All movie goers want a see a film that entertains them, and Spartacus surly entertains the masses. It’s an epic about a gladiator who raises a revolt against the Romans and leads a slave army creating chaos on the Italian peninsula. Kirk Douglas (Spartacus) does a terrific job playing the gladiator who fights for his friends and family. Lawrence Olivier, Tony Curtis, Charles Laughton, and Peter Ustinov are an effective supporting cast whose decisions affect the pace and plot of the film, making Spartacus having to make the decisions based on their actions, even though Spartacus only has direct contact with Tony Curtis (Antoninus) through most of the film.
One critique that I will highlight on this epic is the score. Stanley Kubrick and Universal hired Alex North to conduct and write the score for this film and that was a bit of a downfall because Alex North’s reputation as a composer does not do well with melodies. Though his music is powerful, it lacks the melody needed to attract fans and new epic searchers to the film. There is no epic music associated with this film making it harder to recognize it as an epic. An epic score as Peter Jackson asked Howard Shore to do with the Lord of the Rings (2001-2003), was to make melodies that Jackson could whistle to. Alex North did not do that with Spartacus. Spartacus is a great epic, but the score does not do anything to help it.
Kirk Douglas (Center) In Spartacus
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