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Last week's Movie Quiz winners

Last week's picture clue was taken on the set of Spartacus, the 1960 epic starring Kirk Douglas (in the snazzy sandals) and directed by Stanley Kubrick (in the equally snazzy white socks). Even some of the winners were surprised to learn that it was a Kubrick film, placing it in the same pantheon as 2001 and A Clockwork Orange. As one wag put it, "Seems weird that Kubrick directed Spartacus-- like finding out Oliver Stone had directed a couple of Waltons episodes."

Another quiz winner wrote, "A few years back, I rented (over several weeks) all of Kubrick's films and watched them in order. Maybe because he was a director-for-hire on Spartacus, it somehow stood out as the only one of his films that didn't feel like a Kubrick film. Not to say that it wasn't good, it just lacked that something special that seemed to inhabit his other films."

I think that's well said and fair enough, but I also think everyone in the world (or at least assembled here) would agree that a "work-for-hire" movie by Stanley Kubrick still beats anything directed by almost all of today's so-called greats. (I'll let you make your own small list of exceptions.)

And almost fifty years later, Spartacus remains a hell of a good movie, the rare epic period-piece that combines great action scenes with genuinely moving emotional scenes. Douglas is at his best as the noble slave who leads a revolt, and the story moves quickly and stays interesting, something most three-hour movies don't do. The cast was the cream of '50s Hollywood's character actors, both workaday ones like John Ireland and Charles McGraw (especially good as the sadistic gladiator instructor) and royalty like Laurence Olivier and Charles Laughton. Plus, it costarred Jean Simmons and Tony Curtis, both at the height of their cinematic beauty.

The script was by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten, and by giving him screen credit (thanks to executive producer Douglas), Spartacus was the first Hollywood film to break the blacklist. When the film was recently restored, a previously cut, double-entendre-laden bathing scene between Laurence Olivier and Tony Curtis-- basically Larry asking Tony which way he swings, and too risque for 1960-- was included for the first time. One reader reminded me, "The soundtrack had been lost. Curtis came in to dub in his own voice, but since Sir Laurence was gone, Anthony Hopkins filled in. Snails and oysters, indeed!" (If you don't recognize the reference, go here.)

The grim duel between Douglas and fellow slave Woody Strode is one of the film's best moments-- as tough and scary a fight as anything old-school Hollywood ever did. If you ever wanted to see a sword-and-sandal action scene directed by Stanley Kubrick, here it is. (Note the nice touch where the audience ignores the life-and-death battle below to talk shop.)

I thought it would be a tougher quiz, but lots of people recognized Kirk, if not Stan, so congratulations and a seafood platter with Larry to the following winners: Wayne Palmer, John Seffl, Nancy Louise Rutherford, Song-Un Lee, Donald Greene, Jack Sparks, Joe Rosenberg, Bob Redwing, Vince Tuss, Kenneth Gramer, Fred Lorence, Dave Mallow, Bill Hearne, Thomas Miller, John Middleton, Shannon Blatherwick, Michael Mattson, Denny Lynch, Christina O'Sullivan, E. Yarber, ron frigstad, Kevin Musolino, and Corey Anderson.