FIRST TIME WATCHING **GLADIATOR** (One of the BEST movies I've EVER seen) 

Headless guy on horse gallops by: That poor horse! Headless guy: Am I a joke to you?!?

"What we do in life, echoes in eternity."

When Lucilla says, "Go to them," as Maximus is dying.... WOW, all these years later, STILL gets me. If I had to describe what the "perfect movie" looks like, this would be an EXAMPLE. Shawshank and Few Good Men would be other examples.

The music at the end is goddamn beautiful omg

The "am I not merciful?" Scream was unplanned so her reaction to it was genuine.

"Sometimes the frost makes the blade stick." This is my favorite historical line in cinema. Praetorian guards (The soldiers guarding the emperor, like the secret servic, were elite soldiers, but with limited field and combat experience). That word of advice he gives the soldier before killing him is advice even the lowest soldier in the ranks in that campaign wouldn't need. They would know.....the frost on the blade would make it stick to the sheath, so best to at least prep it for utilization beforehand (like drawing it before intended use). He is challenging the soldier with a direct call to his lack of skill and expertise in true combat.............

I loved the scene he reveals his identity. The way he delivers the line was soooo good. My name is Inigo Montoya... oh wait wrong movie...

"Shadows and dust" - great last words for Oliver Reed's last screen appearance. That Ridley Scott sure knows how to direct a tear-jerker semi-historic epic, just needs the right material.

You should try and check out 'Rome' from HBO, even if it's not for a reaction. One of the main things it gets right that so many movies gets wrong about ancient Rome was that it wasn't the pure white marble ruins of today but was full of brightly colored painted buildings. It sounds like it wouldn't make that much of a difference but it really does.

The actor playing the Emperor at the beginning died on set during filming. Also the actor playing the owner of the gladiators also died during filming. The actor Richard Harris is the Emperor and his son is also a great actor and hes in the 2nd sherlock Holmes movie as the villain opposite Robert Downey jr.

"Who is he?" Richard Harris. Great actor. Known mostly these days for his late role as Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potters. But was also great in Unforgiven, Camelot, To Walk With Lions, and even cheesy B-Movies like Orca.

Pompeii (2014) is another fantastic movie with a beautiful ending.

Favorite part was "Its okay, the cats just acting. See its such a beautiful cat just acting. Such a good actor. Why did you not get an Oscar beautiful cat?"

Maximus's description of his home, was Russell Crowes description of his own home to get the correct reaction.

"What we do in life echoes in eternity" This quote gets truer and truer the older I get

The best opening scene in cinematic history... still remember when I watched for the first time in cinema, 20+ years ago.

“Pocket sand!” Maximus pulling out the Rusty Shackelford 😊

“Tell me what you’ve been doing, busy little bee.” That scene!

Also the real Marcus Aurelius was a fascinating person. His book "Meditations" was never intended to be published. It was basically his notes to self about how to be a just and virtuous emperor. Morality was extremely important to him and he made a point of incorporating moral philosophy into every aspect of his life. He believed that there is no difference in morality or wisdom between an emperor and a slave and he lived accordingly. He is one of the only exceptions to the maxim that absolute power corrupts absolutely who has ever lived. It's sad that his son was such a brat.

"The fact that this is entertainment for people, is mind boggling. I guess this was just a different time" and a little later "It's going to be so nice to blood on those white robes" and "it must be super exciting to see the Emperor in a sword fight, I know i would want to see that". I imagine these gladiator events were like the super bowl.

The actor playing Proximo (Oliver Reed) died during production, if you rewatch the movie with that in mind you can tell that some scenes were altered to use the remaining footage they had of him, that probably explains this scene. Also, look when they actually stab Proximo, they filmed it so you just see his outline, concealing their use of a stand-in.

_"Is that his sister or his wife?"_ In the good ol' days, the two were not necessarily mutually exclusive 😁

What I love about the Colosseum Carthage recreation, is that you can see how Maximus ended up in his position in the military, without an origin story. None of those people are soldiers (except for one), and they’d all be killed, but because he’s able to keep it together and guide them efficiently, they end up forming a warband and win. Gives more weight to the adage, “I don’t fear an army of lions led by a sheep, but an army of sheep led by one lion”.

And on another note - gladiators were entertainers. Most gladiator movies/shows don't bother getting into the specifics, but trained gladiators were specialists. They used very standardized equipment and fought in a particular style. The net/trident guys would be paired against a guy wearing a full helmet with small eye holes set just far enough apart that the tines of the trident could not fit through 2 holes at once, thereby ensuring that the helmet guy couldn't be killed by a thrust to the face. Gladatorial bouts were published in advance, so people could bet on them, and just like in modern horse racing, they'd have published stats on individual gladiators. So everyone knew each gladiator's track record. Most injuries weren't fatal (because the purpose is to entertain the crown, not to kill an opponent). That's why the crowd got to vote on whether to kill a defeated gladiator. They'd typically give a newbie a break and spare his life. But if a gladiator kept putting on a shitty show, they'd get tired of him wasting everyone's time and just vote to off the guy. If you put on a really good show, fame and fortune, including freedom, could be yours. The fame and fortune part is why even some free men fought as gladiators. Desperate times and all that. And then there were the gladiatorial bouts that were all about executing criminals. Those were just straight-up slaughter-fests. Beheading or crucifying is fine and all, but watching some poor sod get mauled by a tiger is a lot more "fun". But if you managed to kill your tiger with the pocket knife they gave you, obviously the gods favor you, so you'd likely be pardoned. Or die later of your wounds.

“To my son - I tell him I will see him again soon. To keep his heels down while riding his horse. To my wife... that is not your business.” Love this movie.

"He's doing one last crowd surf" sealed the deal. subbed

The most dangerous man is the one with nothin to lose.

It was also the last role of Oliver Reed (Proximo), he actually died during the shooting, his last scene "shadow and dust" the moment he get stabbed, it was actually a double because Reed was dead before shooting that scene.

When Commodus yelled “AM I NOT MERCIFUL?!” That part was improvised and the actresses reaction was genuine.

"And we'll see you again, but not yet." Best ever!

The actor that played the Emperor was Richard Harris, one of the most amazing actors of his time. I think he even played the original Dumbledore in the first Harry Potter movie.

Funny thing, not many gladiators were killing each other in fights. And as a matter of fact, emperors were known to fight in the arena at times too!

"Am I Not Merciful!?!?" - That is when Joaquin Phoenix' Commodus becomes one of the terrifying screen villains.

Richard Harris is playing Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

“This sounds a lot like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’” Hans Zimmern did do the soundtracks for both, so... good musical ear, V!

My favorite quote from Gladiator: "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the TRUE emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

Fun fact, Italy is currently renovating the Coliseum in Rome, they’re gonna have a rotating platform on the floor in the center and open it up to the public when it’s finished so you can see the Coliseum from the center, which wasn’t possible on tours before. Great video as always!

Your comment of "one long crowd surf" when they picked up his body was amazing :)

I had a collapsed lung from a horse kicking me off and my rib puncturing through. It was excruciating the 30 min it took to drive to the hospital. It felt like i was exploding inside and i couldnt breath. I felt Maximus's pain during the fight 20:00 as you must WILL YOURSELF through that wall of pain and to feel yourself dying from not breathing... so hard to walk... more so to fight.

The actor that you liked who played Emperor Marcus Aurelius was the legendary Irish actor Richard Harris who has been in films since the late 1950s. He was also the first actor to play Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. The second Dumbledore (after Richard Harris died in 2002) was also an Irish actor, Michael Gambon.

Gladiators typically didn't fight to the death. They did sometimes but it was mostly a show for the crowd.

the music at the end, one of the best pieces ever.

"How is Joaquin so good in this?" that's the mark of a great actor.

2:55 That extra bumped into Russel by accident, totally unplanned in all the chaos. Russel's reaction was indeed, "So in the zone.", hence that little grin.

This is a Ridley Scott film, the man who directed "Alien" and "Blade Runner". He's also done another great film with Russell Crowe, called "Robin Hood". Ridley Scott has done so many great movies.

one of the greatest films ever made. also, the 'pocket sand' thing goes bk to him being a farmer at heart & gettin a feel for the land he's about to fight on

It's such a beautiful finale - Commodus sets everything up in his favor but doesn't account for one detail: that he is *no match* for Maximus whatsoever. Maximus not only kills him but kills him pretty handily while bleeding to death. Phoenix's best moment is when he's disarmed and *realizes* how far in over his head he is

1:00 "... now that I graduated college." Oh! Congrats!

My dad's favorite movie. Evey time I see it I remember him. Royal Navy 1942-1945, Imperial College 1960's, tested the Concorde Turbine blades, UWIST 1970's, tested the first Apple Mac computerised lathes, 1924-2010 RIP

The way Marcus Aurelius spoke softly at 5:02 made me do some research, and sure enough, it's Richard Harris speaking just like he did as Dumbledore

This movie is the reason why I can't watch Joaquin phoenix in other movies without wanting to punch him in the face! He did a brilliant job in this role!

If your school was like mine, the history teacher liked showing movies because he was actually a football coach, but the school wasn't technically allowed to have a dedicated football coach on staff. So they assigned him to teach something they didn't really care if anyone actually learned.

22:25 honestly hits hardest for me. As much as she and Rome loved him, her saying "you're home" just shows how much she wished it for him after what Commodus did. Finally, after years of servitude and fielty, his mission is accomplished, and he is TRULY home.

Richard Harris gets justified props for his performance here, as do Crowe and Phoenix. Someone who gets overlooked a bit nowadays though is Oliver Reed. He was Proximo. His character is written out so quickly because he passed away during filming. He apparently got in a drinking competition with Royal Navy sailors and got in arm wrestling competiitions with them when he died. He was a very well known actor in his day and this is what modern audiences will always remember him for.

"Is that his sister or his wife?" *YES*

Did you notice the film crew in the crowd after the "Are you not entertained" speech?

Life through 99.9% of human existence was hard, short and littered with violence. We forget how easy and soft the world is now in comparison for most.

"he is doing one long croudsurf now" ..i crack up xD

RIP Richard Harris (Marcus Aurelius) RIP Oliver Reed (Proximo). He died before all of his scenes were filmed and the first time I watched this movie, I didn't notice they used Stand-ins and CGI to 'fill the blanks'.

Those "cats" were not CGI. They were real tigers. One of them actually almost grabbed Crowe, during filming. It's only the scene, where a tiger was on top of him, that they somehow faked. I don't remember how.

Phoenix was on a whole other level here. Perfect villain.

Marcus Aurelius was portrayed by Richard Harris (DEP) who also portrayed Dumbledore in the two firsts Harry Potter films.

Sees that a man has had his head cut from his body. "That poor horse!" 😂😂😂😂 Subscribed

Hans Zimmer composed this score for the release of this film in 2000. Pirates came out 2003 which also used Hans, along with the Dark Knight trilogy. some composers have a very distinct sound in all of their scores. always enjoy his scores.

‘At my signal, unleash hell’ “I think the barbarians are going to be ready for that” Narrator: they weren’t

For a Side note, the Farm of Maximus is a Farm in Tuscany, Italy, Orciano Hills. Take a peek of this gougeous scenery, you' ll love it. Feel free to come to visit us any time! Hugs from italy!

Oliver Reed was known for doing a lot of fight scenes in his films when he was younger and he was actually supposed to do the fight scene instead of just standing there waiting for them to just stab him when he sadly died. In other words he was supposed to kill all of them and ride off into the sunset at the end of the film!!!!

The actor who played Proximo actually died before the film was finished. At the escape scene with maximus they actually used CGI for his face and reused some clips to finish off his character.

In 9th grade history we watched Schindler’s List. I feel like that makes more sense than Gladiator

Neat fact: The "barbarian" war chants are from the movie "Zulu" one of Ridley Scott's favorite movies :)

Joaquin improvised the AM I NOT MERCIFUL, and she went with it. Top class acting.

They never advertised it, but this movie really is a remake of an older film: "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964), starring Alec Guiness (who played old Obi Wan in the original trilogy of "Star Wars"), Sophia Loren, James Mason, and Stephen Boyd (who played the villain in "Ben Hur"). The movie is a very similar plot, but involves most of the same characters. So this really is a revisioning of the older movie. The story is roughly the same, but the way it plays out is totally different.

Slavery has been the norm, not the exception, for more than 99% of history, and still is in many parts of the world.

" Is that his sister, or his wife? " Well... In the ancient world... Sometimes it was a bit of both!

*gasps* "He is headless and they sent him back? That poor horse!" Vee being Vee.

In a scene cut from the theatrical version, the praetorian praefect Quintus meets Maximus a moment before Commodus when is in chain under the Coloseum for the last fight. There he says he had no choise but to follow Commodus, then Maximus tells him a phrase written by Marcus Aurelius. This is why in the last fight he doesn't help Commodus; it's a very short scene but I think it was an error to cut it.

If you are in for a 3 hour epic, I recommend Kingdom of Heaven extended cut. Made by the same director and also so good! Extended not theatrical though, the theatrical cut the emotional heart of the movie out.

I agree about the lighting, Ridley Scott's films are often very atmospheric, Alien, Blade Runner, Hannibal, Someone to Watch Over Me, etc. etc. He's one of my 3 favourite directors of all time.

“I can’t imagine having that much anger.” Try living under tyranny.

7:14 - Star Wars - The Phantom Menace. Everyone forgets that the Galactic Senate just allows slavery to exist.

I’d love your opinion of the Charleston Heston movie “Ben-Hur” and how you think it compares to Gladiator. Ben-Hur was made in 1959 and is hailed as one of the most epic movie productions ever. It’s easily one of the best movies ever made in terms of story, acting, production, and direction.

I didn't realize Maximus's son is from "Life is Beautiful"

This movie is based off of a painting of a gladiator standing over another, looking up at the emperor, who had an outstretched hand his thumb in the neutral position.

Derek Jacobi, who played the senator who allied with Maximus, starred in what is widely considered to be one of the best tv miniseries ever, “I, Claudius,” where he played the Roman emperor Claudius. It’s from the mid-‘70s, so it is very old school and done on the cheap, with all studio sets and rather cheesy music. However, the writing and especially the acting is top-notch! It’s filled with actors who are at the beginning of their careers-Jacobi, John Hurt as Caligula, Patrick Stewart (with a hairpiece) as the evil henchman, John Rhys-Davies as another evil henchman, and the terrific BRIAN BLESSED (whose name should always be in all-caps, like the man himself). And then there is Sian Phillips as the amazing Livia, a character so iconic that the creator of The Sopranos named Tony’s mom after her.

The music is really similar to pirates because Hans Zimmer reused a lot of the core themes from Gladiator in potc.

He's doing one long crowd surf now.... killed me. lol

Watch the HBO series "Rome" if you want to watch more about slavery and slaves in the old republic of Rome, 250 years before the events of this movie happened. I think you will enjoy it but its pretty hars to watch sometimes cause violence.And Joaquin is such an intense actor.

The real Commodus had a fascination with the gladiatorial games. He did fight in the arena but the fights were, as shown, fixed. His opponents were sometimes handicapped in some way and sometimes given weapons made of lead, which is far softer than an iron sword. Commodus died by being strangled to death by a wrestler who was paid off to assassinate him. I recommend a book called “Those About to Die”. It’s a fiction story told through the eyes of a gladiator but gives an accraccount of what went on in the Colosseum. The things done for entertainment went WAY beyond men fighting.

Gladiator has awesome production design with beautiful and gritty attention to detail, but historically it’s kind of a joke. Literally nothing in this movie happened except for Commodus fighting as a gladiator. Maximus wasn’t a real person, Marcus Aurelius was not killed by Commodus and he explicitly declared Commodus as his successor, even co-ruling with him in the years leading to his death. Lucilla and Commodus never married and Rome never returned to its Republican origin.

The actor of Marcus Aurelius is probably familiar because he’s Richard Harris! The late actor who played Dumbledore

Definitely one of my favorite movies of all time, glad you got around to watching it! One of the last great period movies imo. Fun fact: I read somewhere, the actor who played Joffrey in Game of Thrones modeled the character and his performance after Joaquin Phoenix in this movie.

The old man who is his trainer is a gladiator who won his freedom

I think it is ironic (and funny) that we sit and watch a movie where people kill each other for entertainment and wonder how watching people kill each other could be entertaining! Geat video, although, if you really want us to share the eating experience, let us know ahead of time so we can have snacks ready! I really enjoyed your reactions to this film and the comments at the end too! Thank you!

I like how they showed Maximus defeating a foe despite being on the ground. It's a bit of foreshadowing, because this determination and skill would help save his life again in the future.

“How soon do you think the men will be ready to fight?” “For you. Tomorrow.” I loved that particular line of dialogue as well. Notice how when he tells him he subtly grips tighter on his hand.

Dances with Wolves is another excellent period film, which no one reacts to. It got like 6 Oscar's.

Oliver Reed died while filming this movie... seeing him always makes me wanna watch "Condorman" again :)

the old man you liked was named Richard Harris he also was Dumbledore in the 1st 2 harry potter movies

In Ancient Rome, generals had so much power because their legions would die for them …the generals gave them wealth and land and slaves and they were loyal to the end for most of the cases

Congratulations on graduating! Love your channel 😊