The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, 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.
Direction
Kubrick's controlled chaos in the battle sequences.
Acting
Olivier's whispered menace versus Douglas's volcanic charisma.
Cinematography
Saul Bass's shadow titles and those endless Roman legions.
Director
Stanley Kubrick
Kirk Douglas
Spartacus
Laurence Olivier
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Jean Simmons
Varinia
Charles Laughton
Sempronius Gracchus
Peter Ustinov
Lentulus Batiatus
John Gavin
Julius Caesar
Tony Curtis
Antoninus
Nina Foch
Helena Glabrus
John Ireland
Crixus
Herbert Lom
Tigranes Levantus
John Dall
Marcus Publius Glabrus
Woody Strode
Draba
Harold J. Stone
David
Charles McGraw
Marcellus
Joanna Barnes
Claudia Marius
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Dalton Trumbo wrote the script while blacklisted; Kirk Douglas publicly crediting him helped break the Hollywood blacklist. The 'I'm Spartacus' scene became accidental allegory.
The restored bath scene between Crassus and Antoninus, cut for decades, finally revealed Olivier's coded dialogue about sexual 'taste' — 1960s Hollywood pushing boundaries it barely understood.
US
