Spartacus is very ahead of it's time. A liberal epic.
Saw this recently in 70mm and I couldn't help but notice just how unique Spartacus is for the time. A lot of you are going to freak out about these observation and say "oh but there is one or two other movies that do this blah blah blah". And while there are, these are still undeniably uncommon for the 50's and 60's era of fear and irrational judgement.
1. The romantic relationship is very genuine and equal. Spartacus and Varinia both make contributions to the plot, she is not just a prize woman that the hero is rewarded with. Spartacus also respects her and does not simply take her for his own. I believe she is the first one to express love for him as well.
2. Women are shown to be very vital to the group with crafting skills and even fight in battle. Most movies around this time just pretend men did everything and only had one or two women in the cast. Not to mention acknowledging that women have libidos and lust for "the big black one".
3. Art and music is considered respectable and important. Antoninus is teased a bit when first introduced, but Spartacus learns the value of people with talents and requests that he doesn't fight.
4. Homoerotic scenes are present in the film. While it doesn't show the mass orgies that would have happened, the conversation about snails and oysters is extremely taboo for the time and was never included until the 90's.
5. Men express their feelings and emotion. Most films around this time required men to be emotionless (aside from anger) and this film not only features men crying and embracing each other but has a scene where Spartacus is being cradled by Varinia for comfort. Even today men are rarely shown to be this vulnerable and are usually never shot looking up at a woman.
6. This film doesn't try to be religious. A unnecessary and irrelevant voice over was added in the beginning that talks about Christianity but this movie does not focus on religion. Most epics around this time were used to propagate Christianity and this is often why they were given larger budgets. I also love that the T-shaped crosses are period accurate. The common cross associated with Jesus is inaccurate and film makers are always hesitant to stray away from the safe, familiar Western idea of a crucifixion.
7. A downbeat ending. While the ending tries hard to be upbeat and cliche, the film essentially ends with our hero failing at his overall goal and being crucified. That hardly ever happened in classic cinema and it is still uncommon for a protagonist to fail at the end.
8. Blood and violence. Movies around this time simply never showed blood or real life consequences of violence.
9. NO BLACK FACE! Seriously this might be the only epic film from the 50's/60's that actually cast people of color in speaking roles. The fact that Othello, Lawrence of Arabia and Khartoum were all released years after this film makes their use of black/brown face even more despicable. Yeah they are great movies, but it is undeniably racist and embarrassing.
For these reasons and more, Spartacus is my favorite old school epic film. It is not only revolutionary and ahead of it's time, but is just a great tale overall. I applaud Kubrick and Douglas for being pioneers in realistic and honest depictions of men, women and people of color in Hollywood. Something that still gets backlash today.