This film is almost as despicable as Bob Guccione. Made my skin crawl.

man oh man does this movie ever have a reputation, one of the most controversial films ever made.

This will be perfect score at AVN lol

saw the R rated version at the movie theatre.. i was a young woman on a date, lol. anyway, steller cast, ancient history light porn. appaling, uncomfortable to watch. then when the unrated came out on vhs: YIKES. bump the porn drench up 10 notches, Bob Guccione added the hard core porn. i wish he had not. i actually do not recommend it to anyone. no really

Surely one of the worst films of all time? As I haven't seen every film made, I can't confirm, but it's certainly the worst I've ever seen. It has absolutely no saving grace and is utterly appalling. Actually, one thing that interested me - who was badly dubbing Macros voice - is it Roger Moore or Richard Burton?

Calígula es una película bastante particular tanto en el mundo del cine como en el mundo de la pornografía. La película busca ser una representación cien por ciento fiel de los acontecimientos ocurridos durante el gobierno del emperador romano Calígula. En cuanto contexto lo logra muy bien teniendo a Malcolm McDowell que encarna muy bien al personaje. Refleja de manera creíble la locura del emperador, haciéndolo ver de manera sádica, perversa y demencial con un peculiar humor negro. El desarrollo de la película, por otro lado, busca reflejar la roma de aquel entonces en todos los sentidos. Desde la violencia brutal hasta los libres placeres sexuales del momento. Algo así pudo verse bien reflejado en la serie "Spartacus", Calígula mayormente se centra más en la parte sexual. Existe violencia explícita, pero no mucha. En cuanto a las escenas sexuales, hay bastantes y tan explicitas como se quería al punto de hacer de Calígula una película pornográfica. Lo fascinante aquí, es que no es una película pornográfica que busca generar excitación como muchas otras. Es una película con un argumento bastante relevante. Se trata de una película porno que se puede ver de principio a fin sin la necesidad de masturbarse. Más bien es una película que perturba e incómoda cuando la ves acompañado de alguien. En la parte sexual logra acertar muy bien como era la libertad sexual que había en la antigua Roma. Lo que sí hubiese hecho falta era más violencia y gore para lograr mantener el equilibrio y la película hubiese sido una excelente representación de aquella época romana. Los detalles técnicos de la película son bastante apreciables. Tiene muy buen diseño de producción, buena fotografía, buena dirección, buena edición y una excelente banda sonora. No es una película para cualquier persona, pero al menos es una película pornográfica que se puede disfrutar por su historia y no tanto por sus escenas de sexo. Mi calificación final para esta película es un 9/10.

The director screws over the writer, the producer screws over the director, and then the studio just turns it all into porno film. Such is the succinct history of this six-year-long movie production. What started as a contemplative biopic on one of the most controversial Emperors of the Roman Empire and the corruption of absolute power got rewritten to hell and back into satire with erotic elements only to eventually transform into a 2-hour phantasmagoria with live births (according to some sources) and dicks galore. It is peculiar to see that the plot actually tries to stick with very one-sided Caligula titbits, but it's all so hyperbolized that it comes off like 2000-year-old anti-Julio-Claudian dynasty propaganda, painstakingly designed to have so little nuance in its portrayal of Caligula (and pretty much anyone of note in that time period, for that matter) that it turns the plot into a farce. A very engaging mockery of history. I doubt anyone is going to be aroused by the multitude of orgies depicted on the screen. But the sadistic showmanship of these orgies and executions is a sight to behold. The head-cutting wall is worth a watch by itself.

More than earned its reputation.

The worst movie I had ever seen. This is an insult to cinema, art, porn, and to historical Roman Emperor Caligula. I would give it a 1%.

Woaw, a historical porn movie with Helen Mirren and Malcolm McDowell from '79 :)

This review is for the alternate cut found on the 3 disk Imperial Edition of the film, which to me is the best of both worlds, as it is the closest version to what was originally envisioned and while keeping all of the shock factor and doing away with the inserted sex scenes. Caligula is just as shocking now as it was back then, and that's exactly what I expected, even after all these years this film still delivers and paints a shocking and indulgent look into the debauchery and seediness of ancient Rome, and I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the film. Malcolm Mcdowell steals the show as Caligula, and delivers just the right amount of epic performance and pure balls to the wall insanity that he is never dull nor boring. At times this film also has moments of comedy, or as I call it the Misadventures of Caligula, as there are scenes of just what appears to be Caligula living in a sitcom whether it be him clumsily trying to take of the ring of Tiberius or scenes of comedic interactions with his uncle Claudius, because of course this exploitation film has shenanigans! While the alternate version does do away with the hardcore sex, it's still not a family night viewing experience, even without the sex this film still contains nudity and graphic violence which even if you have seen something like Game of Thrones can still be shocking since they go much more all in with it. Not to say that this is a masterpiece, it's still clumsy and the acting can be hit or miss at times, but you still can't help but appreciate the shear scale and effort that still manages to shine through despite the conflicting tones and ideas of the films creators. All in all Caligula to me still remains one of the greats in exploitation cinema, and a true piece of cinematic history whether for better or worse, and I highly recommend that anyone who studies film should see it at least once all the way through even if just to say they have experienced the pure insanity that this film continues to emanate, I give Caligula a 6/10.

The greatest film ever made. If you don't like this movie or haven't seen it, you are a dirty, dirty, dirty virgin. All has been said that needs to be said about this masterpiece.

Caligula is a movie that several wanted to make their own, but only its producer could fully own. Scriptwriter Gore Vidal had intended to call it Gore Vidal's Caligula, writing a script that had a strong focus on homosexuality and only one heterosexual scene. That one was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. He was paid $200,000 for his work and received the credit that the movie was adapted from his script, but he wanted nothing to do with the film. Tinto Brass ended up being the director, selected after elaborate sets, costumes, jewelry, hairstyles, wigs and makeup were created by production designer Danilo Donati. John Huston and Lina Wertmüller had already turned down the movie, but after Salon Kitty, it was decided that Brass would be a good fit, despite the knowledge that he was difficult to work with. He would only do the film if he could rewrite Vidal's script, which is hilarious to me, and added plenty of orgies, female nudity and male genitalia pretty much in every scene. In an interview for Time, Vidal called directors parasites and claimed that screenwriters are the true makers of the film. Brass demanded Vidal not be allowed on set and Vidal filed a lawsuit against the film. The battle between Brass and Vidal is, quite frankly, better than the movie, as Vidal wanted ten percent of all profits, calling the director a megalomanic while Brass would say, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script." The real power we alluded to earlier? This was the only feature film produced by the men's magazine Penthouse. The magazine's founder, Bob Guccione, dreamed of making an erotic feature film narrative with high production values and name actors. He'd helped fund Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but now it was time to make the Citizen Kane of adult films. Vidal wanted the idea of absolute power. Brass saw Caligula as a born monster. Guccione wanted to see hardcore coupling on the big screen, something that neither Vidal or Brass wanted. Well, Bob got what he wanted, locking Brass out of the editing process and shooting his own hardcore inserts -- hell, most of the movie -- with his Penthouse Pets as extras and using cameraman Giancarlo Lui as the director. Caligula (Malcolm McDowell) is the next in line for the throne of the Roman emperor, but his uncle Tiberius (Peter O'Toole) is still on the throne, despite being absolutely mad due to advanced venereal disease. He wants to kill the boy, who is protected by Marco (Guido Mannari), who ultimately kills the old man to hasten Caligula's path to power. Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then tells all that his sister and lover Drusilla (Teresa Ann Savoy, Salon Kitty) is his equal. To prove that he is his own man, he has Marco killed, which should show the world that maybe this kid is not alright. His sister, who he cannot marries, picks one of her Isis priestesses -- Helen Mirren! -- to wed her brother, who soon goes wild, assaulting husbands and wives on their wedding days and coming up with all manner of off the wall tortures and gladiator affairs. After barely surviving a fever and enduring the death of his sister, Caligula fully gives in to the madness inside and destroys everything about Roman society before he is killed, his blood washing down the marble steps as the film closes. The big disagreement between Brass and Guccione was over each person's taste in women. Yes, this really happened. When the film came to America, it battled pornography laws in nearly every place it played. It's also one of the few movies that Roger Ebert ever walked out of. Here's a fact that I love about this movie: According to McDowell, Peter O'Toole's first words to Sir John Gielgud were, "Hello, Johnny! What is a knight of the realm doing in a porno movie?" When McDowell first saw Gielgud, he asked him if he'd seen the set, to the reply of "Oh, it's wonderful. I've never seen so much cock in my life." Gielgud later told McDowell that he liked the movie so much, he paid to see it twice. This movie was legendary in my high school days, as there was only one copy available in our very small Western Pennsylvania town and it was in the dreaded back room of Prime Time Video. Kids who may -- or may not -- have seen it spoke breathlessly of the wonders and horrors that it contained.

If you wanted to see the ugly faces of mainstream heros you so dearly adored.

This movie shares a lot with the character it tries to depicts hollow and tremendously ambitious. Such an odd movie. With great actors in its cast specially Malcolm Mcdowell who does a great job. Movie feels more like a play than a movie, with grest setpiefes in the background with over the top performances and wide shots all over it. Probably one of the more over the top movies in the depiction of sex and depravity. Points for being unique and trying something different.

This is the ultimate exploitation film, filled with freaks, sex, decapitation, orgies, politics, plague, murder, lesbianism, torture, and some of the funniest dialogue. You grandmothers voting this trash masterpiece down need to loosen up.

The most expensive porn film ever made. So bad it is funny. How all those big name got conned into doing it is a mystery.

Too erotic, kinky and low quality movies

Could have been amazing if it was focused more on the story. I thought the acting was pretty good. However the porn was unnecessary and not even sexy. First half seemed to promise a good story but the second half just became bad porn.

Look, unfortunately people are so blind sided by the pornography and violence they can't get past the first hour, but if you can hold to in, I more than encourage you to see this. This film is a historical masterpiece and as such, explores every miniscule detail of the mad king's life