While the physical production was very impressive in scape (especially for television), and quite authentic, that's really all that can recommend this ill-conceived, nearly pointless enterprise. And even this visual presentation is compromised by the generally dreary cinematography.

I do have to admit that I'm prejusiced and spoiled. When one is familiar with the suave, ironic fatalism of Rex Harrison's nothing-less-than-brilliant portrayal of Julius Caesar in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1963 CLEOPATRA.

To begin with, at its best, the mini-series' writing is dull and literal, with little sense of the period or the personalities that were rolling dice to determine the fate of freedom and the world.

The cast is uniformly inept (with my special scorn reserved for Christopher Walken, as miscast an actor as one can possibly imagine in such a setting), with Jeremy Sisto totally at sea as a Caesar that captures none of the humor and abovementioned fatalism that inevitably must sustain and power any man's struggle to the top.

The direction is unimaginative, unable to capture either the epic sweep of its giant sets and sirging armies, or the intimate machinations of powerful men.

The score is nearly theme-less, and too often resorts to the kind of aimless, shapeless choral wailing that passes for music in latter-day revisionist epics like this one.

Ultimately the most important thing missing from this thing is a sense of Caesar's corruption by power, whatever nobility and regard for the Roman Republic he possessed during his opposition to the rule of the tyrant Sulla metamorphosing into his own lust for the crown of Rome.

I think the makers of this thing should've sat down, read a little Shakespeare, watched CITIZEN KANE a few times...and admitted that they just weren't up to the task of bringing this sort of thing to the screen.

Sisto does a commendable job that belies his age for undertaking such a role--(though only shortly before he was cast as Jesus in an earlier production.) In his role as a military leader and idealist, I do not feel that a character with more humor was called for--he bore the character with a tragic sadness, as one does not rise to such heights without consequences. Whatever was necessary for the story at hand, Sisto captured. Also the underused Chris Noth puts in a sympathetic performance as Pompey--indeed most of the roles were played sympathetically, perhaps to a certain detriment, though it allowed you to identify with each character's viewpoint. The story told--the rise and the betrayal--elaborates on certain aspect of the Caesar story that perhaps were glossed over in other retellings. There are certain key scenes that anyone expects to see with a story of Caesar, most famously the death in the Senate, which was handled here well.

I don't think Williams has tackled a Roman theme, but I suspect he could do a very credible job, based on some of his work in the last two Indiana Jones films.

Generating an annotated list of composers who have tackled Roman antiquity would be an interesting project.

Had I known at the beginning that this was the level of their scholarship, I never would've wasted my time on the four-hour bore.

NP Ben Hur...solid Roman music, solid "any" music.

I understand your sentiment concerning music and bad films. I would not want to recall the number of bad films I have tolerated just to hear a Jerry Goldsmith or Elmer Bernstein score. I read somewhere that Rozsa thought KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE was such dreck that he went back to Mallory for inspiration.

Your comment that the series had a 'grand theme' caught my attention, as it is often difficult to find an identifiable theme in many contemporary scores.

From Avie's remarks, I am happy that I did not know of this series. I usually do not watch much TV, except for news, and even that is becoming less frequent because I use the Internet and newspapers as more analytical news sources.

A very happy 4th of July to all of my American friends!