Caligula (1980)

Ignore the close minded...

This is an amazing movie. There is nothing like it and I doubt there ever will be. It is pure entertainment from start to finish and yes, it has pornographic scenes. Guess what. So does life. Especially if that life is taking place in ancient Rome, a time and place known for excess and indulgence. The cast is spectacular, the sets monumental (be sure to watch the special features) and the script chock full of quotable lines.

This movie has been bashed since day one, but if you watch this with an open mind and a yearning for big screen style entertainment, you won't be disappointed. May 16, 2008

Sex, Sex, Sex & More Sex!

In every scene there is sex! This a movie without a plot, without a logical string. It a movie??? that tries to portrait the crazy life of Caligula. The movie is a portrait of total madness and inhumane attitudes a God-King or King-God. As a fan of the historic period, not one of my favorites but a must be seen. Is up to you if you want to see it! You have been warned! May 4, 2008

Caligula

This is a major production with good cinematic values. Story drags a little, but overall is compelling. April 29, 2008

Very good

It has everything you could ask for and more. It even has lots of real sex, I highly recommend it. April 28, 2008

Repellant Masterpiece

"Little Boots" Caligula, masterfully portrayed by Malcolm McDowell ("A Clockwork Orange"), easily the most degenerate, morally corrupt of all the Ceasars, including the infamous Nero, invites you into his sexually seething, opulently gore-filled palace to witness his uncontolled hubris as he ascends to the "throne" of what was once the Republic of Rome.

Vicious, paranoid, petulant, flippant, Caligula destroys all boundaries of morality in his unbridled lust to become a god. Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud add dramatic gravity in short but well-crafted roles as roadblocks in the path of monomania.

This film is definitely not for younger viewers nor persons who object to pornography, demonstrating as it does the broadest range of sexual activity one is likely to see in a film intended for the general public.

For all of that, the lavish sexuality of the film is essential to the depiction of scene and theme, and though ever-present, it is only occasionally gratuitous. This film must rate as the finest film ever made to contain pornography, stylistically, contextually, and thematically.

Despite the visuals, or sometimes because of them, "Caligula" is indisputably a morality play for our time. It is repellant and reassuring, and, ultmately, a near-masterpiece of fine art.

April 27, 2008

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