Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas in the title role, a slave and gladiator who leads a rebellion against Rome during the events of the Third Servile War.

Adapted by Dalton Trumbo from Howard Fast's 1951 novel of the same title,[3] the film also stars Laurence Olivier as Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus, Charles Laughton as rival senator Sempronius Gracchus, Peter Ustinov as gladiatorial school owner Lentulus Batiatus, and John Gavin as Julius Caesar.

The film won four Academy Awards (Best Supporting Actor for Ustinov, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design) from six nominations.

[7] In 2017, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

Batiatus receives a visit from the fabulously wealthy and powerful Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus, who aims to become dictator of Rome.

When Spartacus is disarmed, his opponent, an Ethiopian named Draba, spares his life in a burst of defiance and solidarity, and instead attacks the Roman audience, only to be speared in the back by a guard and then personally killed by Crassus.

Thus, when Gracchus reveals that he has bribed the Cilicians to get Spartacus out of Italy and rid Rome of the slave army, Caesar regards such tactics as beneath him and goes over to Crassus.

The Romans try to locate the rebel leader for special punishment by offering a pardon (and return to enslavement) if the men will identify Spartacus.

[14] By the fall of 1958, Universal Studios eventually agreed to finance the film after Douglas persuaded Olivier, Laughton, and Ustinov to act in it.

Douglas originally offered the role of Varinia to French actress Jeanne Moreau, but she did not want to leave her boyfriend in France.

[4][5][26] In his autobiography, Douglas states that this decision was motivated by a meeting that Edward Lewis, Stanley Kubrick, and he had regarding whose names to list for the screenplay in the film credits, given Trumbo's shaky position with Hollywood executives.

Douglas later successfully denied Trumbo credit for the film Town Without Pity, as he worried that his continued association with the screenwriter would hurt his career.

[32] Mann did not discuss the reasons for his departure until shortly before his death in 1967, in which he stated: "Kirk Douglas was the producer of Spartacus: he wanted to insist on the message angle.

To create the illusion of the large crowds that play such an essential role in the film, Kubrick's crew used three-channel sound equipment to record 76,000 spectators at a Michigan State – Notre Dame college football game shouting "Hail, Crassus!"

After extensive research of music of that period, North gathered a collection of antique instruments, while not authentically Roman, that provided a strong dramatic effect.

These instruments included a sarrusophone, Israeli recorder, Chinese oboe, lute, mandolin, Yugoslav flute, kythara, dulcimer, and bagpipes.

[54] The film parallels 1950s American history, specifically House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings and the civil rights movement.

[55] The fight to end segregation and to extend equality to African Americans is symbolized in the racial mixing in the gladiatorial school, as well as in the army of Spartacus, where all must battle for freedom.

In that same century, in the conquered Greek province of Thrace, an illiterate slave woman added to her master's wealth by giving birth to a son whom she names Spartacus.

The controversy over its "legitimacy as an expression of national aspirations" continued until newly elected US President John F. Kennedy crossed a picket line set up by anti-communist organizers to attend the film.

The idea for the film's restoration came about after the American Cinematheque asked Universal Pictures for a print of Spartacus for its three-day (October 13–15, 1989) celebratory festival honoring The Bryna Company and Kirk Douglas' executive producer accomplishments.

Kubrick, who had disowned the film, gave his approval to the effort and participated by providing detailed instructions through long-distance communication via phone and fax machine from London.

[64] The film was first released on VHS in 1985 by MCA Home Video[68] in a reconstructed version that reinstated most of the footage cut from subsequent reissues.

The film was re-released to Blu-ray Disc on October 6, 2015, featuring a 1080p transfer of the 2015 restoration in 2.20:1 aspect ratio and 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound.

[83] Variety declared in a contemporaneous review, "Spartacus appears to have what it takes to satisfy the multitudes ... Kubrick has out-DeMilled the old master in spectacle, without ever permitting the story or the people who are at the core of the drama to become lost in the shuffle.

"[84] John L. Scott of the Los Angeles Times praised the "fabulous cast," Trumbo's "expert screenplay" and "impressive" climactic battle scenes, writing, "Here young director Stanley Kubrick gives notice that from now on he's definitely to be reckoned with.

"[87] Brendan Gill of The New Yorker wrote that the protagonist's speeches "sound much more like Howard Fast ... talking to himself in the nineteen-fifties than they do like an illiterate warrior of the first century before Christ.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called the film a "spotty, uneven drama" that "comes out a romantic mishmash of a strange episode in history.

"[90] The Monthly Film Bulletin found it "disappointing" that "in spite of enormous expenditure, technical resource and an unusually talented team, so much of Spartacus falls into the old ruts of cliché and sentiment."

The 2007 documentary Trumbo suggests that this scene was meant to dramatize the solidarity of those accused of being Communist sympathizers during the McCarthy era, who refused to implicate others, and thus were blacklisted.