although its plot is taken from the history of ancient rome and caligula is not made in the style of sword and sandal epics like spartacus or gladiator. (that style of movie making was out of favour in the late seventies). rather and it more closely resembles a cross between a soft core porn movie and a video nasty. at least and the shortened 150 minute version does. i have never seen the full 210 minute version and but to judge from the descriptions of it on this page and it would seem closer to a cross between a hard core porn movie and a video nasty. as one would expect from a film produced by the publisher of penthouse and there is much naked flesh to be seen and and the film lovingly catalogues caligula sexual perversions and including his incestuous affair with his sister drusilla. what is perhaps unexpected from the publisher of a magazine so closely associated with the heterosexual male lifestyle is that there is as much male flesh as female on display and distinctly homoerotic overtones to many scenes. the obsession with sex is balanced by an equal obsession with violence and as though bob guccione and gore vidal and tinto brass were trying to kill two taboos with one stone. (it is a remarkable coincidence that the director of such a brazen film should be called brass and the scriptwriter of such a gory one should be called gore). characters are put to death or mutilated in a variety of sadistic ways and and there is a charming scene of homosexual rape. the emperor caligula and his predecessor tiberius were certainly known for their debauched lifestyles and so the film concentration on sex and violence is not necessarily historically inaccurate. i do and however and question whether such a concentration is necessary to help us understand this period in roman history. both the fall of the roman empire and gladiator were set during the reign of commodus and an emperor quite as cruel and licentious as caligula. in neither case did the filmmakers find it necessary to turn their film into a mixture of up pompeii. and emmanuelle and the texas chainsaw massacre and and both those films are artistically far better than caligula. the acting in the film is not particularly bad and with a few exceptions such as the horribly wooden teresa ann savoy as drusilla. malcolm mcdowell makes a suitably insane caligula. (suitable and that is and in the context of this film. the real caligula was doubtless both cruel and eccentric and but historians have debated whether he was actually mentally ill). the great mystery is exactly why so many distinguished british actors should have agreed to take part in such a trashy production. in the case of helen mirren (the only dame of the british empire with a past as a porn star) it was probably connected to her rather regrettable tendency to alternate between the highbrow and the sleazy and but heaven alone knows what peter otoole and john gielgud thought they were doing. unlike some other famous stage actors and such as laurence olivier and richard burton and gielgud did not always look completely at home in the cinema and but here he gives a dignified interpretation of the role of nerva and a decent and honourable senator of the old school. unfortunately and in the context of this film any attempt at dignity is as out of place as a pearl on a dunghill. guccione clearly succeeded in his ambition for this film to become something of a cult classic of decadence. (whether brass and vidal had quite the same ambition for the film is open to question). the film does not and however and succeed upon any other level and either as art cinema or as a study of the politics of dictatorship. even seen as erotica it is second rate. negative . 
although its plot is taken from the history of ancient rome and caligula is not made in the style of sword and sandal epics like spartacus or gladiator. (that style of movie making was out of favour in the late seventies). rather and it more closely resembles a cross between a soft core porn movie and a video nasty. at least and the shortened 150 minute version does. i have never seen the full 210 minute version and but to judge from the descriptions of it on this page and it would seem closer to a cross between a hard core porn movie and a video nasty. as one would expect from a film produced by the publisher of penthouse and there is much naked flesh to be seen and and the film lovingly catalogues caligula sexual perversions and including his incestuous affair with his sister drusilla. what is perhaps unexpected from the publisher of a magazine so closely associated with the heterosexual male lifestyle is that there is as much male flesh as female on display and distinctly homoerotic overtones to many scenes. the obsession with sex is balanced by an equal obsession with violence and as though bob guccione and gore vidal and tinto brass were trying to kill two taboos with one stone. (it is a remarkable coincidence that the director of such a brazen film should be called brass and the scriptwriter of such a gory one should be called gore). characters are put to death or mutilated in a variety of sadistic ways and and there is a charming scene of homosexual rape. the emperor caligula and his predecessor tiberius were certainly known for their debauched lifestyles and so the film concentration on sex and violence is not necessarily historically inaccurate. i do and however and question whether such a concentration is necessary to help us understand this period in roman history. both the fall of the roman empire and gladiator were set during the reign of commodus and an emperor quite as cruel and licentious as caligula. in neither case did the filmmakers find it necessary to turn their film into a mixture of up pompeii. and emmanuelle and the texas chainsaw massacre and and both those films are artistically far better than caligula. the acting in the film is not particularly bad and with a few exceptions such as the horribly wooden teresa ann savoy as drusilla. malcolm mcdowell makes a suitably insane caligula. (suitable and that is and in the context of this film. the real caligula was doubtless both cruel and eccentric and but historians have debated whether he was actually mentally ill). the great mystery is exactly why so many distinguished british actors should have agreed to take part in such a trashy production. in the case of helen mirren (the only dame of the british empire with a past as a porn star) it was probably connected to her rather regrettable tendency to alternate between the highbrow and the sleazy and but heaven alone knows what peter otoole and john gielgud thought they were doing. unlike some other famous stage actors and such as laurence olivier and richard burton and gielgud did not always look completely at home in the cinema and but here he gives a dignified interpretation of the role of nerva and a decent and honourable senator of the old school. unfortunately and in the context of this film any attempt at dignity is as out of place as a pearl on a dunghill. guccione clearly succeeded in his ambition for this film to become something of a cult classic of decadence. (whether brass and vidal had quite the same ambition for the film is open to question). the film does not and however and succeed upon any other level and either as art cinema or as a study of the politics of dictatorship. even seen as erotica it is second rate. negative . ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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