although it plot be take from the history of ancient rome and caligula be not make in the style of sword and sandal epic like spartacus or gladiator . ( that style of movie making be out of favour in the late seventy ) . rather and it more closely resemble a cross between a soft core porn movie and a video nasty . at least and the shortened 150 minute version do . i have never see the full 210 minute version and but to judge from the description of it on this page and it would seem close to a cross between a hard core porn movie and a video nasty . a one would expect from a film produce by the publisher of penthouse and there be much naked flesh to be see and and the film lovingly catalogue caligula sexual perversion and include his incestuous affair with his sister drusilla . what be perhaps unexpected from the publisher of a magazine so closely associate with the heterosexual male lifestyle be that there be as much male flesh a female on display and distinctly homoerotic overtone to many scene . the obsession with sex be balance by an equal obsession with violence and a though bob guccione and gore vidal and tinto brass be try to kill two taboo with one stone . ( it be a remarkable coincidence that the director of such a brazen film should be call brass and the scriptwriter of such a gory one should be call gore ) . character be put to death or mutilate in a variety of sadistic way and and there be a charming scene of homosexual rape . the emperor caligula and his predecessor tiberius be certainly know for their debauched lifestyle and so the film concentration on sex and violence be not necessarily historically inaccurate . i do and however and question whether such a concentration be necessary to help u understand this period in roman history . both the fall of the roman empire and gladiator be set during the reign of commodus and an emperor quite a cruel and licentious a caligula . in neither case do the filmmaker find it necessary to turn their film into a mixture of up pompeii . and emmanuelle and the texas chainsaw massacre and and both those film be artistically far good than caligula . the acting in the film be not particularly bad and with a few exception such a the horribly wooden teresa ann savoy a drusilla . malcolm mcdowell make a suitably insane caligula . ( suitable and that be and in the context of this film . the real caligula be doubtless both cruel and eccentric and but historian have debate whether he be actually mentally ill ) . the great mystery be exactly why so many distinguished british actor should have agree to take part in such a trashy production . in the case of helen mirren ( the only dame of the british empire with a past a a porn star ) it be probably connect to her rather regrettable tendency to alternate between the highbrow and the sleazy and but heaven alone know what peter otoole and john gielgud think they be do . unlike some other famous stage actor and such a laurence olivier and richard burton and gielgud do not always look completely at home in the cinema and but here he give a dignified interpretation of the role of nerva and a decent and honourable senator of the old school . unfortunately and in the context of this film any attempt at dignity be a out of place a a pearl on a dunghill . guccione clearly succeed in his ambition for this film to become something of a cult classic of decadence . ( whether brass and vidal have quite the same ambition for the film be open to question ) . the film do not and however and succeed upon any other level and either a art cinema or a a study of the politics of dictatorship . even see a erotica it be second rate . 4/10 .