As accurately depicted in the movie, Spartacus was a Thracian slave who broke out of a Capuan gladiators' school to lead a revolt that was eventually suppressed by Crassus, who then crucified his captives by the hundreds. 53 B.C.), and Caius Sempronius Gracchus (d. The fight to end segregation and to promote the equality of African-Americans is seen in the mixing of races within the gladiator school, as well as in the army of Spartacus, where all fight for freedom.Īlthough some reviews noted the story's somewhat dubious correlation to history, many of the characters were derived from real figures, including Spartacus (d. This scene points to the fact that Americans are indebted to the suffering of black slaves, who played a major role in building the country (a fact until fairly recently that was little, if at all, mentioned in U.S. Draba, who denies the friendship of Spartacus claiming 'gladiators can have no friends', sacrifices himself by attacking Crassus rather than killing Spartacus. The comment of how slavery was a central part of American history is pointed to in the beginning in the scenes featuring Draba and Spartacus. Howard Fast, who wrote the book on which this movie was based, was jailed for his refusal to testify, and wrote the novel 'Spartacus' while in prison.

The hearings, where witnesses were ordered under penalty of imprisonment to 'name names' of supposed Communist sympathizers, closely resembles the climactic scene when the slaves, asked by Crassus to give up their leader by pointing him out from the multitude, each stand up to proclaim, 'I am Spartacus'. This movie parallels 1950s American history, specifically the House Committee on un-American Activities hearings and the civil rights movement. Robinson for Десять заповідей (1956), reviving Robinson's career after he had been nearly blacklisted for his past political activism. In any case, the blacklist had been greatly undermined when Cecil B. Trumbo's family publicly disputed Douglas' version of the story, as did producer Edward Lewis and the children of writer Howard Fast (supposedly, Douglas didn't want Trumbo to receive credit out of fear for his own career Lewis made that happen, and Douglas later agreed when it all worked out fine). Trumbo had already been credited as the writer of Exodus (1960), although a delay caused that movie to be released two months after this one. Kirk Douglas later said he was so appalled by Kubrick's attempt to claim credit for someone else's work that he used his clout to make sure Trumbo received his due credit, effectively ending the Hollywood blacklist. Stanley Kubrick said he would accept the credit. At first, the studio did not want to give the blacklisted openly communist Dalton Trumbo screen credit for his work.

Kirk douglas i am spartacus