Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

georgekwatson As a piece of high film-making, this is acceptable trash. It's over-the-top blubbery and overblown. The 'I wanna be Fellini' italo-euro 70's stylings don't help. It's hard to believe that anyone ever thought this thing should be taken seriously... so I don't! I look at Caligula as a blowout-budget b-movie. It allows me to laugh at the effluvia on the screen while simultaneously looking at boobies, and heaven forbid, actual copulation (depending on the version). It saves the film from being a poorly lit, pretentiously staged, unevenly acted pile of rueful garbage. Each and every one of the big names that appeared in this probably rues the day they heard of Bob Guccione, but they all cashed the checks...

Leofwine_draca Here's a historical film that's epic in length, if not in production values. A film financed in the US by Playboy, made in Italy with a cast of British leads, this was hugely controversial back on its release due to the explicit scenes of sex which litter the production. Be prepared for acres of heaving flesh throughout the film's course. Only one or two scenes (the lesbian interlude in particular) seem to have been clumsily inserted into the movie by Tinto Brass and generally the rest of the sex fits the story and adds to the realism of the times, e.g. the epic Roman orgy which is probably the closest filmed to how it really happened back then.Sadly, despite some impressive sets, the movie just looks cheap all the way through. Cheap, tawdry, with poor costumes, and not at all the expensive production I had expected it to be beforehand. Despite the incredibly long running time, it doesn't really drag much, even when nothing is happening, which can only be in the film's favour. It's also not as violent as I had expected, with only two scenes of graphic bloodshed which really stand out - the first is an offbeat interlude involving an incredible "decapitation machine" which rolls along and chops off heads sticking from the ground with huge metal pincers; the second, the film's grisly close.The inimitable Malcolm McDowell takes the lead role of Caligula and puts in his trademark intense performance. This is a very scary man who convinces you that he's insane and McDowell's turn is commanding without being over-the-top or hammy. Instead, he's just believable, underplaying it to the point in which you understand his motivations and actions. Top-notch support comes from Helen Mirren, who also excels as Caesonia, Caligula's arranged wife and a former prostitute who stands by him until the end; Peter O'Toole also appears as a madman, Tiberius, the former Emperor.As well as Mirren and O'Toole, we also get a cameo from British thespian John Gielgud, who was obviously convinced that some kind of high-brow movie was being filmed and not just a cheap exploitationer. Two other cast members are worthy of note; firstly, Teresa Savoy, who plays Caligula's sister Drusilla who is the object of her brother's incestuous desires. Savoy is underused but from what we see of her, she's totally convincing as a voluptuous, smouldering love interest and it's easy to see why Caligula wants to marry her. Euro-action man John Steiner has a memorable turn as Caligula's bald aide, Longinus, always plotting and toadying to his master until his true colours show through at the end.There are many memorable moments in this production - the aforementioned decapitation machine being one of them. Caligula's descent into a bleak madness is shown by scenes of him sharing a bed with a horse (!)The scene in which McDowell cavorts naked in the cold night air is very similar to a moment with Olivier in Shakespeare's King Lear, yet this is the more convincing situation thanks to McDowell's half scary/half tragic portrayal of the doomed Caligula. Without McDowell, I have a feeling that this movie would be worthless trash. With him, it's a flawed but occasionally worthwhile would-be epic.

Ruairidh MacVeigh Yep, I am one of the unfortunate few who have sat through this onslaught of vicious and violent pornography trying to pass itself off as a historical drama. I first watched this as part of a University Dare Night, where myself and my flatmates decided to watch something really racy and preferably controversial (because as we all know, when you go to University, you check your brain in at the door!).So what's the grilling? The film tells the story of Caligula, played by the always controversial Malcolm McDowell, the infamous psychotic, incestuous and delusionally murderous Caesar of Rome as he rises from his frightful youth under the rule of his Uncle Tiberius (played by Peter O'Toole, while drunk apparently), to his dominance as lord of the known World.What are the problems with this movie? Just about everything you could imagine, especially seeing as it is in fact a pornographic film. It's got all the gratuitous sex and perversion that you'd come to expect from a movie like that, the only problem being that it's not particularly sexy, if anything it would probably put you off.At the same time this is offset by incredible amounts of graphic violence, including brutal beatings, stabbings, murder, suicide, decapitation by moving wall with spinning blades, etc. This film really does push the boat out.The acting is incredibly questionable, either because you question what the actors were thinking when they did these unspeakable acts to each other, or questioning how many of these actors may or may not have been actually killed during production. Malcolm McDowell especially, who really seems to be getting into his role as the debauched ruler.I will however give this film two points. One point for the magnificent sets and locations built for the movie, which, now that I think about it, all seemed to have gone to complete and utter waste, and another point for the outfits, of which quite a lot of work appears to have gone into, for the few people who actually wear outfits and don't just wander about in the nude!Bottom line, I really cannot recommend this film on those two points alone. If you want a historical drama, this isn't for you, if you want a pornographic movie, it still isn't for you. It's incredibly violent, not sexy in the least, has no historical accuracy, and is about as fun to sit through as Root canal treatment. Stay away folks, stay far, far away!

BA_Harrison Charting the titular Roman emperor's rise to power and his descent into madness, Caligula (the unrated version) is a curious beast. A top-class cast star in this lavish big-budget spectacular, written by renowned scribe Gore Vidal, but produced by Bob Guccione, publisher of Penthouse magazine, and directed by erotic movie maker Tinto Brass. The result is a fascinating epic with fantastic production values, some gruesome violence and a whole load of explicit sex.Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (or Caligula for short), as you may be aware, was the tyrannical ruler of Rome from 37AD to 41AD. During his short reign of power, he ensured his place in history with his many acts of depravity, cruelty and sheer madness. Malcolm McDowell is totally believable as the loony leader who shags his sister, makes his horse a member of the senate and forces his senators' wives and daughters into prostitution. Other big names that signed up for this highly controversial movie include (Dame) Helen Mirren, (Sir) John Gielgud and Peter O'Toole.Watching these highly regarded thesps mixing with Penthouse pets performing hardcore lesbian trysts and blow-jobs is a real eye-opener and really has to be seen to be believed. The film, at a running time of two and a half hours, is quite slow going but it's worth persevering! Where else will you get to see McDowell raping a virgin bride and then fisting her husband, or a man being killed, emasculated and then urinated on. What other big budget movie gives you a smattering of dwarf sex, a machine that decapitates prisoners buried up to their necks and a woman using semen as a skin lotion? The film might be a bit hard going at times, but fans of extremely bizarre and trashy movies should definitely see this one if they can.Caligula is by no means a great film (it is overlong, factually inaccurate and at times I was tempted to fast forward through the slower bits to get to the next 'shocking' scene), but it is one of those movies that one needs to witness first hand in order to understand how truly unique and unusual it is. It's a hard one to rate, but I think I'll give it a reasonable 7 out of 10 just for its willingness to go the extra mile to entertain.