The Two Gladiators (1964)

Original title

I due gladiatori

Directed by

Mario Caiano

Genre

sword-and-sandal film

Country

Italy

Runtime

1h 30m

Rated

12

Rating

5.5 of 10 from 15 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In ancient Rome, Emperor Marcus Aurelius has twin sons. One is raised as the heir while the other is secretly spared from death and raised by a foster family. Years later, the twin brother Lucius is used in a plot against Emperor Commodus, leading to a deadly clash between the brothers in a gladiator fight.

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What happens

The Two Gladiators (Italian: I due gladiatori, also known as Fight or Die) is a 1964 Italian peplum film directed by Mario Caiano and starring Richard Harrison. In the film, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius fathered twin sons. It is decided that one son will become Aurelius' heir, while the other will be killed to avoid a potential succession crisis between two rival heirs. The senator tasked with infanticide has moral reservations against the practice, and he instead offers the infant to a foster family. Several years later, Commodus succeeds his father. The senator tries to use Commodus' estranged twin brother Lucius Crassus as a candidate for the throne. The two brothers are soon scheming against each other, in a conflict that ends in fratricide during gladiatorial combat. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• Gladiator (2000)
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• Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators (1964)