i wish to first disagree with the early poster who say john hurt be one dimensional in his performance . i find hurt portrayal of mad caligula to be a multi dimensional masterpiece and fill with terrify nuance . watch him you never know when the next head will fall and or if he suddenly touch with sentiment and decides to spare some perceived slighter . particularly profound be the scene in the tent with claudius where he seriously and and with an almost profound regret ask claudius if he be indeed mad . certainly caligula be portray a a madman always on the verge of some tyrannical rage and concurrent action but he be still very recognizably a multi level character in the hand of the superb acting of an often overlooked great actor john hurt . many of the other performance stand out as well derek jacobi and sian phillips etc . the film kick the a $ $ off of rome at least in the acting department and be probably the best portrait of roman civilization along with spartacus and ben hur and and quo vadis .