The Slave

Original title: Il figlio di Spartacus

1962
1h 40m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Action Epic Adventure Epic Desert Adventure Epic Historical Epic Period Drama Sword & Sandal War Epic Adventure Drama

During the power struggle between Caesar and Crassus, a Roman centurion, who is the lost son of Spartacus, is dispatched to Crassus' camp to observe his movements and keep Caesar informed.During the power struggle between Caesar and Crassus, a Roman centurion, who is the lost son of Spartacus, is dispatched to Crassus' camp to observe his movements and keep Caesar informed.During the power struggle between Caesar and Crassus, a Roman centurion, who is the lost son of Spartacus, is dispatched to Crassus' camp to observe his movements and keep Caesar informed.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.9/10

624

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
This marked the final Italian sword and sandal/mythological muscleman movie to be made by Steve Reeves. He would make several "Sandokan" movies and a spaghetti western before retiring from the screen.

Goofs
The story takes place during the triumvirate of Crassus, Caesar and Pompey (65-60 BC), but when Crassus talks with Verulus and Randus, with the Sphinx serving as background, it is plain that the monument has already lost its nose - a fact that would take place 1850 years later.

Quotes
La schiava Seila: [to Randus] My friend, my life... is you - my love!

Alternate versions
The Italian theatrical version had a 101 minute running time, with minor censorship cuts for violence. The foreign versions, namely the UK (Son of Spartacus), the USA (The Slave), the German (Der Sohn des Spartakus), and the Finish, run over 102 minutes. Although unconfirmed, there are video versions in Italy and France cut to 97 or 95 minutes.

Connections
Featured in Cheezy Fantasy Trailers (2006)

User reviews23

Review

Featured review

8/10

Par for the course peplum starring Steve Reeves

Steve Reeves plays a high-ranking Roman centurion who finds out he's the son of the infamous rebel slave leader and spearheads a revolt, of course, in one of the better "sword & sandal" entries. Mixing the backstory of Moses (instead of a swaddling cloth, an amulet gives him away) with the exploits of a comic book superhero (Reeves sneaks off every now and then to shuck his tunic for dad's face-covering armor), director Corbucci took the tale and ran with it, producing some impressive mise-en-scène amidst his unexpectedly inventive camera-work. Gianna Maria Canale as Crassus' cougar wife does little more than lounge around on divans and ogle our hero but no matter, it's always a pleasure to see her in peplum like this.