*blink and jaw drop*

[erastes]

How on earth did I miss the homoerotic scene in Spartacus before?  Crassus (Olivier) is being bathed by a very young and very beautiful Antoninus (Tony Curtis.)

Marcus Licinius Crassus: Do you eat oysters?
Antoninus: When I have them, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: Do you eat snails?
Antoninus: No, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: Do you consider the eating of oysters to be moral and the eating of snails to be immoral?
Antoninus: No, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: Of course not. It is all a matter of taste, isn't it?
Antoninus: Yes, master.
Marcus Licinius Crassus: And taste is not the same as appetite, and therefore not a question of morals.
Antoninus: It could be argued so, master. 
Marcus Licinius Crassus: My robe, Antoninus. (pause)      My taste includes both snails and oysters.  Antoninus, look. Across the river. There is something you must see. There, boy, is Rome! The might, the majesty... the terror of Rome. There is the power that bestrides the known world like a colossus. No man can withstand Rome. No nation can withstand her. How much less... a boy! There's only one way to deal with Rome, Antoninus. You must serve her. You must abase yourself before her. You must grovel at her feet. You must... Iove her. Isn't that so, Antoninus?

And... Antonius has legged it. Silly boy.  *grins happily*  Oh it's so nice to discover slashiness in films that I never imagined it would be in.

Comments

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Isn't that a great scene?
*goes all melty*

Try Ben Hur...

[lamardeuse.livejournal.com]

You probably haven't seen it before because that scene never made it to the original theatrical release, and was only restored and put on DVDs a few years ago. The voice of Olivier was actually Tony Hopkins, because they didn't have his voice track for that scene any more.

*is a film nerd*

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Oh, you beat me to saying that!

[ctrl-issue.livejournal.com]

I didn't even realize what they were talking about until I watched The Celluloid Closet (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celluloid-Closet-REGION-NTSC/dp/B00005AWR9/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1199122535&sr=8-1), which is a great reference for slashiness/gay overtones in old movies. I'm pretty sure that this documentary also talks about a character in "Rebel Without A Cause". There is also this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silver-Screen-Color-Lavender-REGION/dp/B000092T4S/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1199122768&sr=1-9) documentary, which isn't as good, but covers a different genre and group of movies and ideas. ^_^

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I can see the slash in Ben Hur, but it has less of an impact for me as I know that they kept it secret from Heston - but this scene in Spartacus was so blatent! No wonder I never saw it before, if it's only just been recently restored!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Well, that explains that! Thanks!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

ooh thanks! I'll have to look that up

[c-lovell.livejournal.com]

I too love making these kind of discoveries. Especially when I revisit movies I once saw when I was too young to fully catch little gay undertones.

[markprobst.livejournal.com]

Ah, you beat me to it. I was going to suggest The Celluoid Closet too. The documentary film is good and includes more modern films, but you've got to read the original book by Vito Russo, all the coded stuff is in there.
P.S I guess the dvd is not available in region 2

[ctrl-issue.livejournal.com]

I've only seen the film version of The Celluloid Closet, so I wasn't able to make a recommendation for the book, though I heard it was quite good ~_^. I know that at least the DVD has been used in some Gender/Sexuality studies classes in college, too, which I'm not sure if that's a draw or a deterrent, but it is a fun fact. As for the region coding thing, please forgive me. I forgot that UK has a different region code for DVDs. ~_~;;

[ctrl-issue.livejournal.com]

Not a problem, I really love that documentary, so I try to pimp it as much as possible. *^_^*

[angelabenedetti.livejournal.com]

And a bit before that -- some time in the nineties I think -- they added it back in and showed it on TV. I remember watching the discussion before the movie was shown, where the host went on about the scene and what it meant and why it'd been cut and all.

It seems incredibly tame now, but I can imagine a few censors flipping over it at the time. [wry smile]

Angie

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Excellent - thank you - and no worries, I have a multi region dvd player!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

no worries, i have a multi region dvd player and also a pc which plays dvds!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

me too! I loved it when i saw Ben Hur after my slash introduction!

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

I think that scene was cut, and then was added back in recently ...

[katiemorris.livejournal.com]

I believe this scene was cut from the original release of the movie, all those years ago, because of its very slashiness. It's only recently been added back in, so that's why you missed it. Great, innit!

[gavinatlas.livejournal.com]

I've now added Spartacus to my Netflix queue. :-) Thanks

[fiona-glass.livejournal.com]

Heh! This film came quite high up the list of 'unintentionally slashiest films ever' that we ran in Forbidden Fruit a couple of years back. I thought the whole film was just dripping with homoerotic subtext. :D

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, you know I'd always seen the homoerotic subtext in the same way I'd seen it in Ben Hur, but I never imagined that I'd ever see such a TEXT scene as that!!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

It must have been, as I'm sure I've seen the film last about 5 or so years ago, but then, it'slike its the sort of film you can half watch because you know what's happening - it was the scene that I knew I'd never seen before that made me look up and then have a jaw drop with the script!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'm so pleased that put it back in! Curtis is still alive, (I think?) so they must have got his permission (if needed, so many stars didn't have those rights back then, I guess)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Whee! Let me know what you think.