The film that Gladiator wants to be when it grows up, Spartacus is everything a Hollywood epic should be... And a whole lot more besides.

Getting the gloss and the glitz down pat, a young Stanley Kubrick was gifted with Kirk Douglas and a starry supporting cast, plus plenty of opportunity to deliver jaw-dropping action scenes. He obliged, ordering hundreds of men (no CGI-multiplication going on here) to barrel into each other for some earth-shuddering battles.

But looks aren't everything, and what makes Spartacus one of the greats is the fact it has heart and brains to go with its brawn. Written by Dalton Trumbo and Howard Fast (both blacklisted during the McCarthy witch hunts), this story of a slave uprising is a film about a crumbling empire, about revolutionary fervour, about the power of solidarity and, above all else, about the priceless value of both love and loyalty.

Nouveau-epics like Troy and Alexander have a lot to live up to. Let's all chant: ""I'm Spartacus...""

DVD Extras:

You could quibble about the fact that the film's split on to two discs or worry about the absence of a Making Of documentary, but frankly you'd be far better off just sitting down and enjoying the goodies that are here. Vintage newsreel material and period films about the writers and gladiatorial school complement deleted scenes and designer Saul Bass' storyboards, but the real meat is in the commentaries. Dalton Trumbo's scene-by-scene analysis is a fantastic insight into the art of structuring a motion picture, while the chat by Douglas, Fast, Bass, producers Edward Lewis and Robert Harris and star Ustinov gives a real sense of the brutal nature of Hollywood studio politics. Hearing about how Kubrick replaced Anthony Mann and Trumbo usurped original writer Fast (he wasn't scribbling fast enough, apparently), you're left with the impression of an empire as ruthless as Rome ever was. Frightening.