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Spartacus (1960)
In Stanley Kubrick's ancient 1st century BC epic:
- clenched jaw slave-revolt leader Spartacus (producer/actor
Kirk Douglas) and his gladiator-training school slave dealer Lentulus
Batiatus (Oscar-winning Peter Ustinov)
- Spartacus' shout from a caged cell: "I am not
an animal"
- the scene of the savage duel/fight to the death with
fellow Ethiopian slave Draba (Woody Strode)
- scenes of Roman decadence and gluttony including
the controversial, homo-erotic bath scene in which bisexual Roman
patrician Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier) questioned young
slave Antoninus (Tony Curtis) about his gender/sexual preferences
("Do you eat oysters?...Do you eat snails?....My taste includes
both snails and oysters")
- the independent-minded, slave girl Varinia's (Jean
Simmons) near-nude bathing scene
- the colossal slave rebellion against Rome and massive
final battle sequence (with projected fireballs)
- Marcus Crassus' deal for betrayal - foiled when each
devoted slave - in an inspirational scene - proclaimed: "I'm
Spartacus" to save the real Spartacus from execution by standing
up and daring to be identified as such
- Spartacus' short heroic statement to Antoninus after
being asked: "Are you afraid to die, Spartacus?" ("No
more than I was to be born")
- Antoninus' and Spartacus' sword-duel to the death,
with Antoninus' dying last words: "I love you, Spartacus, as
I love my own father"
- the last scene of Spartacus' crucifixion along the
roadside with his wife and child at his feet (she assured him: "This
is your son. He's free, Spartacus, free. He's free. He's free. He'll
remember you, Spartacus, because I'll tell him. I'll tell him who
his father was, and what he dreamed of")
- her final tearful words of goodbye: ("Oh, my
love, my life. Please die, die. Please die, die my love. Oh, God,
why can't you die?...(Looking back) Goodbye, my love, my life. Goodbye,
good-bye")
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