Search - Julius Caesar on DVD

Movie Release: 2003 DVD Release: 10/26/2004 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Television SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 58 mins Studio: GT Media Members Wishing: 5 Genres: Historical Film, Historical Epic

This ambitious, four-hour cable miniseries stars Jeremy Sisto (taking time off from his regular series Six Feet Under) as Roman general-turned-emperor Julius Caesar. Expensively filmed in Malta and Bulgaria, the production vividly traces Caesar's rise to prominence as a brilliant military tactician (with remarkably accurate battle scenes); his complex relationships with his mentor General Pompey (Chris Noth) and his second wife Calpurnia (Valeria Golino); his ideological tiltings with Senator Cato (Christopher Walken), who advocates democracy over Caesar's dictatorial ambitions; and his bloody (but inevitable) murder at the hands of former friends and allies. Taking some dramatic license with the facts, the film is basically sympathetic to its subject, although Caesar is depicted as a flawed man, both physically and morally. Giving Caesar points for being fundamentally honorable, in full possession of his faculties, and possessing the "common touch" with the Roman citizenry, the teleplay does not shrink away from the man's violent epileptic seizures, his megalomania, his casually calculated cruelties, and his bigamous relationship with Egyptian queen Cleopatra (Samuela Sardo). Interestingly enough, however, the miniseries downplays his notorious bisexuality ("Every man's woman and every woman's man"). In his final performance, Richard Harris appears as Caesar's wily bête noire, Roman dictator Sulla. Caesar was first telecast in the U.S. on June 29-30, 2003, by the TNT cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jeremy Sisto - Julius Caesar
Richard Harris - General Sulla
Chris Noth - Gen. Magnus Pompey
Christopher Walken - Cato
Valeria Golino - Calpurnia

Uli Edel's Julius Caesar arrives on DVD with an anamorphic widescreen transfer that preserves the film's original aspect ratio. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Stereo. Supplemental materials include a behind-the-scenes featurette. This is a fine disc that offers first-rate picture quality. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide