Dawn breaks over a desolate quarry, where the taste of dust is the only certainty. Here, in the shadow of Roman power, we meet the Thracian slave Spartacus, his defiance simmering in the eyes of Kirk Douglas. We see the quiet strength of Jean Simmons as Varinia, and the chilling ambition of Laurence Olivier’s patrician Crassus. The film’s conscience is forged in this grit, where dented armor an...
