He was Spartacus!

**Halie Satanus** · February 05, 2020, 06:39 PM

Actor Kirk Douglas died today at 103..

For me the love of all things Roman/military/warfare started with Spartacus. I was maybe 9-10 when I first saw it (the movies was already 15 or so years old at that time) and it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen. I can still happily sit and watch it. Douglas wanted a story to follow up his earlier historic outing 'The Vikings' and he picked something that wouldn't likely wouldn't have been an easy sell to the big studios. He was a huge fan of history and even had his own production company produce it amist much controvasy.

Douglas film output was prolific for many years and is littered with classics. From 'Lust for Life' to 'Paths of Glory' he made a ton of Westerns and even managed a couple of decent Sci-Fi and Paranormal outings. One of the greats. But it was Spartacus he'll be remebered for the most..

**Akar** · February 05, 2020, 06:48 PM

It's pretty crazy that this guy was such a legend in his time and then got to live to 103 and see how his legacy played out.

**douglas** · February 05, 2020, 09:39 PM

Very sad loss. Not many as good as he was.

**conon394** · February 06, 2020, 10:12 AM

Roman/military/warfare started with Spartacus

The best part is the apoplexy the Studio execs had when found out how many extras Kubrick was hiring for the final battle.

**Halie Satanus** · February 06, 2020, 12:40 PM

Aye. The movie managed to skirt around so many rules of the establishment. From the 'Snails or Oysters' dialouge to hiring a screen writer blacklisted as a communist. Spartacus really stands a testament to Douglas' star power, Kubrick's uncompromising determination and of course, the bloody minded legend himself.

**Infidel144** · February 06, 2020, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by Halie Satanus

Aye. The movie managed to skirt around so many rules of the establishment. From the 'Snails or Oysters' dialouge...

They were not able to skirt around it. That whole scene was cut and, IIRC, not restored until 1990.

Edit:
1991:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nyti...hton&st=Search

**conon394** · February 06, 2020, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by Infidel144

They were not able to skirt around it. That whole scene was cut and, IIRC, not restored until 1990.

Edit:
1991:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nyti...hton&st=Search

True but even in the allowed version they kinda got implication.

Also they did yeoman work in at least having the up front horse shots lack stirrups. I know in long shots you can find cast who have them, but honestly my wife for example could have filled the ad to ride bare back. However I doubt a lot of people who just live in LA were likely to and/or the very different riding experience. For historical fetish reasons I wanted to learn and my instructor being somewhat sarcastic put me on a thoroughbred/friesian cross. Dam thing mostly ignored me - took months to get down the right set of leg communication and the noy falling off him and my teeth never stopped clacking together (I know now why the Tennessee trotter was invented and why any knight worth his armor had a riding horse). Almost every horse riding extra of the day was likely just good at riding a quarter horse with a typical western cowboy working rig.