Spartacus is a cultural artefact as old as Big Fat Pig. Regular readers might know that the Pig is not a particular devotee of the oeuvre of Stanley Kubrick - deeming A Clockwork Orange a pernicious little film, 2001: A Space Odyssey a monolithic slab of pretension, and Doctor Strangelove grossly overrated. On the topic of that last mentioned film, I'm afraid Peter Sellers also leaves me cold most of the time. These are not fashionable views. The Pig perhaps redeems himself a little in the eyes of the cinematic bien pensant by admiring Full Metal Jacket, but generally that has been the limit of any pleasurable engagement with this oft acclaimed directorial genius.
But here's the thing, we actually got round to watching all of Spartacus at one sitting yesterday. Hitherto it has been one of those films I have seen in snippets, generally around Christmas. It's good, marked in particular by a sharp Dalton Trumbo script, by its pace and by several (Kirk Douglas, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Laurence Olivier) heavyweight performances. 70/100.
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