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The 300 Spartans | Year: 1962 Classification: Action/Adventure Actors/Actresses: - Diane Baker - Richard Egan - Ralph Richardson - Rudolph Mat Exciting,dramatic recreation... THE 300 SPARTANS does creditable job of recreating one of the most famous Last Stand battles in history. Director Rudy Mate makes excellent use of on-location sites to render the mytho-historical Battle of Thermopylae fought in August of 480 BC. An elite, 300 man-guard of Sparta's Battle King Leonidas arrayed itself in the narrow "Hot Gates" pass.[North of Athens and Thebes, but far north east of Lacedaemon/Sparta. This is critical,because Sparta's senate initially voted to defend much closer-to-home portion of the Peloponnesian Peninsula near the strategic land bridge of the Gulf of Corinth]. Xerxes,invading Persian Monarch and would-be world conqueror, myriad legions were averred so numerous that their force "drank the streams dry" marching to the attack. Richard Egen does excellent job as Leonidas. He is charismatic yet characterisically laconic leader of Lacedaemons whose "warrior cult" society was legendary even to its Greek City-State peers,embodying The "RETURN HOME WITH YOUR SHIELD...OR ON IT!" victory or death ethic. David Farrar is fine as haughty despot Xerxes who none the less conveys astonishment(and once when a desperate,final Flying-Wedge assault by the Spartans threatens him personally)and respectful fear. Sir Ralph Richardson's role as Athenian senator who struggles to cobble unity from fiercely independent Hellenic poleis is "instructive" and understated.As noted,the background romance involving Diane Baker and a Spartan soldier initiate is essentially filler; Mate employs it well,however, to introduce a Greek traitor who discloses the mountain pass which allows Persians to flank...annihilate...the Spartans and their small cohort of allies. THE 300 SPARTANS may not be epic film making but it's quite good. It's interestingly attentive to detail(wicker shields for Persians;the Lambda signum on shields of Spartans...dressed in red cloaks so enemies cannot see them bleed.)Photography is fine using both panoramic sweep and jump-cut close-up's. Battle scenes are convincing(lacking CGI magnus/extravagance)effectively conveying claustrophobic chaos and terror of close, no-quarter combat. This is an exciting,dramatic recreation of one of the signum battles of history. Overwhelming odds are confronted by resovled courage. It's the right stuff of myth that both chides the spirit as well as excites the imagination. Wooden? Yes! Glorious? yes ... yes .. yes! As many reviewers have pointed out, the acting in this semi-epic is wooden to the extreme ... with one major exception. It's almost like Ralph Richardson is acting in another movie. His Themosticles is eloquent and truely moving. But his scenes with Richard Egan are almost painful to watch ... As for the rest ... well, this is a movie I saw when I was like 13 years old and it was perfect for me then. Now? I look back with affection, despite its flaws. It's not a great movie by any means, but it's still a wonderful film. I'm very happy to get the widescreen edition at last on DVD (allowing me to retire the old PS version I taped off TV). For a slightly more sophisticated look at the battle of Thermopalye, let me recommend Stephen Pressfield's novel "Gates of Fire." It's available in paperback and is a first-rate fictional re-telling of the stand of the 300 Spartans. Your spear is for yourself. Your shield is for the line. Here is a credible portrayal of the heroic stand that the 300 Spartans made at the pass of Thermopylae in 480BCE. Trying to make their way through the pass was a Persian army that likely numbered around 200,000. It was led by king Xerxes, son of Darius. The Persians were set on conquering Greece, and Xerxes was out for revenge. 10 years earlier, in 490BCE Darius had launched an ill-fated invasion force that was turned back at Marathon. This time, Xerxes believed he had a large enough army that the outcome of the war between Gree Ghostbusters out of business and broke, Bill Murray is hosting a bizarre c ict, trilogy and this set is a must-have if you love this trilogy. In all honesty, I don't even consider it that because I view this as one long movie broken up into three separate films and they all must be watched in order to really experience them. I don't think any of us will ever experience movies like this ever again in our lifetimes but who knows. Movie making doesn't get any better than this! Buy The 300 Spartans at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The 300 Spartans Search with the Priority Search Engine on The 300 Spartans This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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