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Release Date: 1979-08-14
Post Views: 3
TMDB Rating: 6.0/10 from 1,044 votes on TMDB
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After the death of the paranoid emperor Tiberius, Caligula, his heir, seizes power and plunges the empire into a bloody spiral of madness and depravity.
Tagline:Absolute power corrupts
Genres: Drama|
History|
Browse more Drama movies on Filmoria →
Release Date: 1979-08-14
Movie Revenue: $23400000
Movie Runtime: 156
Language: Italian
Caligola Box Office Collection: $17500000
Caligola was released on 14 August 1979. It is a Drama, History film with a running time of 156 minutes. Produced in Italy. Filmoria's movie database includes Caligola alongside hundreds of other Drama titles, each updated with UK release and streaming details.
Filmoria's Take: Audience reaction has been mixed so far. Now an established part of the catalogue rather than a new release. If you are into Drama, it is worth a look.
Caligola isn't currently listed as available to stream, rent or buy in the UK. Check TMDB for the latest UK availability, powered by JustWatch.
Land sakes!!! They don't make films like this anymore...and that's a dirty rotten shame! =)
Review via The Movie Database (TMDB)
Walk through a Bosch painting and marvel at the excesses and debauchery. Critics don't take this seriously because a porn producer snipped it up and inserted his own scenes. It is what it is. A near masterpiece.
Review via The Movie Database (TMDB)
A distinguished international cast; a screenplay by Gore Vidal; respected, award-winning talent behind the scenes; and millions of dollars at its disposal. What could possibly go wrong? Where would you like to start? CALIGULA (1979) had so much potential. I'd like to think that there's another universe where Vidal's much darker original script was given over to, say, Stanley Kubrick. That world now has a SPARTACUS (1960) for the post-porn age. Instead, we have something closer to CENTURIANS OF ROME (1981) with only slightly less cocaine. Producer Bob Guccione could have made a case for the big budget/star/studio X-rated film, which hadn't really existed in a meaningful way since the early-'70s. But in insisting that his art must be pornographic, he failed artistically đąđŻđ„ pornographically: It's not intellectually engaging enough to satisfy the art crowd, and it's not physically arousing enough to satisfy the raincoat crowd. Still, this film remains a one-of-a-kind curiosity. Its enduring infamy allows it to be re-released in various home video editions every so often, bringing in viewers - and more importantly, money - like a carnival barker reels in passers-by to see the bearded lady. Perhaps Guccione knew what he was doing after all.
Review via The Movie Database (TMDB)
Now I'll be honest, I think John Hurt ("I Claudius" - BBC - 1976) made a better Caligula, but Malcolm McDowell is still pretty convincing as the despotic sexual deviant who held the ultimate power in the Roman Empire for four years. It ought not to have been a surprise that he turned out the way he did when we are introduced to the decrepitly monstrous Tiberius (Peter O'Toole) on his island paradise of Capri. He lives there in a court of acolyte nymphs and "fishes" guided only by the vaguest semblance of decency from his friend Nerva (Sir John Gielgud). When that brief sequence of hedonism is swiftly over, our antihero assumes the throne and proceeds to share it with his sister Drusilla (Teresa Ann Savoy) with whom he enjoys a pretty incestuous relationship. There's pressure on him to marry, though, and father a legitimate child - so along comes Caesonia (Helen Mirren) - a woman all too keen to father the imperial progeny whilst enjoying a life of luxury and depravity. That's the history bit - which is really all rather peripheral to this shockingly scripted exercise in soft-porn which we are now going to watch in all it's three hour glory. It's clear that no expense has been spared on the look of the film, and to be fair to director Tinto Brass he does offer us quite a convincing glimpse at the excessiveness of a despotic court ruled by a monarch who believed himself a god - and who had few prepared to argue. It's maybe on that last point that "Longinus" (John Steiner) takes a decisive stance. He is the chancellor who increasingly finds himself, along with Praetorian Commander Chaerea (Paolo Bonacelli), more and more disgusted by the antics of this man with the thinnest grasp on reality. There's nudity all over the shop to the point that it becomes innocuous and once you've got used to that the rest of it fails to carry what could have been a blank cheque opportunity to portray the pivot of historical decadence. Instead, we have McDowell hamming it up energetically as he flounces around, scantily clad, but very little else. It's tawdry, no other word for it - and the unwelcome intermission completely throttled whatever pace there was as it sort of lumbered along in the most clunky of episodic fashions to an denouement that history told us about nearly two thousand years ago. It doesn't seem to know whether it's a movie or a sequence of short theatrical plays, Mirren adds precisely nothing and the magnificently odious O'Toole isn't around long enough to make enough of a difference. It's a shambles, certainly, and this ultimate cut is far, far too long - but somehow it's not unwatchable. You might never eat cottage cheese again!
Review via The Movie Database (TMDB)
**Vanity and depravity** Pagan Rome, 37 AD. As the reign of the fragile, decrepit, and half-mad Emperor Tiberius nears its end, Prince Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also known as Caligula, arrives at the ruler's palace of sin on the island of Capri. Following the murder of the bedridden Tiberius, Caligula becomes the new emperor and proclaims Julia Drusilla, his beloved sister and lover, as his equalâmuch to the chagrin of the Roman Senate. When the dangerous megalomaniac declares himself a God, a four-year reign of depravity and terror begins, marked by betrayed alliances, destroyed virginities, and the elimination of competition through torture and execution. Actress Helen Mirren described this film as 'an irresistible mix of art and genitals.' Although many actors regretted participating in it, Mirren has expressed pride in her role as 'the most promiscuous woman in all of Rome,' believing that European cinema was becoming a benchmark for sexual freedoms and that 'it was time to do nudity.' However, she was shocked by the hardcore footageâan explicit cut assembled in Australia, running 156 minutes and rated Xâwhich includes masturbation, lesbianism, fisting, 'castration,' explicit stabbings, close-ups of genitals, and shots of babies being fed from phallic-shaped bottles.
Review via The Movie Database (TMDB)
