Review – Caligula

What an interesting society we live in, where it takes an exploitation-meister like Bob Guccione to make an unflinching movie version of the brief, tyrannical reign of Rome’s most infamous emperor. Of course, if you’re watching the R-rated version, the movie’s a good deal less unflinching than the story really calls for. For some strange reason when the hard-core sex got cut out a lot of the violence (pretty tame stuff by later standards) and even some of the harmless plot points got tossed as well. But then on the other hand if you’re watching the unrated version then you get to see a bunch of extra sex that was cut in to help the movie play in the porn market after it failed to make it into major mainstream distribution. Somewhere between the two is probably the movie that should have been made, though you’ll have to use your remote with one cut or your imagination with the other in order to see it that way. In either event, you’re in for the uncomfortable experience of watching a talented cast struggle with awful dialogue and a version of history that’s been cranked around to dwell on the kinky elements (particularly Caligula’s not-exactly-brotherly love for his sister Druscilla). See if desperate