The rebellious Thracian Spartacus (played by Kirk Douglas), born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus (played by Peter Ustinov). After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion.

As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes.

Meanwhile, in Rome, the slave revolt has become a deciding factor in the power struggle between two senators: the republican Gracchus (played by Charles Laughton) and the militarist Crassus (played by Laurence Olivier), each of whom sees the fortunes of the rebellion as the key to his own rise to power or humiliating defeat. As the two statesmen attempt to aid, hinder and manipulate the rebels for their own benefit, Spartacus and his followers press on toward freedom.

The original version included a scene where Marcus Licinius Crassus (played by Laurence Olivier) attempts to seduce Antonius (played by Tony Curtis) but Antonius only has eyes for Spartacus. The Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency (see Gay Movie History) both objected.

At one point Geoffrey Shurlock, representing the censors, suggested it would help if the reference in the scene to a preference for oysters or snails was changed to truffles and artichokes.

In the end the scene was cut, but it was was put back in for the 1991 restoration. But since the soundtrack had been lost in the meantime, the dialogue had to be dubbed; and since Olivier had died, Anthony Hopkins read his lines.

It's been a long while since I have seen this movie. But I still have a memorie of a huge, bombastic experience with loads of fight scenes and great actors.

Spartacus: And maybe there's no peace in this world, for us or for anyone else, I don't know. But I do know that, as long as we live, we must remain true to ourselves.

Batiatus: A good body with a dull brain is as cheap as life itself.

Gracchus: This republic of ours is something like a rich widow. Most Romans love her as their mother but Crassus dreams of marrying the old girl to put it politely.

Spartacus: What's your name?
Draba: You don't want to know my name. I don't want to know your name.
Spartacus: Just a friendly question.
Draba: Gladiators don't make friends. If we're ever matched in the arena together, I have to kill you.

Gracchus: You and I have a tendency towards corpulence. Corpulence makes a man reasonable, pleasant and phlegmatic. Have you noticed the nastiest of tyrants are invariably thin?

Batiatus: Come with us. See to it I don't misuse the money.
Gracchus: Don't be ridiculous. I'm a Senator.

Antoninus: Are you afraid to die, Spartacus?
Spartacus: No more than I was to be born.

Batiatus: Good luck, and may fortune smile upon...most of you.

Caesar: Rome is the mob.
Crassus: No! Rome is an eternal thought in the mind of God.
Caesar: I'd no idea you'd grown religious.
Crassus: [Laughs] It doesn't matter. If there were no gods at all I'd still revere them. If there were no Rome, I'd dream of her.

Crassus: The enemies of the state are known, arrests are being made, the prisons begin to fill.

Varinia: Please die, my love... die, die now my darling!

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