Julius Caesar

Plot:

Except for the omission of several passages in the original play, this 1970 adaptation of Julius Caesar faithfully retells Shakespeare's account of events surrounding the assassination of Caesar in 44 B.C. The film begins when Caesar John Gielgud is at the height of his power after conquering Pompey "the Great" in a civil war. Important senators worry that Caesar means to become king, diminish their power, and abolish their beloved Roman republic. Two senators, Cassius Richard Johnson and Brutus Jason Robards, hatch an assassination plot involving other disenchanted Roman citizens. Although a soothsayer warns Caesar of trouble ("Beware the ides of March") and his own wife reports ominous signs ("A lioness hath whelped in the streets; and graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead"), Caesar decides to go to the senate on the ides (March 15). Upon arrival, the conspirators greet him with daggers. In his funeral oration, Mark Antony Charlton Heston extols Caesar and incites the citizens against Brutus and the other conspirators. Brutus and Cassius flee Rome with their armies, but Antony and two other sympathizers track them down with their armies. When the tide turns against the conspirators, Brutus and Cassius commit suicide. As does Shakespeare's play, the film leaves the discerning viewer wondering who was the real villain -- Caesar, because of his ambition for power, or Brutus, because of his underhanded plot to maintain the status quo.

Cast:

Charlton Heston as Marc Antony
Jason Robards as Marcus Brutus
John Gielgud as Julius Caesar
Richard Johnson as Caius Cassius
Robert Vaughn as Servilius Casca
Richard Chamberlain as Octavius Caesar / Augustus
Diana Rigg as Portia
Christopher Lee as Artemidorus
Jill Bennett as Calpurnia
Derek Godfrey as Decius Brutus
David Dodimead as Marcus Lepidus
Michael Gough as Metellus Cimber
David Neal as Cinna the Conspirator
Preston Lockwood as Trebonius
John Moffatt as Popilius Lena
Steven Pacey as Lucius
Edwin Finn as Publius
Peter Eyre as Cinna the Poet
Norman Bowler as Titinius
Paul Hardwick as Messala
John Tate as Clitus
Damien Thomas as Pindarus
Robert Keegan as Lucilius
Ewan Hooper as Strato
Andrew Crawford as Volumnius
Thomas Heathcote as Flavius
André Morell as Cicero
Alan Browning as Marullus
Laurence Harrington as Carpenter
Ron Pember as Cobbler
Derek Hardwick as 3rd Plebian
Michael Keating as 2nd Plebian
David Leland as 5th Plebian
Yvette Rees as 4th Plebian
Michael Wynne as 5th Plebian
Trevor Adams as Caesar's Servant
Ronald Magill as Ceasar Servant
Linbert Spencer as Caesar's Servant
Robin Chadwick as Servant to Octavius
Barbara Lindley as Slave
Roy Stewart as Lepidus's Slave
Alba as The Soothsayer rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Christopher Cazenove as Servant to Antony (uncredited)
Liz Gebhardt as Calpurnia's Maid (uncredited)
Stephanie Harrison as Handmaiden (uncredited)
Ken Hutchison as Plebian (uncredited)
Janet Pearce as Handmaiden (uncredited)