What could have been an intelligent epic, just becomes a feast of cinema clichés. The fault lies mostly in the stilted dialogue. The script is full of heroic gestures, which tend to bore, and most of the acting is either wooden or terribly self conscious. The only saving graces are the performances of Plummer and Guiness.

Few films have drawn emotion from me as this one. A great set of characters portrayed strongly by it's talented cast, supported by a compelling interpretation of the events that led to the downfall of Rome, told in an intelligent manner. And even the central love story is involving & cheerful.The action set pieces portray an entertaining, yet brutal & uncomfortable feeling of near realism. The filmmakers are able to tell that ultimately violence is a cruel thing & should never be resorted to.All the above factors combined really kept me involved, which is a rare case as mentioned above. The few flaws do not ruin the experience of this great film, recommended to moviegoers without a doubt!

Epic but not that great.Massive in its scale, sets, ambition and running time this movie is more about showing off how big you can make a movie than how well you can make a movie. Plot isn't entirely historically accurate, and is in some ways a soap opera with historical figures (and many fictional characters). This isn't helped by a fairly unconvincing performance in the lead role by Stephen Boyd. Wooden, lame and just plain irritating.Christopher Plummer and Sophia Loren are OK. Best performances come from James Mason and Alec Guinness, who both bring a suitable amount of gravitas to the movie.There is some degree of truth to the plot, and the battle scenes are great, and these are what make the movie not a total waste of time.

Great sets! Particularly "Fort Apache, the Rhine" in the first hour. The Barbarian village toward the end is good too. By far the best work by the team that brought you "El Cid" and "55 Days at Peking".But with Anthony Mann at the helm & Yakima Canute leading the second unit, it seems more like a western with chariots soon beginning to look like buckboards and the Roman Legions morphing into the US Cavalry. By the time the Romans take on the Persians one almost expects the Magnificent Seven to come riding through.Findlay Curry gets a single scene where he uses his stentorian voice to deliver the "author's message". There's also a nice scene in which Sofia Lauren is followed through the streets of a partying Rome by Zardoz. All else, cinematography, casting, costumes, stunts, writing etc. are mundane to the point of tedium. Tiomkin's music, despite being Oscar nominated, is loud and annoying and includes such inappropriate instruments as an electric harpsichord (enjoying a pop vogue in the 60s) and a bugle call during a cavalry charge.About the only thing historically accurate here aside from some of the sets is that, like the fall of Rome, this movie goes on and on. I never realized that every barbarian had long red hair.