This plodding, muddled, seemingly never-ending 4-hour epic wound up being the most expensive movie ever made when it was released in 1963. Originally a $2 million production, the budget eventually ballooned to $44 million (adjusted for inflation, that's $320 million). Even though it became the highest-grossing film of the year, it was still considered to be a substantial flop at the time. It was one of Hollywood's earliest, most serious lessons regarding the dangers of overspending as it nearly bankrupt 20th Century Fox. Over time, the studio did eventually manage to make its money back thanks to a television deal with ABC, but it took a couple of years before they were finally out of the red. Elizabeth Taylor played the title role and she starred alongside Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. The movie follows the ups and downs of the Pharoah's reign in Egypt, but it's an unemotional and uninvolving affair that lacks the necessary depth to justify its lengthy running time. Despite the very mixed reviews it received at the time of its release, Cleopatra still managed to get nominated for nine Academy Awards and won four technical awards, which include Best Cinematography, Special Effects, Costume Design, and Art Direction. While it should be no surprise that the film took home a few technical Oscars, the inclusion of Cleopatra among the Best Picture nominees in 1963 looks especially egregious today. At the time, the Academy seemed to favor bloated epics over anything else: America, America and How the West Was Won were also nominated for Best Picture that year and each were at least 160 minutes long. Hud and The Great Escape were both completely overlooked in the category and are now held in much higher regard than those films, especially Cleopatra. It should be no surprise then that a British film (Tom Jones) took the top prize that year.
