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      The Fall of the Roman Empire

      Released Apr 26, 1964 2h 33m History Drama List
      93% 14 Reviews Tomatometer 69% 2,500+ Ratings Audience Score Toward the end of his reign, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Alec Guinness) intends to hand over his throne to the steadfast soldier Livius (Stephen Boyd). Before he can enact his intentions, a loyalist to Commodus (Christopher Plummer), the de facto heir, poisons Aurelius. Commodus becomes an ineffectual leader, corrupt and pompous -- and although Livius concedes to Commodus' rule, he cannot stand by when Commodus threatens to kill Aurelius' daughter, Lucilla (Sophia Loren). Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Jan 03 Rent Now

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      Critics Reviews

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      Michael Sragow New Yorker Commodus, played here by the flamboyant Christopher Plummer, forsakes the Pax Romana and turns Rome into an empire of camp. Mar 9, 2015 Full Review Fernando F. Croce Slant Magazine Put bluntly, the difference between El Cid and Fall is the difference between faith in a concept of heroism that can transcend even death. Rated: 3.5/4 Apr 26, 2008 Full Review Penelope Gilliatt Observer (UK) It is an astonishing picture to watch. Mar 5, 2024 Full Review Judith Crist New York Herald Tribune The Fall of the Roman Empire, costing sixteen million dollars, is half the price of Cleopatra but twice as tolerable because there's a complete lack of pretension, a childish innocence, about it. Aug 15, 2022 Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia Mann pompously puts on a sword-and-sandal spectacle, but with a rather uneven result that only makes his chronicle of the decline and corruption of an empire to collapse more quickly. Full review in Spanish Rated: 6/10 Apr 12, 2022 Full Review Michael E. Grost Classic Film and Television Spectacular crowd scenes, costumes and snow-filled landscapes mix with intelligent, powerful pro-peace and Civil Rights commentary. Aug 6, 2013 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      John A Doesn't have the status that Ben Hur and Lawrence of Arabia have but don't let that discourage you. This is an involving and strikingly photographed epic. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/11/24 Full Review Loyd W Very well acted by an outstanding cast. Impressive staging of Imperial ceremonies. Poor choreography of fight scenes and almost silly crowd staging of extras in crowd scenes. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/23/23 Full Review Mike R Unwatchable. The audio assistants must have had many coconut shells (for the hosses' hooves). There are lot of hosses in this fillum. Too many, some might argue. Then you've got to buy into the whole cod-Shakespearean dialogue, seemingly inspired by the notion that Marcus Aurelius was a "philosopher". And apparently we're meant to buy into the whole star-vehicle stuff. Spoiler alert: Alec Guiness takes blinking ages and ages to die. The punters in the 60s who had paid hard cash to sit through this dirge in cinemas, sandwiched by ads for Kia Ora and local Indian restaurants, had no choice. We have though: I bring you the FAST FORWARD button. This took all of 30 minutes to watch, despite my best sincere intentions to watch the whole thing at normal speed at the start (all 172 minutes). Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 06/19/23 Full Review s r When I came across this epic, I couldn't believe I hadn't heard anyone talk about it before and I consider myself reasonably well informed about most films like this. Not to mention the excellent cast. I was intrigued in the similarities between Gladiator, but this seems to follow the story much better, despite it not being as well made. It takes on the bigger picture to explain the actual fall and why things fell apart. It does lose it direction towards the end, but it is still pretty impressive. It was on youtube. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I did enjoy seeing it. Amazing cast a lot of my favorite actors from that era are present in it. I obviously saw some of the things Gladiator by Ridley Scott took from this film which was cool to see. Sometimes the dialogue was very boring compared to some of the movies at that time but did enjoy seeing some of the action and different scenes throughout the movie. I watch it again for sure many times but not my favorite Roman Empire film from the golden ages. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review jerry p A grand spectacle. The sets depicting the grandeur of Ancient Rome were magnificent. There was a lot of action, although the large battle scenes were confused melees not characteristic of battle tactics of the Roman cohorts. There was a fine classical Tiomkin musical score, that honestly I don't find to my entirely to my taste. Frankly, Sophia Loren's performance is stilted and flat and without vitality. She was the exotic sexual attraction. I'd like to rate it higher because of the quality of the production and acting (Steven Boyd, James Mason, Christopher Plummer, Alec Guinness (most famous for Obi-wan fame)) and even the attempts to make a historical statement about the decline of Empires, but its missing that je ne sais quoi...that something. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Fall of the Roman Empire

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Toward the end of his reign, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Alec Guinness) intends to hand over his throne to the steadfast soldier Livius (Stephen Boyd). Before he can enact his intentions, a loyalist to Commodus (Christopher Plummer), the de facto heir, poisons Aurelius. Commodus becomes an ineffectual leader, corrupt and pompous -- and although Livius concedes to Commodus' rule, he cannot stand by when Commodus threatens to kill Aurelius' daughter, Lucilla (Sophia Loren).
      Director
      Anthony Mann
      Screenwriter
      Ben Barzman, Basilio Franchina, Philip Yordan
      Distributor
      Paramount Pictures
      Production Co
      Samuel Bronston Productions
      Genre
      History, Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Apr 26, 1964, Original
      Release Date (Streaming)
      May 1, 2012
      Runtime
      2h 33m
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