The 300 Spartans (1962)

Director:

Rudolph Maté

Writers:

Gian Paolo Callegari (original story material)
Remigio Del Grosso (original story material)

Release Date:

August 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History | War

Plot:

Essentially true story of how Spartan king Leonidas led an extremely small army of Greek Soldiers (300...

Plot Keywords:

Persian | Greece | Spartan | Soldier | Warrior

Cast

Richard Egan	...	King Leonidas
Ralph Richardson	...	Themistocles of Athens (as Sir Ralph Richardson)
Diane Baker	...	Ellas
Barry Coe	...	Phylon
David Farrar	...	Xerxes
Donald Houston	...	Hydarnes
Anna Synodinou	...	Gorgo
Kieron Moore	...	Ephialtes
John Crawford	...	Agathon the Spartan Spy
Robert Brown	...	Pentheus
Laurence Naismith	...	First Delegate
Anne Wakefield	...	Artemisa
Ivan Triesault	...	Demaratus
Charles Fawcett	...	Megistias
Michalis Nikolinakos	...	Myron (as Michael Nikolinakos)

Also Known As:

Lion of Sparta

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #29936) | Australia:G | West Germany:12 (nf) | Malaysia:U (DVD) | Singapore:PG | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-12 | UK:PG | UK:U (cut)

Filming Locations:

Athens, Greece

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The final film for David Farrar, after which he retired to South Africa.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When the Persian army is into Greece where they will meet the Spartans, they are marching between mountains on their left, and water on their right. In actuality, the Persians were marching south along the eastern edge of Greece, so the water would have been on their left with mountains on their right. The way the movie portrays it, the Persians are marching out of Greece.

Quotes:

Leonidas, Spartan King: The council must act quickly
Xenathon, Spartan Isolationist: Why?
Leonidas, Spartan King: In order that we Spartans may reach the first line of defense in time.
Xenathon, Spartan Isolationist: And where might that be?
Leonidas, Spartan King: The Pass of Thermopylae.
Xenathon, Spartan Isolationist: Thermopylae, of course. That's the pass that protects Athens.
Leonidas, Spartan King: No! It's the pass that protects GREECE! Mere cities don't matter now. It is Greece that counts! Only by being united can we hope to avoid slavery. Now, I am no politician, but I will plead this cause with you until the moon wanes and the night brings forth a new day!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Watchmen (2009)

Not bad for 40 years ago.

I was a teenager when I first saw this film. I was raised on the ancient spectacle films of the 50's and 60's and feel this one holds up quite well. No, it's not perfection with respect to history. The Spartans were hardly democratic or benevolent. But, they were fiercely proud, great warriors and very independent. The film does a fine job choreographing the 2-3 day battle, given the budget and FX limitations of the early 60's. Very similar to "Helen of Troy" in these respects. Richard Egan was excellent as Leonidas but the script was very limiting for him and the rest of the cast. I will look forward to seeing the film that results from Steven Pressfield's "Gates of Fire". Hopefully 40+ years of technology will create a true epic, as befitting an action (unknown to most school kids today) that helped preserve and push Western Civilization.