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''Caligula'' (Italian: ''Caligola'') is a 1979 Italian-American erotic historical drama film focusing on the rise and fall of the Roman Emperor Caligula. It stars Malcolm McDowell, Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner and John Gielgud. It is the only feature film produced by the men's magazine ''Penthouse''. Producer Bob Guccione, the magazine's founder, intended to produce an explicit pornographic film with a feature film narrative and high production values. He intended to cast Penthouse Pets as extras in unsimulated sex scenes filmed during post-production by Guccione and Giancarlo Lui. Guccione hired screenwriter Gore Vidal to draft the film's script and Tinto Brass to direct the film. Brass extensively altered Vidal's original screenplay, leading Vidal to disavow the film. The final screenplay focuses on the idea that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Brass and Guccione disagreed over Guccione's use of unsimulated sexual content, which Brass refused to film. Because the producers did not allow Brass to edit the film, they changed its tone and style significantly without consulting the director and added hardcore sex scenes not filmed by Brass; he also disavowed the film. The film's release was controversial; it was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content. Although reviews were overwhelmingly negative (though McDowell's performance as the title character was praised), ''Caligula'' is considered to be a cult classic and its political content was considered to have significant merit. ==Plot== Caligula is the young heir to the throne of the syphilis-ridden, half-mad Emperor Tiberius. One morning, a blackbird flies into his room; Caligula considers this a bad omen. Shortly afterward, the head of the Praetorian Guard Macro tells Caligula that Tiberus, his great uncle, demands his immediate presence at Capri, where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, a dim-witted relative Claudius, and Caligula's younger stepbrother Gemellus. Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go. At Capri, Caligula finds that Tiberius has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys swimming with naked youths and watching degrading sex shows that often include children and deformed people. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius. Proving his loyalty to Caligula, Macro kills Tiberius instead with Gemellus as a witness. After Tiberius' burial, Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula sets up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro murdered Tiberius alone, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius' former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practice. Caligula wants to marry Drusilla, but she insists they cannot marry because she is his sister. Instead, Caligula marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan after she bears him an heir. Drusilla reluctantly supports their marriage. Meanwhile, despite Caligula's popularity with the masses, the Senate expresses disapproval for what initially seem to be light eccentricities. Darker aspects of Caligula's personality emerge when he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day in a minor fit of jealousy and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla. After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he suffered. Soon afterwards, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite his praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies from her fever. Initially unable to accept her death, Caligula suffers a nervous breakdown and rampages through the palace, destroying a statue of Isis while clutching Drusilla's body. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets disguised as a beggar; he causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city jail, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. The new reign he leads becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Romesenators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated and the army is made to embark on a mock invasion of Great Britain. Unable to further tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula. Caligula enters his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. Another blackbird appears but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup headed by Chaerea. While leaving the stadium, Caligula's wife and daughter are murdered and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, he defiantly whimpers "I live!" As Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor, Claudius is proclaimed the new Emperor. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Caligula (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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