Spartacus

Spartacus (1960) starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Jean Simmons, Tony Curtis, Peter Ustinov. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Douglas stars as a slave named Spartacus in ancient Rome, who escapes from gladiator school and goes on to lead an army of escaped gladiators and freed slaves against the Romans. Olivier plays the arch-villain Crassus, and Simmons is the slave woman Spartacus falls in love with. It all leads up to a big battle scene, in which the slave army is defeated by three Roman armies acting in concert. It's an epic saga, but the movie is overlong at more than three hours. The subtitles included on the disc are adequate. Grade: B