Spartacus. Hollywood has taken the old formula of brawn (Kirk Douglas championing Rome's oppressed) and sex (Jean Simmons swimming in the nude) and added both heart and brain to this massive epic. Thanks to the sharp eye of Director Stanley Kubrick, the literary bent of Scenarist Dalton Trumbo and good performances by Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton and Peter Ustinov, Spartacus adds up to an impressive piece of moviemaking despite its obeisance to commercialism.
Sunrise at Campobello. As in his play, Dore Schary enshrines Franklin Roosevelt but also provides a stirring, often heavily sentimental...