The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)

Timonides: [when Ballomar threatens to continue burning Timonides's left hand] Let's look at this logically...

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Livius: [standing over body of Timonides] What happened, gentle Greek? Did you try to tell them there were three possibilities? Did you not know there was a fourth? This!
[picks up and throws spear away]
Lucilla: This is the way they answer to reason and now even you must see, this is the only way to answer them.
Livius: He does not seem dead to me, I can still feel his life, hear his words. Tell me what I must do in his name.
[yelling]
Livius: March the army into Rome and drown the city in blood!
Lucilla: [uncovering the Christian cross Timonides wore around his neck] He was my father's friend and a wise man.
Livius: I shall go alone into Rome, if I do not return by sunset, let the army enter Rome.

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Commodus: Livius, if you listen very carefully, you can hear the gods laughing!

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The film was originally intended to be made after El Cid and to reunite Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren. The set for the Forum Romanum was actually being built when Heston rejected the script but expressed an interest in '55 Days at Peking' instead. Samuel Bronston immediately ordered that the work on the Forum be stopped and the landscaping and foundation work be adapted for the Peking set. After filming, the Peking set was torn down and replaced by the Forum. If you look carefully, both sets share a very similar topography.
Richard Harris was originally cast as Commodus. He withdrew because of artistic differences with the director. He was replaced by Christopher Plummer.
First cinema film of Eric Porter.
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