STACK #205 Nov 2021

EXTRAS FEATURE

visit stack.com.au

and sell him to ex-gladiator Proximo (Oliver Reed) who runs a gladiatorial school. Maximus's smouldering anger finally erupts in the arena, and his pugilistic fame as "The Spaniard" eventually takes him to Rome's Colosseum and an opportunity to exact his revenge on the

GLADIATOR (2000) Directed by Ridley Scott

TRIVIA: Marcus Aurelius was not murdered by his son Commodus but died of unknown causes whilst fighting German tribes in 180AD – though Commodus was corrupt, and as mad as Nero and Caligula. He reigned for 12 years and renamed Rome 'Commodiance', after himself. He also had his sister Lucilla executed for plotting against him. Commodus was not slain in a gladiatorial duel but was strangled in his bath by a wrestler lured by one of Commodus' mistresses.

K een movie buffs can refer Ridley Scott's gladiatorial movie back to three previous Hollywood Roman Empire epics. William Wyler's Ben Hur (1959) involved an innocent man wronged by a former friend and sentenced to death as a galley-slave, only for him to survive to face his adversary in an arena chariot race. The following year, Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960) related the story of a gladiator who led a slave revolt against the might of Rome. Thirdly, Anthony Mann's grand-scale epic The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) featured the historical characters Marcus Aurelius, Commodus and Lucilla, who also appear in Gladiator – as do some of the major plot-lines. It was also the very last of Hollywood's toga epics until Scott's movie some 36 years later. However, whereas Mann's movie was a colossal box-office failure, Scott's film became a massive worldwide success, garnering 12 Academy Award nominations and winning five Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor. When the producers of DreamWorks SKL offered the original screenplay of Gladiator to Ridley Scott, he was apprehensive to return to a seemingly obsolete genre, unseen for almost four decades and considered far too risky. But when the producers showed him illustrations of famous paintings of ancient Rome and Romans, one in particular immediately aroused Scott's interest. It depicted a Colosseum gladiator with his foot on his fallen opponent's throat, looking up at the assembled crowd with thumbs turned down, condemning his opponent's death. Scott was impressed, and that single image convinced him to take on the project. With a budget of $100 million and location shoots in England (the opening battle), Morocco and Malta, Gladiator was one of the first productions to make full use of CGI technology to recreate ancient history and increase the number

psychopathic emperor Commodus. Ridley Scott's perceived boldness and audacity in returning to an apparently bygone genre (which had waned in the 1960s, due primarily to crippling budgets), is to be lauded. Gladiator 's faded, sepia-coloured corporate logos of both the Universal globe and DreamWorks "cloud logo" in the opening credits, accompanied by Hans Zimmer's beautiful soundtrack music, was Scott's idea of reaching back into the past and saluting the old Hollywood ancient history epics.

The illustration which prompted Ridely Scott to direct Gladiator

of spectators in the Colosseum from 2,000 to 35,000. Gladiator begins with Roman General Maximus (Russell Crowe) and his legions defeating the last of the Germanic barbarians in a fearful battle. The ailing emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) plans to name the loyal Maximus as his successor in order to restore the Power of the Roman Senate. The emperor summons his son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) and daughter Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) to be informed of his decision. Commodus, who had naturally expected to succeed his father, vehemently disagrees, which leads him to commit patricide. Declaring himself emperor, Commodus orders the death of Maximus and despatches his Praetorian guards to murder Maximus's wife and young son. Maximus escapes from his would-be executioners and races to his home, only to discover that his wife and son have been crucified. After burying his family, the distraught

Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott on location

A global critical success which collected $450 million at the box office, Gladiator resurrected long-standing traditions of the historical epic for a completely new cinema audience. Furthermore, Scott's film generated a clutch of similar and extremely popular epic movies which swiftly followed, such as Troy, Kingdom of Heaven , 300 and Robin Hood .

and exhausted Maximus collapses on their graves. Slave traders find him

Join STACK ‘s resident filmhistorian Bob J and our community of cinema buffs to have your say eachmonth in ‘ Bob J‘s Classic Movie Club ‘ Facebook group.

Sexual references, drug use, adult themes, medium level sex scene,

NEW TO DVD AT

NOVEMBER 10

20 NOVEMBER 2021 drug references and medium level coarse language

jbhifi.com.au

WHILE STOCKS LAST

© 2021 BBC Studios Ltd.