The costume epic is a film genre as intimately connected to the decade of the 1950’s as the screwball comedy is to the 1930’s or film noir to the 1940’s. Unlike either of those genres—and, indeed, unlike almost any other genre—the costume epic owes its origin and popularity almost entirely to the business side of filmmaking rather than the show side. Oh, it’s showy, all right and, indeed, it is that very showiness which was simulated by the economics of show business. Moviegoers by the millions were choosing to stay home and watch TV rather than go to the theater to watch movies, and one of the things that TV most assuredly could not do as well as movies was present epic stories with a cast of thousands splayed across a huge curved screen.
By 1960s, however, the costume epic had pretty much peaked due to a glut that had produced a certain sense of déjà vu. The only non-animated movies in the top ten biggest blockbusters of the 1950’s were all epics with The Ten Commandments becoming the biggest box office hit in history since Gone with the Wind. By way of contrast, only one epic landed among many musicals (animated or otherwise) celebrations of rebellious behavior which mark the top ten hits of the 1960’s. Although it qualifies as an epic, it simply does not belong to the same category as those films that audiences flocked to in the 1950’s.
No, that film was not Spartacus but Dr. Zhivago. While David Lean’s epic romance with the Russian Revolution as its backdrop is certainly representative of the epics, it is not the epic which is most representative of the 1960’s. Now we’re talking about Spartacus.
The name next to the “Directed by” says Stanley Kubrick, but this film is almost never really forwarded as evidence of Kubrick’s standing as “auteur.” Regardless of whether one actually believes in the auteur theory or not (and even those who invented later admitted they were just making it up), there is absolutely no legitimate way to support the argument that Kubrick is the “author” of Spartacus in the same way he is the “author” of Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket. Those are quintessentially Kubrickian films regardless of who wrote or collaborated on the screenplay or wrote the original properties upon which those films are based. An audience viewing those films can connect each of them to a guiding creative spirit that dominates every aspect.
Such is the not the case with Spartacus. As much as Kirk Douglas might like to argue otherwise. Legendary blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo’s fingerprints are all over the story of Spartacus. So are those of the man who wrote the novel upon which the screenplay was based, Howard Fast. And so, for that matter, are Kirk Douglas and Stanley Kubrick. What do each of these men who contributed mightily to what many refer to—rightfully—as not just the last great costume epic of the 1950’s, but—more arguably—the greatest costume epic of all time?
They were all rebels. Trumbo went to jail for rebelling against the Hollywood Blacklist. Kirk Douglas is almost as famous for rebelling against the blacklist by openly hiring Trumbo to write the screenplay as he is for playing such rebellious figures ranging from painter Vincent Van Gogh to Ned Land, thorn in Captain Nemo’s side. The characters in Howard Fast’s literary works range from the writer who was a rebel among rebels during the American Revolution—Thomas Paine—to Gideon Jackson who goes from slave to U.S. Senator. Then there’s Stanley Kubrick who is only slightly arguably the most rebellion mainstream director in American history.
Spartacus was released in October 1960 and most Americans did not actually enter a theater to watch it until 1961. Technically speaking, 1960 is the actually the final year of the decade of the 1950’s not the first year of the 1960’s. (If you doubt that, just use your fingers to count to ten and when you’ve used up your last finger, note the last digit of the number you just said out loud.) In other words, Spartacus belongs much more to the 1960’s than the 1950’s. For most of the 1950’s, Dalton Trumbo was writing screenplays (and even winning an Oscar) without his name listed in the credits. For most the 1950’s the name Stanley Kubrick would have drawn blank stares even from committed film fans. For most 0f the 1950’s the less than subtle homosexual undertones many scenes in Spartacus would never have made it past the censors. For most of the 1960’s, the nude swim scene of Jean Simmons would never even have been written into the script, much less actually filmed, much less make it into the final cut.
The 1950’s were a decade of conformity and an attempt to hold up “traditional values” and conservative morality as the ideal for American life. Hence, most of the successful epics of that period were religiously inspired: either straight-up Biblical stories or stories which touched upon the Bible such as film that remains tied for the title of biggest Oscar-winning champ, Ben-Hur. By contrast, Spartacus is a costume epic inspired by political history. It is not about maintaining the conservative status quo, but rather about rebelling against it. Spartacus is an insurrectional character in a story about the insurrection and attempted overthrow of the status quo. In this sense, the rebelliousness of the major figures involved in “authoring” this film is not just realized, but realized in a way that yanks the curtain down on the obedience to blind authoritarian conservative rule of the 1950’s while presciently foreseeing the widespread rebellion against, well, pretty much every aspect of the status quo which defines the decade to come.
Spartacus may be fully existing as part of the decade of Eisenhower, Beaver Cleaver and Doris Day, but it much more fully belongs to the decade of Martin Luther King, Jr., Benjamin Braddock, and The Beatles.
