Ben-Hur vs. Spartacus

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3 comments

Chariot race!

You truly are the King of Kings!!!

Such a fitting match up

No doubt.

Spartacus wins!

For me, both films are good but flawed. Ben-Hur contains some of the best action scenes I've ever seen on film. The chariot race belongs in my top 10 favorite scenes of all time. Unfortunately, I found the film to be way too religious. Being not a religious person, I didn't really like the last half hour of the film. Despite that, it's definitely a good film with good acting and beautiful cinematography. Spartacus isn't as religious as Ben-Hur, which is a plus for me. The cinematography is beautiful to look at and the acting is solid, especially Laurence Olivier. The action scenes are also pretty good, but not as good as those in Ben-Hur. The film does contain quite a few slow moments, unfortunately. For me, Ben-Hur is the better movie. This is mostly because of the better action sequences. I also found the pacing better in Ben-Hur.

Spartacus is the more engrossing movie in my opinion. At almost four hours...Ben-Hur is simply too long to consistently hold greatness.

Agree, such a fitting match-up. Enjoy both so much but Ben-hur takes it.

Ben Hur has Jesus H Christ! But Spartacus Kirk. Difficult, difficult.

Ben-Hur

Both great. Ben-Hur wins.

Spartacus is good but the poor man's Ben-Hur.

I wish Kubrick had the freedom back then to make his version of a Biblical epic. As is, Spartacus is good, but is an obvious poor man's cash-in of Ben-Hur.

Great great films. We need more big budget modern films that are faith based.

Spartacus..... isn't faith based. That's part of what made it so groundbreaking at the time. There's the narration at the beginning to mollify Catholic censor boards at the time and that's about it.

Ben-Hur but both are exceptional.

ear
ear

Kubrick loss here.