The 300 Spartans (1962)

A small Army of Greeks spearheaded by three hundred Spartans do battle with the whole invading Persian Army.

Director:

Rudolph Maté

Writers:

George St. George, Ugo Liberatore (original story material) (as Ugo Liberatori)

Stars:

Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

Essentially true story of how Spartan king Leonidas led an extremely small army of Greek Soldiers (300 of them his personal body guards from Sparta) to hold off an invading Persian army now thought to have numbered 250,000. The actual heroism of those who stood (and ultimately died) with Leonidas helped shape the course of Western Civilization, allowing the Greek city states time to organize an army which repelled the Persians. Set in 480 BC.

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Plot Keywords:

army | persian | greek | spartan | greece | 

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Taglines:

Thermopylae... mighty battle epic of a handful of men forming the invincible "flying wedge" - against a killer horde five million strong!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1962 (Austria)

Also Known As:

Lion of Sparta

Filming Locations:

Athens, Greece

Box Office

Budget:

£500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The final movie for David Farrar (Xerxes), after which he retired to South Africa.

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Goofs

As the Immortals are charging the water behind them is choppy, when it cuts to the waiting Spartans the water is calm. The water action does not match until the two lines are together.

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Quotes

Gorgo, Leonidas' Wife: In the absence of your dead mother, I present you this shield and say to you
[speaking in Greek]
Gorgo, Leonidas' Wife: 'Return with the shield or on it'.
Woman at Shield Ceremony: What does that mean?
Ellas, Leonidas' Niece: Either return carrying this shield in victory or carried on the shield in death.

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Crazy Credits

The box for the Fox U.S. DVD release credits the director as "Rudy Mate." "Rudy" was actually director Rudolph Mate's nickname.

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Connections

Version of Last Stand of the 300 (2007)

User Reviews

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.