R | 2h 35min | Drama, Action, Historical Fiction | 5 May 2000 (USA)
While it’s been around since the dawn of the film medium itself, the historical “Sword-and-Sandal” (S&S) sub-genre enjoyed its heyday from 1949 through 1965 in the form of frequently religious-based big-budget period epics.
Notable “S&S” standouts of this period include “Samson and Delilah,” “Quo Vadis,” “The Robe,” “The Ten Commandments,” “Ben-Hur,” “Spartacus,” “Cleopatra,” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told.”
Coined by early 20th-century critics as a largely derogatory term, inferring B-movie quality, the “S&S” label was ultimately embraced by fans of these films in much the same manner as those falling into the latter “chick flick” and “blaxploitation” categories….