A political and financial patron of Julius Caesar, Crassus joined Caesar and Pompey in the unofficial political alliance known as the First Triumvirate. Together, the three men dominated the Roman political system, but the alliance did not last long, due to the ambitions, egos, and jealousies of the three men. While Caesar and Crassus were lifelong allies, Crassus and Pompey disliked each other and Pompey grew increasingly envious of Caesar's spectacular successes in the Gallic Wars. The alliance was restabilized at the Luca Conference in 56 BC, after which Crassus and Pompey again served jointly as consuls. Following his second consulship, Crassus was appointed as the governor of Roman Syria. Crassus used Syria as the launchpad for a military campaign against the Parthian Empire, Rome's long-time eastern enemy. In This Son of Spartacus , stars the decurion Randus (Steve Reeves) holds himself so well in the command of his troops, that Caesar promotes him to centurion . He is subsequently dispatched and sent to Egyp , to keep Julius Caesar (Ivo Garrani) informed on the actions , to observe movements and intentions of co-triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus (Claudio Gora).
This Sword-and sandals movie is plenty of adventures , emotions, thrills , sword-play , impressive battles, atmospheric settings and colorful scenarios well photographed by Enzo Barboni , shot mostly on location in Egypt. It is widely considered to be one of the top 10 greatest Peplum films of all time. This great film will surely attract a whole new generation of classic Peplum fans . And for seasoned cinematic connoseuirs, Son of Spartacus will rekindle an era of film making at its best. This is one of the best Steve Reeves' Peplums along with Hercules (1958) and second and last film portrayal of Hercules Unchained (1959) that in certain ways, better than his first . This marked the final Italian sword and sandal/mythological muscleman movie to be made by Steve Reeves . He would make two adventure movies : Sandokan the Great (1963) , Sandokan pirates of seven seas (1964) and a spaghetti western : Vivo per la tua morte (1968) by Camilo Bazzoni , before retiring from the screen. Here Reeves plays in his usual stoic style a Roman centurion, who is actually the lost son of Spartacus, who is dispatched to Crassus' camp to observe his movements and keep Caesar informed .The corpulent Steve Reeves was a hunk man who made lots of roman epic films also called ¨Musclemen movies¨. Luck's Reeves changed when Italian director Pietro Francisci persuaded him to go overseas to star ¨Hercules¨ and sequel ¨Hercules and queen of Lydia also titled Hercules unchained ¨ that served as the prototypes of all cloak-and-sandal movies to come and both of them became a surprise US hit smash . Later on, he followed with ¨Goliath and the Barbarians, The giant of Marathon, The Trojan horse, The son of Spartacus and The Avenger¨ among them . Steve was an American bouncing who emigrated Italy and created a true star-system based on pumped-up heroes. He paved the way for other actors to seek their fame and fortune in Italy playing bouncing adventurers . Other stars by the time on this type of movies are Mark Forest, Gordon Mitchell, Dan Vadis, Brad Harris and 'Gordon Scott' who made him more important competence. Nobody, nevertheless, topped Steve in popularity .
There are some historical remarks about Julius Caesar and especially Crassus and his death . The actual events were the following ones : In 53 BC, at the battle of Carrhae , Crassus' legions were defeated by a numerically inferior Parthian force. Crassus' legions were primarily heavy infantry, but were not prepared for the type of swift, cavalry-and-arrow attack in which Parthian troops were particularly adept. The Parthian horse archers devastated the unprepared Romans with hit-and-run techniques and feigned retreats with the ability to shoot as well backwards as they could forwards. Crassus refused his quaestor Gaius Cassius Longinus' plans to reconstitute the Roman battle line, and remained in the testudo formation to protect his flanks until the Parthians eventually ran out of arrows. However, the Parthians had stationed camels carrying arrows to allow their archers to continually reload and relentlessly barrage the Romans until dusk. Despite taking severe casualties, the Romans successfully retreated to Carrhae, forced to leave many wounded behind to be later slaughtered by the Parthians.cSubsequently, Crassus' men, being near mutiny, demanded he parley with the Parthians, who had offered to meet with him. Crassus, despondent at the death of his son Publius in the battle, finally agreed to meet the Parthian general Surena; however, when Crassus mounted a horse to ride to the Parthian camp for a peace negotiation, his junior officer Octavius suspected a Parthian trap and grabbed Crassus' horse by the bridle, instigating a sudden fight with the Parthians that left the Roman party dead, including Crassus. A story later emerged to the effect that, after Crassus' death, the Parthians poured molten gold into his mouth in symbolic mockery of his thirst for wealth. It has also been documented that the severed head of Crassus was used as a prop in the Parthian adaptation of the Euripides play The Bacchae.
Sergio Corbucci's direction is pretty good. Corbucci was a notorious and prolific writer/filmmaker. He would make several Spaghetti classics : ¨The great silence¨, ¨Compañeros¨ and ¨the Mercenary¨ and other considerable Westerns : ¨Hellbenders¨, ¨Far west story¨ , ¨Johnny Oro¨ and ¨Navajo Joe¨. Furthermore , he made terror , action , comedy and all kinds of genres . Rating : 6.5/10 . Good , high recommended for Peplum fans and for others who simply enjoy watching timeless pieces with icons such as Steve Reeves.
