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I just got back from seeing 'SPARTACUS' at the Fox Theater in DeTroit a few
hours ago.
SPARTACUS originally premiered in 1960 (182 minutes long). In 1967 it was
re-rereleased in 1967 in a shorter (161 min) version. In the late 1980s &
early 1990, the film was restored, & scenes that were cut from the original
were added back, so that the legnth is now 197 minutes, & has 6-track Dolby
sound on its 70mm print.
SPARTACUS, directed by Stanley Kubrick, took three years to film, & ended
up winning 4 Academy Awards.
The basically true story revolves around a slave named Spartacus (Kirk
Douglas) who used to be a soldier, until he was captured by the Romans, &
forced to become a gladiator. Spartacus led a small, successful rebellion
which caused other slaves to rebel & align themselves with Spartacus. This
caused the Roman Senate to panic because Spartacus' 'army' was becoming quite
powerful, not to mention the fact that the slave's rebellion was unnerving to
the wealthy Romans who were accustomed to owning many slaves... Spartacus
& his army end up kicking the booty of two Roman armies sent to challenge him,
and the climax of the movie occurs when several other Roman armies intercede
as Spartacus heads towards Rome.
Interestingly, some of the crowd noises used in the movie were actually
recordings of the crowd at a 1959 fottball game at MSU between the 'Spartans'
& Notre Dame!
It is a good movie regardless of whether you watch it at home on TV, or at
a theater, but it is a fantastic movie to go see at the Fox! The Fox Theater
opened in 1928, costing 10 million dollars. It was built by & named after
William Fox, who founded the movie company of the same name. The interior
has all sorts of gold leafing, brass trim, hand stenciled canvas panels,
decorative figures, & even a glass chandelier weighing two tons. Even though
the theater does look huge, it is hard to believe the balcony & main floor
have a total seating capacity of nearly 5000! One of the two pipe organs
(almost 3000 pipes, in 7 different chambers) is played before the movie, &
during intermission. All the seats are quite comfortable, & afford a good
view of the huge screen.
I think it is safe to say that the Michigan Theater --which perhaps most of
you have been to-- is similar to the Fox, but on a much smaller (& cheaper)
scale.
Tickets to see SPARTACUS at the Fox are $10 each, & seating is general
admission. I understand that you can get coupons for $3 off from Little
Caesar's outlets, although they're only good for Thursdays.
SPARTACUS runs thru 28 July. Showings are at 7:30PM Tuesday - Friday. On
weekends, showings are at 2PM & 7:30PM.
Parking is convenient (right across the street) & inexpensive (I paid $1).
The movie is great, the theater is great, so prove that you aren't a
racist suburbanite, & go see it!
Tickets are available at the door, or from any TicketMaster outlet, & you
can call 313/567-6000 anytime for more info.
20 responses total.
The Fox is a beautiful theater indeed.
The restoration job that's been done on the Fox is nothing short of fantastic. We saw "Lawrence of Arabia" there a couple of years ago. "Spartacus", along with Otto Preminger's "Exodus" that was released about the same time, occupies an interesting place in film history. The screenplays for both films were written by Dalton Trumbo, who along with many other Hollywod film people was blacklisted during the McCarthy era and had been able to obtain work only by writing under pseudonyms. In "Spartacus" and "Exodus" he was credited under his own name, effectively bringing an end to the blacklisting era. Don't think I'll be able to make "Spartacus" at the Fox, but will try to catch it when it comes to Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater -- another restored, if somewhat less impressive, movie palace -- in August.
The one thing that really dismayed me about the restoration was the omission of the original credits. If you want to know what actor played some minor character, you're totally out of luck! The real Spartacus defeated five Roman armies, not two; and his downfall was not the treachery of pirates but the refusal of much of his ragtag army to leave Italy (they were at the Alps). After his army split, Spartacus's half ran into Pompey returning from Spain; Spartacus fell in battle. Having seen the Fox Theater before and after *its* restoration, I'd have to say that it didn't really need a lot of (visible) work -- mainly cleaning and polishing. The biggest problem with the theater before the restoration was the sad state of the auditorium seats and floor. All of the 4600-plus seats have been reupholstered, and carpeting laid down on what used to be bare concrete floors. No doubt it required extensive rewiring and HVAC work (the last time I was at the Fox, they took us backstage so we could marvel at how antiquated the electrical and lighting system was). But I was amused to see that the restoration cost only $8 million and took less than a year. For something as big as this, that's not much time or money.
It is a wonderful place, a reminder of the times when the movie theater was the place to catch up with people, and was the only place to see newsreels, as well as movies. Besides the incredible interior, the screen is the largest that I know of in this area.
This item has now been linked to the history conference.
This response has been erased.
re 2: remmers! You were there too? I got the tickets from a WJZZ DJ freind of mine. Balcony, left-front.
Kudos to 'polygon' for that historical information.
Choke! Do you realize we were both, simultaneously stating "Kudos", but in different items? Awesome.
As was "Spartacus".
Truly a frightening phenomenon.
Have I got the hang of this? "Take it to the KUDOS conference!"
The little dog hits <more> You die...
This response has been erased.
****** Flight Computer For Sale: ******
(Guy who bought it, got one for Christmas)
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P A T H F I N D E R
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Groundspeed Heading
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What the L was that!? Is that in the Grex Rule book?
Holy Moly! I am the first person to touch this item in THREE years. I actually saw the Spartacus movie back in '91 as a matter of fact....Wow. The crucifixtion scene at teh end was very powerful. I love Stanley Kubrick, such great movies In teh big history of things, however, the slave revolt of Spartacus wasnt that big of a deal to the Roman empire...The moive blows it out of proportion
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