Marcus Licinius Crassus, a Roman general and politician, is determined to crush the slave revolt led by Spartacus — whatever the cost.
In Spartacus (1960), directed by Stanley Kubrick, Laurence Olivier plays Marcus Licinius Crassus, a powerful Roman who sees the revolt of the gladiator Spartacus, played by Kirk Douglas, as both a threat to Rome and an opportunity for his own ambition. Crassus leads the army that defeats the slaves, and he also desires Varinia, played by Jean Simmons, Spartacus’s wife.
Olivier plays Crassus with a cold, patrician authority. He is not a ranting villain but a man who believes in order, in Rome, and in his own right to rule. His famous scene with Tony Curtis, in which he discusses oysters and snails, is played with a chilling politeness that has become famous in itself.
Spartacus is an epic of rebellion and freedom, and Olivier’s Crassus is its formidable opposite: the face of an empire that will not yield, played with complete conviction.