that they give. I mean, not to mention the senate
- 38:57scenes. Part of that has to do with the fact that Euston off and
- 39:04basically they would sit there and they would rehearse a lot together, and Kubrick
- 39:09would come over and see them, you know, see their rehearsals, and
- 39:13they were oftentimes where they would do a rehearsal and you would say, that's
- 39:15what we're going to do. That that's what works. So I think what
- 39:19you see is you see a great example and one that I think it's lost
- 39:24very much over time, is when you have actors who are used to being
- 39:31stage performers, they understand the value of that chemistry and if it doesn't exist.
- 39:39You have to build it. You have to sit there, and you
- 39:42have to work with somebody night after night, and you have to find your
- 39:45way to what's going to work for the production. And I think that you
- 39:49get Loften and you get Euston Off together, and they're old pros by this
- 39:53point and there they know what they got to do to get where they got
- 39:58to go. And I know that seems terribly reductive, but I think that's
- 40:01why those scenes come alive. I think that's why you have a situation as
- 40:07well where these two are a classic example of It's one thing to have a
- 40:14great actor in a role. It's another thing to have a great you know,
- 40:19somebody with a long professional resume of live theater in a role because they
- 40:24are always going to work to get to that, because they're not used to
- 40:29having to lock into one take or one read of something. They want to
- 40:35get there and they want to find the best and they're used to finding it
- 40:38every night sort of thing. And a script is great on paper, and
- 40:45a script is a great script no matter what. But a script only comes
- 40:49alive when you have performers who can make it breathe. You say the word
- 40:55consummate professional yeah, basically basically. So jumping off of that, I want
- 41:04to talk about the Senate scenes with Gracis. I mean, these were usually
- 41:07led by Gracis. We had a little bit of Caesar and um, it
- 41:13was just interesting to see Caesar before he became Caesar, before he got his
- 41:17groove back. But those were some of my favorite scenes. Which is so
- 41:23crazy for a movie called Spartacus about you know, a slave turned gladiator,
- 41:30gladiator turned rebel, which was you know, which was well performed by Kirk
- 41:35Douglas and it has a lot of great scenes, but to go to the
- 41:39stodgy Senate scenes, those were some of my favorites, just the way that
- 41:47it was acted, the way that it was reacted, the way that they
- 41:52they held themselves and what they were talking about, and how they had a
- 41:57little bit of Nix of the House of Commons in the know where people are
- 42:00snarky back and forth. What did you guys think about the Senate scenes,
- 42:05Darren? What did you think about the Senate scenes? Now? I enjoyed
- 42:07the Senate scenes. I was at first I was trying to think, Okay,
- 42:10why why are we seeing this? Because you initially you'd think, oh,
- 42:15well, I could just tell this story from the point of view of
- 42:17Spartacus, and it's his name is the title, of course, So why
- 42:22are we spending so much time on the politics of Rome in this era?
- 42:28But it hit me that you absolutely have to have that because well, one,
- 42:34you're you're constructing the opposition force against Spartacus, and especially with the way
- 42:39the story ends, where like because i mean Spartacus is like he's like ninety
- 42:46percent of the way there to freedom through like he's winning battle after battle,
- 42:52and it's only through the Senate being like we got to put our money where
- 42:55our mouth is and stop this revolt, this uprising or or Rome is done.
- 43:02And so yeah, seeing the inner play the oh, I'm not going
- 43:07to march inside the city because that's the rule, and I'm you know,
- 43:10you're in charge of this and I'm in charge of that, and it was
- 43:14it was really interesting. I mean I could remember a single one of their
- 43:17names because that's just you know, this era of history. But beyond that
- 43:23though, Yeah, the political entry was really interesting. I thought that Kubrick
- 43:30was very interested in it, and I was very interested in it. I
- 43:34thought the production design fell down a little bit during it, but it was
- 43:38it fell down in that very well put epic. Yeah, that very sort
- 43:43of like this is what I expected to look like from an air from something
- 43:46of that time, Like the failure to weather things properly, the failure like
- 43:50everything's lit like you're watching a stage production. It's like, yeah, okay,
- 43:52I expect this. But I think that Kubrick is very interested in it.
- 43:59And I think I mean, listen, Rome, I love, love,
- 44:02love watching movies about reading about studying, you know, antiquity and Roman
- 44:10government and culture specifically. It's a fascinating time. It's absolutely fascinating. It
- 44:17was a terribly complex and layered and hypocritical and hideous and beautiful and wonderful and
- 44:27atrocious society. And I think it just draws certain people like a moth to
- 44:32the flame. And so I was more interested in that part of it that
- 44:38I'm always more interested in senate scenes. That's just how I'm wired. And
- 44:43I think that because there are so many layered relationships going on, and we
- 44:49see the people speaking in the back, and that we have that that little
- 44:52tease of having Caesar there and you know it's Caesar, and so you get
- 44:58that little giggle of oh, yeah, we know what he's going to do
- 45:01in a little bit, you know, that sort of thing like oh,
- 45:05you know, and you see him as this noble guy where you're like,
- 45:08oh, okay, Caesar was all right, he was doing all right,
- 45:10and then at the end it's revealed he's like, yeah, I paid attention
- 45:15to you. I'm going with the tide here and sorry, you know,
- 45:19and it's like oh wow, yeah, okay, That's exactly how it would
- 45:22have been. He would have been a political climber, and he would have
- 45:24known what side his bread was buttered on, and he would have he would
- 45:29have picked the winner. And I think it's very great as well because by
- 45:35building it, by showing the dysfunction at the governmental level, it's very important
- 45:39to show the stakes. You understand if Spartacus is successful, how primed Rome
- 45:49was even by that point to fall, and why they're so desperate to stop
- 45:52him is because they know that if they don't, they're screwed. They're absolutely
- 45:58screwed. Um. And I think there were three. I think Spartacus was
- 46:02actually the third Servile War or something like that, so like this wasn't a
- 46:07problem that like came up once. It happened a lot with Rome, and
- 46:10I mean I could bore everybody to tears, but I will. Um,
- 46:16you know, I can just make some book recommendations at some other point about
- 46:20what what what great books you can read about, you know, the Fall
- 46:23of Rome and stuff like that. But um, yeah, I think that
- 46:29I think that the the senate scenes. I think that the wheeling dealing scenes,
- 46:32the back room scenes, that that really pops, that really works throughout
- 46:38the entire film. Well, this this movie is so long and there's it's
- 46:43so dense and there's so much to it. Uh. One thing I do
- 46:46want to talk about briefly. Briefly is the music. So I think this
- 46:52was not just because I remember not just the love Thing, but was nominated
- 46:59maybe one the Academy Award. I could be wrong, but I was just
- 47:04looking at that. It won like four Academy Awards. Yeah, yeah,
- 47:08it won usenov one, Best Supporting Actor. I think it won Art Direction,
- 47:13Costumes, art Direction, costume design, and Best Cinematography, which is
- 47:17a funny story in and of itself because the cinematographer was effectively fired and so
- 47:22Kubrick won the award, but it was given to the other guy. So
- 47:28hooray for the other and then in the parking lot, Kubrick's like, okay,
- 47:30you got something that belongs to me. Well, I think at one
- 47:35point he told I think it was Russell Medi is the guy's name. He
- 47:38told Medi. Just sit down and shut up and I'll do it. Okay,
- 47:43just just take the credit. But to be clear, it won Best
- 47:45Cinematography Color because apparently that was a subcategory in nineteen. It was a distinction.
- 47:53Yep, it was a distinction. So with the music, I want
- 47:59to say something that's weird. That's something that occurred to me, Like while
- 48:04I was watching it, I was I was perplexed by the music. I
- 48:07didn't like the music, and I was perplexed by it because as I'm watching
- 48:12it and listening, I'm like, this music is a mixture of the Ten
- 48:17Commandments and the Wizard of Oz and am I off base here? Does that
- 48:25bring true? It is? Yeah, it's It's mean. It's a long
- 48:32movie. It's got to have a lot of music to fill all these minutes.
- 48:36It needs a lot of it. It's a curious score to me because
- 48:43it's striving for something that doesn't quite totally fit the film. And if I
- 48:50were Kubrick, I probably would have disowned it too on that basis, but
- 48:54I think that it just doesn't fit the character of the film, not overall.
- 49:02And I feel weird saying that specifically because it's revered. The American Film
- 49:12Institute has it on their list of greatest or at least it was nominated for
- 49:15the list of Greatest Film scores. I don't hear it. There are so
- 49:21many things from the time period. Yeah, I know, and I know
- 49:24that people do, in fact revere the score, they love it. I
- 49:30don't hear it, though, and it's just it's just odd. I don't
- 49:37this very much feels like a score from the era of film where the director
- 49:44didn't pick the composer and didn't have a lot of input on the score.
- 49:49This feels like a score that was done and then bolted onto the movie.
- 49:53Yeah, it does. It does. It's just like, oh, I
- 49:55made a love theme, so let's let's slap that on there, and then
- 49:59like this is the one that you know, like moves like when they're marching
- 50:02through you know. Yeah, I totally hear what you're saying. Okay,
- 50:07So, like before, as we're rounding third, I do want to get
- 50:12to our ratings because We're at the fifty minute mark, and I feel like,
- 50:15even though this movie is super long, I feel like we could keep
- 50:16bringing up stuff about it. One last thing on the score. I feel
- 50:22this kind of sums it up. Looking at North's filmography for Best Score or
- 50:29Song, everything is just nominated, street car named Desire, Rainmaker, Spartacus,
- 50:36you know, Bite the Bullet, Dragon Slayer, everything. His only
- 50:39win is an eighty six of an Honorary Oscar for Memorable Achievement for Distinguished Motion
- 50:46Pictures. So it was like it was always kind of like just good enough
- 50:52to be nominated, but not enough to win. Like in his entire career,
- 50:58he was sort of like Randy Newman till Randy Newman finally won. So
- 51:01at least Newman crossed that hurdle. True, true. He was the Susan
- 51:06Lucci of film composers. You're losing You're losing me, John, You had
- 51:13me, John, Oh, I know, I know. So one thing
- 51:20that I thought was interesting and I don't even think we need to spend that
- 51:22much time on it. One thing that was interesting because when you think Spartacas,
- 51:25you think swords and sandals, you know, you think fight scenes and
- 51:29battles but we have the gladiator fight, the revolt, and then the final
- 51:34battle. That's pretty much it. Right, Like, as I'm watching this,
- 51:39I mean there's a little bit of when they take out the legion that's
- 51:44up against a cliff, but we don't really see that. We see like
- 51:46the aftermath. Yeah, it's like the very very tail end. But that's
- 51:52it. You're right, there's like four battles in this entire movie, not
- 51:55not even really, it's like it's like three and a half. Yeah,
- 51:59that's true. And for a movie that's this long and kind of like is
- 52:04a man holding a sword you know in the on the poster, you'd think
- 52:08that this would be action packed. But it makes me wonder like, was
- 52:13this was this how the book was? Is this how Trumbull originally wrote it,
- 52:17or was this kubric where it was just like, no, let's make
- 52:20it more character focused. Did you guys notice that? What did you think?
- 52:24Honestly, I think it's just characteristic of the time. When I go
- 52:30back to the old sword and sandal stuff, it's always here's the big crescendo
- 52:37battle and then we have a lull and people talking and people talking, here's
- 52:40the big crescendo. Battle, and then we have people talking and people talking,
- 52:45and I think it's just reflective of the time. It's all I do.
- 52:49I think for the time, it's a it's a type of pace that
- 52:52you have that you expect from these You expect an introduction and an intermission,
- 52:59and it's going to hey, you're going to be sitting in that chair for
- 53:00a couple hours, Like I can't. No editor is going to come in
- 53:05and be like, you know what, I think we could get this to
- 53:07like under two hours. Let's just we're gonna make it fast and quick.
- 53:12No, that's just not what you did in nineteen sixty. But see one
- 53:16thing that I I just wish that they would bring intermissions back. I do.
- 53:23I would be okay with intermissions. If you're going to release a three
- 53:27hour or three hour plus movie, an intermission is in fact called for.
- 53:31Back then, it was called for so everybody could get a lucky strike break
- 53:35and get a couple of smokes before they go into the theater, and get
- 53:38a couple of drinks, you know, and go to the bathroom and everything.
- 53:43It was also the days before central air was really a thing, so
- 53:45you had to probably air that joint out a bit. But it was really
- 53:52odd having an intermission again because I realized that I missed that I missed that
- 54:00era of film. And I think that we're so slavishly devoted to the idea
- 54:06that it's just got to be unbroken. Let's have an intermission with the next
- 54:09Avatar movie. Go for it, James, go nuts. Have three and
- 54:14a half hours, but you know, give me fifteen minutes to go stretch
- 54:15my legs, maybe get another, you know, a refill on my soda,
- 54:19without thinking what am I gonna miss? Sort of well, and nowadays,
- 54:22with the fact that you buy a specific seat, like you know where
- 54:27your seat is, like it's perfect, there's no reason to not feel free
- 54:30to get up roam about the cabin, you know, get some more.
- 54:34I mean, heck, movie theaters would love it because they'd sell more concessions.
- 54:38So but good for it. But to be fair, I understand that
- 54:43the practical reason is because this is back when they're when a movie house was
- 54:47one giant screen and you played ah movie. And now we have you know,
- 54:53AMC Disney Springs two thousand and twelve screens. You know, we have
- 54:59multiplexes. Try to hump in as many showings as possible, Well, you
- 55:02have to play Avengers Endgame twenty four hours straight for three weeks, so everybody
- 55:07can have a shot at seeing it. So okay, So I feel like
- 55:13we could keep going, and I have a few more things that I'd like
- 55:15to talk about, but I'll bring that up at the end when I give
- 55:19my ratings, because we're reaching the hour mark. And I'm totally stoked to
- 55:24hear your guys's ratings because I think we all have good things to say about
- 55:28it. We also all have criticisms. We're very honest with this movie.
- 55:34And so Darren, I'm going to start with you how many I'm trying to
- 55:40be cute but also not gross at the same time, I don't I don't
- 55:43don't know, like how many how many swords? I guess swords are safe.
- 55:47Yeah, swords are safe because I could say, like, you know,
- 55:50crucifixes, But how many swords are you giving this this film? So
- 55:57yeah, it's I'm never more have I wanted to give a half star,
- 56:02but like in a good way, but yeah, this because it's a good
- 56:08movie. It's a I mean you can see. I mean we went to
- 56:12Universal Studios, Hollywood a little bit ago and they have the studio tour,
- 56:15and they have in the queue they have posters from all of the big universal
- 56:20movies, and they had like a huge, you know, cornerstone one for
- 56:23Spartacus because this movie, you know, did really well for them. I
- 56:30don't think, I mean, you look at the box office. I don't
- 56:31think it did as well on paper, but I think for the company it
- 56:37and it definitely did, you know, didn't hurt Kubuck's career. Yeah,
- 56:42it's part of It's just I'm not a sword and sandals guy. It is
- 56:49not my genre. Not that I can't appreciate it, but it is not
- 56:53what I lean into. I don't, you know, crack open a soda
- 56:57and be like, ah, Spartacus, here we go Friday Night. So
- 57:02I am going to give this a solid three. I enjoy it. It's
- 57:08do I see. Do I think I'm gonna watch it again? Probably not.
- 57:12I think I'm good until I watch it in the education of my children,
- 57:16to show them, you know, when they're older of like this type
- 57:19of story. If they're into stuff like that, maybe compare it with Gladiator
- 57:23or something. You know, this is a little couple of years down down
- 57:27the line. So I'm going to give it three swords, but make sure
- 57:31you only go for the kill shot here on the chest, on Kirk Douglas's
- 57:37sparkling chest. All right, Doctor sci Fi gives it a three. I
- 57:42wouldn't say sparkling. I'd say greasy, greasy, greasy, oiled up kessel
- 57:47junkie. How many sandals are you giving this film? It is surprisingly difficult
- 57:55because a movie like this you almost you feel obliged, where you think,
- 58:00I don't want to give this five stars? What's wrong with me? Everybody
- 58:02tells me this is an incredible classic, and so I wind up, honestly,
- 58:08with this reflexive fear of being the contrarian. So, Darren, I
- 58:13thank you for your bravery, for being the first one to step out onto
- 58:15the field. Here. I had my review behind the door. You couldn't
- 58:19see it, but you could hear it. I could give you the strength
- 58:22for your battle. I'm about to charge up there. I am torn.
- 58:30I am going to wind up splitting the difference and giving it a three and
- 58:34a half because in terms of enjoyment, I'm about it at three because we
- 58:38didn't even while we're talking about the great acting, one of the most baffling
- 58:43miscastings in that. I can recall of a movie I've seen recently. Happened
- 58:49with Tony Curtis. In this movie. I don't know what the hell he
- 58:52was doing in this movie. It makes no sense when he pops up on
- 58:55screen. It's just like and Tony Keurtis, Yeah, come along, ladies,
- 59:00see him as and to Ninus, and even the scene I think it's
- 59:05part of what sort of like cuts the knees out from the scene where you
- 59:08know Spartacus is there with him and he's had to kill his friend, and
- 59:13it's this brotherly love moment where they're really together. They're in it together,
- 59:16and you're supposed to be feeling really sad. And I'm sitting there and I'm
- 59:21thinking, man, there are a whole lot of other actors in that era
- 59:23that would have done better with this. I don't know. I don't know
- 59:27why Tony Curtis is in this scene. And I feel terrible for saying that,
- 59:30because who am I. People don't know my name, people won't know
- 59:35my name, people know Tony Curtis, So who am I to offer that
- 59:37criticism? But put them with Jack Lemon in a good comedy. I'll go
- 59:44watch it. But technically, I think there are things that are just brilliant
- 59:51about how this is shot. The moments where I can see Kubrick, I'm
- 59:53like, damn, he was thirty four when he did this. Yikes.
- 59:59That is like talk about just absolute raw skill and craft and talent on display
- 1:00:06in the shots that work. Wow. So I'll split the difference. Three
- 1:00:10and a half is where I end up with Spartacus. So I hope Darren,
- 1:00:16I hope neither one of us is like thrown into the ring, you
- 1:00:20know, to fight or anything. I would have if I was giving a
- 1:00:22half points, I would probably have given a three and a half as well,
- 1:00:27Like it's all right, yeah, so we're we're good. We're good.
- 1:00:30We'll make Tristan fight to the death. Okay, yes, we are
- 1:00:35safe. Let's see what happens. We all, yes, got the trident.
- 1:00:39I don't think. You don't know. You don't know what I'm going
- 1:00:43to rate this. You don't know. Um, so okay. One thing
- 1:00:52that really killed the movie for not killed, but one thing that really hurt
- 1:00:59the movie from me was the ending. This was like the Return of the
- 1:01:05King for me, where I'm just like, holy crap, where is the
- 1:01:09ending? Going to happen. There's so many great things happened at the end,
- 1:01:15like with Tony Curtis dying with you know, with him seeing his son
- 1:01:22for the first time with them, with Crassis discovering um Spartacus's wife, you
- 1:01:30know, like everything, Like so many interesting things happen at the end.
- 1:01:34But once you get past the I'm Spartacus now I'm Sparticus, it feels like
- 1:01:38one long epilogue where you're you're watching it and just like why is the movie
- 1:01:45not over yet? And that's that's a big knock against it. But to
- 1:01:52me, like this movie really connected with me. I feel like I watched
- 1:01:55it at the right time, at the right age and the right mood.
- 1:02:00This. I loved this movie. I love the performances, you know,
- 1:02:05like, but I'm with you John about Tony Curtis. Uh this I the
- 1:02:10script is the best thing about this This this movie. The cinematography is fantastic,
- 1:02:16the music is like cluster. But I feel like where Lawrence Olivier,
- 1:02:22Charles Lofton, Peter Ustinov, we're all just above and beyond, Kirk Douglas
- 1:02:29is Spartacas. Yeah, I feel like a lot of people probably could have
- 1:02:34been spartacas, but you know, the things that worked really worked, and
- 1:02:38the things that were you know, didn't kill it for me, even though
- 1:02:45like Kubrick is absolutely wrong with the I'm Spartaicas scene. I literally got chills.
- 1:02:50And when Douglas when we when we fade out on Douglas's single tier,
- 1:02:54I'm like, God, dang it, that's movie making right there. And
- 1:03:00so I'm giving this a four and a half. I love this. I
- 1:03:04think this is great and I am not disagreeing with you guys with what you
- 1:03:09have said. I think you guys have gave some really great points. And
- 1:03:15you know, should I have given this a four, probably, but I
- 1:03:17think because what I like works so well, I got to bring it up
- 1:03:22to a four and a half and just knock off half star for all those
- 1:03:25false endings. So thank you everyone so much for listening. We really do
- 1:03:31appreciate you. We appreciate you guys emailing us. We've gotten so many emails
- 1:03:35from you guys for directors to talk about in the future, and we're going
- 1:03:38to try to get to as many as we can. Remember to go to
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